The Alchemist

by Paulo Coelho

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

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

“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.”

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.

principle of favorability. When you play cards the first time, you are almost sure to win. Beginner’s luck.”

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

“The Prophet gave us the Koran, and left us just five obligations to satisfy during our lives. The most important is to believe only in the one true God. The others are to pray five times a day, fast during Ramadan, and be charitable to the poor.”

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.

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.

the liquid part of the Master Work was called the Elixir of Life, and that it cured all illnesses; it also kept the alchemist from growing old. And the solid part was called the Philosopher’s Stone.

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

“What you still need to know is this: 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.’

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

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

when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.”

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