Paulo Coelho Quotes

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

Don’t waste your time with explanations: people only hear what they want to hear.

Where there is loyalty, weapons are of no use.

So long as you do no harm to another, change your opinion once in a while. Contradict yourself without being embarrassed. This is your right. It doesn't matter what others think -because that's what they will think, in any case.

Here was the opportunity to free herself from all those identical days and nights. pg 30

Sadness does not last forever when we walk in the direction of that which we always desired.

Everyone not already following their own path would begin to feel dissatisfied with themselves and be forced to make a choice: they would either have to accept an existence beset with disappointment and pain or else come to realise that everyone was born to be happy. Having made their choice, they would have no option but to change, and the great struggle, the Jihad, would begin.

Whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It's your mission on earth.

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

The desert takes our dreams away from us, and they don't always return.... Those who don't return become a part of the clouds, a part of the animals that hide in the ravines and of the water that comes from the earth. They become part of everything … They become the Soul of the World.

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

When you’re in love, you’re capable of learning everything and knowing things you had never dared even to think, because love is the key to understanding of all the the mysteries.

His way isn't the same as mine, nor mine as his. But we're both in search of our destinies, and I respect him for that.

Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning.

Nothing in this world happens by chance.

An intense life needs a touch of madness.

Anyone who is observant, who discovers the person they have always dreamed of, knows that sexual energy comes into play before sex even takes place. The greatest pleasure isn't sex, but the passion with which it is practiced. When the passion is intense, then sex joins in to complete the dance, but it is never the principal aim.

The problem is that they don't even realize that they're walking a new road every day. They don't see that the fields are new and the seasons change. All they think about is food and water

Basically, everything that happens in our life is our fault and ours alone. A lot of people go through the same difficulties we went through, and they react completely differently. We looked for the easiest way out: a separate reality

I am love, I am music, she thinks. Let’s dance.

If I must fall, may it be from a high place.

Love simply is.

It's better to lose some of battles in the struggle for your dreams than to be defeated without ever even knowing what you're fighting for.

The rain is falling ever harder and all I can hear is the sound of the water. I'm drenched but I can't move.

Love can only be found through the act of loving.

Fortunate are those who take the first step. Someday people will realize that men and women are capable of speaking the language of the angels - that all of us are possessed of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and that we can perform miracles, cure, prophesy, and understand.

God only allows us to see such things when he wants something to change

People give flowers as presents because flowers contain the true meaning of love. Anyone tries to possess a flower will have to watch its beauty fading. But if you simply look at a flower on a field, you will keep it forever, because the flower is part of the evening and the sunset and the smell of damp earth and the clouds on the horizon.

Evil would never bring Good, however much they wanted to believe that it would. By the time they discovered the truth, it would be too late.

When we want something, we have to have a clear purpose in mind for the thing that we want. The only reason for seeking a reward is to know what to do with that reward

I am talking to you, but the moment I am talking to you, the universe is being created and destroyed.

A dream is always risky, for there is a price to pay.

Why is patience so important?""Because it makes us pay attention.

Life moves very fast. it rushes us from heaven to hell in a matter of seconds.

Once someone asked me, "What do you want to be your epitaph?" So I said, "Paulo Coelho died when he was alive.

But if we are talking in terms of making progress in life, we must understand that "good enough" is very different from "best.

I am two women: one wants to have all the joy, passion and adventure that life can give me. The other wants to be a slave to routine, to family life, to the things that can be planned and achieved. I'm a housewife and a prostitute, both of us living in the same body and doing battle with each other.

The battles may last for a long time, perhaps even years. There are powerful forces on both sides, and the war is important to both armies. It's not a battle of good against evil. It's a war between forces that are fighting for the balance of power, and, when that type of battle begins, it lasts longer than others-because Allah is on both sides.

This is the present moment. Learn how to gobble it up without fear or guilt.

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

But the Warrior never allows himself to be discouraged.

One other question. Would it be acceptable to destroy a universe in the name of a greater love?” The waiter laughs. “Are you God or just gay?" “Neither, but thank you for your answer.

I'm not a body with a soul, I'm a soul that has a visible part called the body.

Making a decision is only the beginning of things

Tell me about your life since I last saw you." | "There are no great mysteries to tell. My path is always ther, and I do everything I can to follow it in a dignified way." | "What is your path?" | "The path of someone seeking love." | "And love's path is really complicated." | "Because on that path we can go either to heaven or to hell?

Well, maybe I just want to know the future so I can prepare myself for what's coming. If good things are coming, they will be a pleasant surprise, said the seer. If bad things are, and you know in advance, you will suffer greatly before they even occur.

Courage is the most important spiritual quality.

All this was new to me. Life takes us by surprise and orders us to move towards the unknown - even when we don't want to and we think we don't need to.

Make sure that when you touch the other person, all your five senses are working, because sex has a life of its own. The moment you begin, you’re no longer in control; it takes control of you. And whatever you bring to it, your fears, your desires, your sensibility will remain. That’s why people become impotent. When you have sex, take with you to bed only love and your senses, all five of them. Only then will you experience communion with God.

Do not try to explain feelings. Live everything intensely and treasure what you feel as a gift from God.

I needed to choose between the one thing that really filled m thoughts-my love for that woman-and losing my freedom and all the choices that the future promised me. To be honest, the decision was easy.-Lukas Jessen-Petersen

That is why embittered people find heroes and madmen a perennial source of fascination, for they have no fear of life or death. Both heroes and madmen are indifferent to danger and will forge ahead regardless of what other people say.

If I had a choice, if I had understood earlier that the reason my days were all the same was because I wanted them like that, perhaps...

In life, each person cantake one of two attitudes: to build or to plant. The builders mighttake years over their tasks, but one day, they finish what they’redoing. Then they find they’re hemmed in by their own walls. Lifeloses its meaning when the building stops.Then there are those who plant. They endure storms and allthe many vicissitudes of the seasons, and they rarely rest. But,unlike a building, a garden never stops growing. And while it requiresthe gardener’s constant attention, it also allows life for thegardener to be a great adventure.Gardeners always recognize one another, because they knowthat in the history of each plant lies the growth of the wholeWorld.

What's the world's greatest lie?... 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.

My heart might be bruised, but it will recover and become capable of seeing beauty of life once more. It's happened before, it will happen again, I'm sure. When someone leaves, it's because someone else is about to arrive--I'll find love again.

He knew one of the women well, and had shared his universe with her. They had seen the same mountains, and the same trees, although each of them had seem them differently. She knew his weaknesses, his moments of hatred, of despair. Yet she was there at his side. They shared the same universe.

Accept what life offers you and try to drink from every cup. All wines should be tasted; some should only be sipped, but with others, drink the whole bottle.

One day you will wake up and there won't be any more time to do the things you've always wanted. Do it now.

Some people appear to be happy, but they simply don't give the matter much thought. Others make plans: I'm going to have a husband, a home, two children, a house in the country. As long as they're busy doing that, they're like bulls looking for the bullfighter: they react instinctively, they blunder on, with no idea where the target is. They get their car, sometimes they even get a Ferrari, and they think that's the meaning of life, and they never question it. Yet their eyes betray the sadness that even they don't know they carry in their soul. Are you happy?