The Alchemist: quotes

All quotes courtesy Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist.---C Lue Lyron


The boy knew a lot of people in the city. That was what
made traveling appeal to him—he always made new friends, and he didn't need to spend all of his time
with them. When someone sees the same people every day, as had happened with him at the seminary,
they wind up becoming a part of that person's life. And then they want the person to change. If someone
isn't what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how
other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.


‎"What's the world's greatest lie?" the boy asked, completely surprised.
"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."


Everyone, when they are young, knows what their
destiny is.
At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream,
and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives. But, as time passes, a
mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their destiny."



He still had some doubts about the decision he had made. But he was able to understand one thing:
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.



He had been told by his parents and grandparents that he must fall in
love and really know a person before becoming committed. But maybe people who felt that way had
never learned the universal language. Because, when you know that language, it's easy to understand that
someone in the world awaits you, whether it's in the middle of the desert or in some great city. And when
two such people encounter each other, and their eyes meet, the past and the future become unimportant.
There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by
one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world.
Without such love, one's dreams would have no meaning


‎"Courage is the quality most essential to understanding the
Language of the World."


Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever
suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter
with God and with eternity."





It is we who nourish the Soul of the World, and the world we live in will be either better or worse, depending
on whether we become better or worse. And that's where the power of love comes in. Because when
we love, we always strive to become better than we are."


‎(The Alchemist) did not enjoy a film tie-in and was not recommended by positive reviews and the media, but it is still selling, only relying on the word of mouth as its main marketing tool.

One of the chief complaints lodged against the book is that the story, praised for its fable-like simplicity, actually is a fable–-a retelling of "The Ruined Man who Became Rich Again through a Dream" (Tale 14 from the collection One Thousand and One Nights[11]. Coelho, however, does not credit this source text anywhere in the book or in the preface, passing the story as an original work of fiction. Also the life story of Takkeci Ibrahim Aga who is believed to live in Istanbul during 1500s, has the same plot.

Of course, Paul shares his files, too. Interesting that I've wanted to develop story from previous books of late, too! See Dracula, Lost World entries.




I have inside me the
winds, the deserts, the oceans, the stars, and everything created in the universe. We were all made by the
same hand, and we have the same soul. I want to be like you, able to reach every corner of the world,
cross the seas, blow away the sands that cover my treasure, and carry the voice of the woman I love."


Next: Enter ---Pythagoras!

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