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.

“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.

Sometimes it’s better to leave things as they are,

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.

‘You cannot trust a man if you don’t know his house.’

‘The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon.’”

who had said that, when you really want something, the universe always conspires in your favor.

We have to take advantage when luck is on our side, and do as much to help it as it’s doing to help us. It’s called the principle of favorability.

every blessing ignored becomes a curse.

I’m beginning what I could have started ten years ago. But I’m happy at least that I didn’t wait twenty years.”

“If good things are coming, they will be a pleasant surprise,” said the seer. “If bad things are, and you know in advance, you will suffer greatly before they even occur.”

“I want to know about the future because I’m a man,” the camel driver had said to the seer. “And men always live their lives based on the future.”

If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better.

“It’s not what enters men’s mouths that’s evil,” said the alchemist. “It’s what comes out of their mouths that is.”

‘Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.’”