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.

In today's society (as was the case in the past), there is a tremendous amount of energy spent on trying to make people conform: to established behavior, to established religions, namely, to a certain type of thought. This uniformity is very tricky because it comes through a certain «political correctness» that stifles people's spontaneity.