Paulo Coelho
The Brazilian author PAULO COELHO was born in 1947 in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Before dedicating his life completely to literature, he worked as theatre director and actor, lyricist and journalist. In 1986, PAULO COELHO did the pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostella, an experience later to be documented in his book The Pilgrimage. In the following year, COELHO published The Alchemist. Slow initial sales convinced his first publisher to drop the novel, but it went on to become one of the best selling Brazilian books of all time. Other titles include Brida (1990), The Valkyries (1992), By the river Piedra I sat Down and Wept (1994), the collection of his best columns published in the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo entitle Maktub (1994), the compilation of texts Phrases (1995), The Fifth Mountain (1996), Manual of a Warrior of Light (1997), Veronika decides to die (1998), The Devil and Miss Prym (2000), the compilation of traditional tales in Stories for parents, children and grandchildren (2001), Eleven Minutes (2003), The Zahir (2005), The Witch of Portobello (2006) and Winner Stands Alone (to be released in 2009). During the months of March, April, May and June 2006, Paulo Coelho traveled to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostella in 1986. He also held surprise book signings - announced one day in advance - in some cities along the way, to have a chance to meet his readers. In ninety days of pilgrimage the author traveled around the globe and took the famous Transiberrian train that took him to Vladivostok. During this experience Paulo Coelho launched his blog Walking the Path - The Pilgrimage in order to share with his readers his impressions. Since this first blog Paulo Coelho has expanded his presence in the internet with his daily blogs in Wordpress, Myspace & Facebook. He is equally present in media sharing sites such as Youtube and Flickr, offering on a regular basis not only texts but also videos and pictures to his readers. From this intensive interest and use of the Internet sprang his bold new project: The Experimental Witch where he invites his readers to adapt to the screen his book The Witch of Portobello. Indeed Paulo Coelho is a firm believer of Internet as a new media and is the first Best-selling author to actively support online free distribution of his work.
“Don’t be intimidated by other people’s opinions. Only mediocrity is sure of itself, so take risks and do what you really want to do.”
“Life is short. Kiss slowly, laugh insanely, love truly and forgive quickly”
“I've always been a very restless person. I work hard, spend too much time looking after my son, I dance like a mad thing, I learned calligraphy. I go to courses on selling, I read one book after another. But that's all a way of avoiding those moments when nothing is happening, because those blank spaces give me a feeling of absolute emptiness, in which not a single crumb of love exists.”
“There are moments when tribulations occur in our lives, and we cannot avoid them. But they are there for some reason.”
“You told me that all life's battles teach us something, even those we lose.”
“But no one can lose sight of what he desires. Even if there are moments when he believes the world and the others are stronger. The secret is this: do not surrender.”
“Cuando realmente deseas una cosa, todo el universo conspira para ayudarte a conseguirla.”
“Loneliness, when accepted, becomes a gift that will lead us to find a purpose in life.”
“Cuando tenemos los grandes tesoros delante de nosotros, nunca los reconocemos.”
“La hora más oscura era la que venía antes del nacimiento del sol.”
“Ningún corazón jamás sufrió cuando fue en busca de sus sueños”
“Tienen miedo de realizar sus mayores sueños porque consideran que no los merecen, o no van a conseguirlos.”
“Si mejoras el presente, lo que sucederá después también será mejor”
“Si mucha gente piensa que una cosa está bien, es correcta, entonces esa cosa pasa a estar bien y ser correcta.”
“For a time in my life I stood looking at the wind, I forgot to sow, I did not live joyfully, I did not even drink the wine offered me. But, one day, I judged myself ready, and I went back to work, I told men about my visions of paradise, as did Bosch, Van Gogh, Wagner, Beethoven, Einstein, and other madmen before me.”
“There's everything wrong with it. Because when everyone dreams but only a few realize their dreams, that makes cowards of us all”
“We must love because we are loved by God. We must be conscious of death if we are to have a proper understanding of life. We must struggle in order to grow, but without falling into the trap of the power we gain through that struggle, because we know that power is worthless. Finally, we must accept that our eternal soul is, at this moment, caught in the web of time with all its opportunities and its limitations.”
“When people praise us, we should always keep a close eye on how we behave”
“you only know yourself when you go beyond your limits”
“The boat is safer anchored at the port; but that’s not the aim of boats.”
“The Good Fight is the one that we fight in the name of our dreams.”
