By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

by Paulo Coelho

All of us have had this experience. At some point, we have each said through our tears, “I’m suffering for a love that’s not worth it.” We suffer because we feel we are giving more than we receive. We suffer because our love is going unrecognized. We suffer because we are unable to impose our own rules.

They have been joyful—because those who love conquer the world and have no fear of loss. True love is an act of total surrender.

To love is to be in communion with the other and to discover in that other the spark of God.

“The wise are wise only because they love. And the foolish are foolish only because they think they can understand love,”

But love is much like a dam: if you allow a tiny crack to form through which only a trickle of water can pass, that trickle will quickly bring down the whole structure, and soon no one will be able to control the force of the current.

“Some people always have to be doing battle with someone, sometimes even with themselves, battling with their own lives. So they begin to create a kind of play in their head, and they write the script based on their frustrations.”

The universe always helps us fight for our dreams, no matter how foolish they may be. Our dreams are our own, and only we can know the effort required to keep them alive.”

don’t know. But She normally chooses that medium to manifest Herself. Maybe because She is the source of life; we are generated in water, and for nine months we live in it. Water is the symbol of the power of woman, the power that no man—no matter how enlightened or perfect he may be—can capture.”

The moment we begin to seek love, love begins to seek us.

“Because I’ve always dreamed of being here with you, walking through these mountains and harvesting the ‘golden fruits of the sun.’”

You’re making me happy. And happiness is something that multiplies when it is divided.”

Love never comes just a little at a time,

“The Buddhists were right, the Hindus were right, the Muslims were right, and so were the Jews. Whenever someone follows the path to faith—sincerely follows it—he or she is able to unite with God and to perform miracles.

Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worst kind of suffering.

If one person really wants us, everyone does. But if we’re alone, we become even more alone. Life is strange.”

We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation. It’s one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it’s another to think that yours is the only path.

The energy of hate will take you nowhere, but the energy of pardon which manifests itself through love will manage to change your life in a positive sense.’”