The Alchemist

by Paulo Coelho

They trust me, and they’ve forgotten how to rely on their own instincts, because I lead them to nourishment.

It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting,

A shepherd always takes his chances with wolves and with drought, and that’s what makes a shepherd’s life exciting.

It’s the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary; only wise men are able to understand them.

That was what made traveling appeal to him—he always made new friends, and he didn’t need to spend all of his time with them. When someone sees the same people every day, as had happened with him at the seminary, they wind up becoming a part of that person’s life. And then they want the person to change. If someone isn’t what others want them to be, the others become angry.

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.”

He never realized that people are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.”

“If you start out by promising what you don’t even have yet, you’ll lose your desire to work toward getting it.”

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.

in money there was magic; whoever has money is never really alone.

“I’m like everyone else—I see the world in terms of what I would like to see happen, not what actually does.”

Not everyone can see his dreams come true in the same way.

beauty is the great seducer of men.”

every blessing ignored becomes a curse.

It was the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, and as part of a search for something believed in and desired.

He had worked for an entire year to make a dream come true, and that dream, minute by minute, was becoming less important. Maybe because that wasn’t really his dream.

making a decision was only the beginning of things. 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.

Creatures like the sheep, that are used to traveling, know about moving on.”

people need not fear the unknown if they are capable of achieving what they need and want.

“We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it’s our life or our possessions and property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand.”

“Once you get into the desert, there’s no going back,” said the camel driver. “And, when you can’t go back, you have to worry only about the best way of moving forward.

“In alchemy, it’s called the Soul of the World. When you want something with all your heart, that’s when you are closest to the Soul of the World. It’s always a positive force.”

“Everything on earth is being continuously transformed, because the earth is alive . . . and it has a soul. We are part of that soul, so we rarely recognize that it is working for us.

“Well, then, why do we need all these books?” the boy asked. “So that we can understand those few lines,” the Englishman answered,

In his pursuit of the dream, he was being constantly subjected to tests of his persistence and courage. So he could not be hasty, nor impatient. If he pushed forward impulsively, he would fail to see the signs and omens left by God along his path.

“Don’t be impatient,” he repeated to himself. “It’s like the camel driver said: ‘Eat when it’s time to eat. And move along when it’s time to move along.’”

It was love. Something older than humanity, more ancient than the desert.

The dunes are changed by the wind, but the desert never changes. That’s the way it will be with our love for each other.

I must have no fear of failure. It was my fear of failure that first kept me from attempting the Master Work. Now, I’m beginning what I could have started ten years ago. But I’m happy at least that I didn’t wait twenty years.”

“Courage is the quality most essential to understanding the Language of the World.”

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

Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.

“You must understand that love never keeps a man from pursuing his Personal Legend. If he abandons that pursuit, it’s because it wasn’t true love . . . the love that speaks the Language of the World.”

Fuck! Insane.

“One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.”

“Everything is written in the Soul of the World, and there it will stay forever.”

“Men dream more about coming home than about leaving,”

“And what went wrong when other alchemists tried to make gold and were unable to do so?” “They were looking only for gold,” his companion answered. “They were seeking the treasure of their Personal Legend, without wanting actually to live out the Personal Legend.”

People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don’t deserve them, or that they’ll be unable to achieve them.

fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.”

all people who are happy have God within them.

Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place.

“Why don’t people’s hearts tell them to continue to follow their dreams?” the boy asked the alchemist. “Because that’s what makes a heart suffer most, and hearts don’t like to suffer.”

before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream. That’s the point at which most people give up. It’s the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one ‘dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.’

“Every search begins with beginner’s luck. And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested.”

“When you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed.”

“Does a man’s heart always help him?” the boy asked the alchemist. “Mostly just the hearts of those who are trying to realize their Personal Legends. But they do help children, drunkards, and the elderly, too.”

“Your eyes show the strength of your soul,”

And anyone who interferes with the Personal Legend of another thing never will discover his own.”

The alchemist told the boy to place the shell over his ear. He had done that many times when he was a child, and had heard the sound of the sea. “The sea has lived on in this shell, because that’s its Personal Legend. And it will never cease doing so until the desert is once again covered by water.”