“Success is both an addiction and an enslavement...”
“Remember: when someone leaves, it's because someone else is about to arrive.”
“The secret of happiness is to sea all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon.”
“Maybe God created the desert so that man could appreciate the date trees”
“An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture”
“Forgive but do not forget, or you will be hurt again. Forgiving changes the perspectives. Forgetting loses the lesson.”
“Try to be "good", you'll be judged. Try to be yourself, you'll be criticized. Therefore, choose the second option. Evil uses the "nice good people" as puppets. It appears dressed as a poor guy, telling them that he needs help...When these people realize they have been used, it is already too late.”
“On offre des fleurs parce que dans les fleurs se trouve le sens de l'Amour. Celui qui tente de posséder une fleur verra sa beauté se flétrir. Mais celui qui regarde simplement une fleur dans un champ la gardera pour toujours. Parce qu'elle va avec l'après-midi, le coucher du soleil, l'odeur de terre mouillée et les nuages sur l'horizon.”
“There was terror in each and every one of the people on that beautiful beach and on that breathtakingly beautiful evening. Terror of being alone, terror of the darkness filling their imaginations with devils, terror of doing anything not in the manuals of good behavior, terror of God’s judgment, of what other people would say, of the law punishing any mistake, terror of trying and failing, terror of succeeding and having to live with the envy of other people, terror of loving and being rejected, terror of asking for a rise in salary, of accepting an invitation, of going somewhere new, of not being able to speak a foreign language, of not making the right impression, of growing old, of dying, of being pointed on because of one’s defects, of not being pointed out because of one’s merits, of not being noticed either for one’s defects or one’s merits. Terror, terror, terror. Life was a reign of terror, in the shadow of the guillotine. (the devil’s words)”
“If even God has a hell, which is his love for mankind, then any man has his hell within easy reach, and that's his love for his family.”
“Fear again. If you want to control someone, all you have to do is to make them feel afraid.”
“don't live in either my past or my future. I'm interested only inthe present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happyman.”
“La posibilidad de realizar un sueño es lo que hace que la vida sea interesante.”
“Existe un lenguaje que va más allá de las palabras”
“I'm off in search of adventure,even thoughi am sixty fve and fully aware of all the limitations that age can bring....”
“I must have no fear of failure. It was my fear of failure that first kept me from attempting the Master Work. Now, I'm beginning what I could have started ten years ago. But I'm happy at least that I didn't wait twenty years.”
“Have pity on those who are fearful of taking up a pen, or a paintbrush, or an instrument, or a tool because they are afraid that someone has already done so better than they could…”
“Life has many ways of testing a person's will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once.”
“Quem não considera os defeitos do ser amado como virtude, não ama.”
“He might dance down the street on his way to work, gaze into the eyes of a complete stranger and speak of love at first sight, or defend an apparently absurd idea. Warriors of light allow themselves days like these.He is not afraid to weep over ancient sorrows or feel joy at new discoveries. When he feels that the moment has arrived, he drops everything and goes off on some long-dreamed-of adventure. When he realises that he can do no more, he abandons the fight, but never blames himself for having committed a few unexpected acts of folly.A warrior does not spend his days trying to play the role that others have chosen for him.”
“The test of man then is not, 'How have I believed?' but 'How have I loved?'. The final test of religion is not religiousness, but love: not what I have done, not what I have believed, not what I have achieved, but how I have discharged the common charities of life. Sins of commission in that awful indictment are not even referred to. By what we have not done, by sins of omission, we are judged. It could not be otherwise. For the withholding of love is the negation of the Spirit of Christ, the proof that we never knew Him, that for us He lived in vain. Pastor Henry Drummond, 1890”
“With love, there are no rules. The heart decides and what it decides is all that really matters.”
“We don't always choose the best solution but we carry on regardless, trying to remain upright and decent in order to do honor not to the walls or the doors or the windows but to the empty space inside, the space where we worship and venerate what is dearest and most important to us.”
“When someone leaves, its because someone else is about to arrive- I'll find love again.”
“During sex, it is very difficult to deceive the other person because that is when each person shows who they really are.”
“Choosing a path means having to miss out on others”
“It isn't expectations that carry us forward, it's our desire to go on.”
“If we are alone, we become more alone. Life is strange”
“The spiritual path can only be traveled through the daily experience of love.”