The Alchemist

by Paulo Coelho

Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.

“What’s the world’s greatest lie?” the boy asked, completely surprised. “It’s this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That’s the world’s greatest lie.”

The boy didn’t know what a person’s “Personal Legend” was. “It’s what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is. “At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives. But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their Personal Legend.”

when each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.

When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.

Those who don’t return become a part of the clouds, a part of the animals that hide in the ravines and of the water that comes from the earth. They become a part of everything . . . they become the Soul of the World.

“When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream,”

There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”

“Usually the threat of death makes people a lot more aware of their lives.”

“No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn’t know it.”