The Alchemist

by Paulo Coelho

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

He realized: If I can learn to understand this language without words, I can learn to understand the world.

“You didn’t have to do any cleaning,” he said. “The Koran requires me to feed a hungry person.”

“Well, when I took my sheep through the fields some of them might have died if we

had come upon a snake. But that’s the way life is with sheep and with shepherds.”

“It’s called the principle of favorability, beginner’s luck. Because life wants you to achieve your Personal Legend,” the old king had said.

“Because it’s the thought of Mecca that keeps me alive. That’s what helps me face these days that are all the same, these mute crystals on the shelves, and lunch and dinner at that same horrible café.

I’m afraid that if my dream is realized, I’ll have

Maybe it was his treasure to have wound up in that strange land, met up with a thief, and doubled the size of his flock without spending a cent.

because I don’t know how to deal with change. I’m used to the way I am.”

There had been a time when he thought that his sheep could teach him everything he needed to know about the world. But they could never have taught him Arabic.

And maybe it wasn’t that they were teaching me, but that I was learning from them.

And, as he smothered the coals in the hookah, he told the boy that he could begin to sell tea in the crystal glasses. Sometimes, there’s just no way to hold back the river.

“I am proud of you,” he said. “You brought a new feeling into my crystal shop. But you know that I’m not going to go to Mecca. Just as you know that you’re not going to buy your sheep.”

It was the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, and as

part

decision. 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.

Who knows, maybe they had failed to discover the secret of the Master Work—the Philosopher’s Stone—and for this reason kept their knowledge to themselves.

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.

“Not at all. It was shepherds who were the first to recognize a king that the rest of the world refused to acknowledge. So,

it’s not surprising that kings would talk to shepherds.”

I have to find a man who knows that universal language. An alchemist.”

The closer one gets to realizing his Personal Legend, the more that Personal Legend becomes his true reason for being, thought the boy.

It was only the Englishman who was unaware of all this; he was, for the most part, immersed in reading his books.

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

“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.” He also said that this

The Englishman said, “I’d better pay more attention to the caravan.” “And I’d better read your books,” said the boy.

Emerald

They called that discovery the Master Work—it was part liquid and part solid.

“Alchemy is a serious discipline. Every step has to be followed exactly as it was followed by the masters.”

“Also,” said the Englishman, “the Philosopher’s Stone has a fascinating property. A small sliver of the stone can transform large quantities of metal into gold.”

“So that those who have the responsibility for understanding can understand,” he said. “Imagine if everyone went around transforming lead into gold. Gold would lose its value.

you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. You’ll

The dunes are changed by the wind, but the desert never changes.

“Two thousand years ago, in a distant

land, a man who believed in dreams was thrown into a dungeon and then sold as a slave,” the old man said, now in the dialect the boy understood. “Our merchants bought that man, and brought him to Egypt. All of us know that whoever believes in dreams also knows how to interpret them.”

“When something is written, there is no way to change it.” “All I saw was an army,” said the boy. “I didn’t see the outcome of the battle.”

The boy had met the alchemist.

The tribal chieftain said that he felt sorry for the tribesmen, but that the Tradition was sacred. He condemned the commander to death without honor. Rather than being killed by a blade or a bullet, he was hanged from a dead palm tree, where his body twisted in the desert wind.

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

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

“The alchemist is two hundred years old,” the Englishman had told him. He must know

“Fatima is a woman of the desert,” said the alchemist. “She knows that men have to go away in order to return. And she already has her treasure: it’s you. Now she expects that you will find what it is you’re looking for.”

You’ll spend the rest of your days knowing that you didn’t pursue your Personal Legend, and that now it’s too late.

The two embraced. It was the first time either had touched the other.

relieved at the end of their long journeys. From that day on, the oasis would be an empty place for her.

“If what one finds is made of pure matter, it will never spoil. And one can always come back. If what you had found was only a moment of light, like the explosion of a star, you would find nothing on your return.”

alchemist answered. “It’s through action. Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey. You need to learn only one thing more.”

an alchemist,” he said, as he prepared the meal. “I learned the science from my grandfather, who learned from his father, and so on, back to the creation of the world. In