Paulo Coelho

“Each human being is unique, each with their own qualities, instincts, forms of pleasure, and desire for adventure. However, society always imposes on us a collective ways of behaving, and people never stop to wonder why they should behave like that. They just accept it, the way typists accepted the fact that the QWERTY keyboard was the best possible one. Have you ever met anyone is your entire life who asked why the hands of a clock should go in one particular direction and not the other?”

“A lot of people think something is right, and so that thing becomes right.”

“Because when everyone dreams, but only a few realize their dreams, that makes cowards of us all.”

“Because of that she had never had enough energy to be herself, a person who, like everyone else in the world, needed other people in order to be happy. But other people were so difficult. They reacted in unpredictable ways, they surrounded themselves with defensive walls, they behaved just as she did, pretending they didn't care about anything. When someone more open to life appeared, they either rejected them outright or made them suffer, consigning them to being inferior, ingenuous.”

“it's best to accept life as it really is and not as I imagined it to be”

“Still, being fragile creatures, humans always try to hide from themselves the certainty that they will die. They do not see that it is death itself that motivates them to do the best things in their lives. They are afraid to step into the dark, afraid of the unknown, and their only way of conquering that fear is to ignore the fact that their days are numbered. They do not see that with an awareness of death, they would be able to be even more daring, to go much further in their daily conquests, because then they would have nothing to lose- for death itself is inevitable.”

“Human beings are the only ones in nature who are aware that they will die. For that reason and only for that reason, I have a profound respect for the human race, and I believe that its future is going to be much better than its present. Even knowing that their days are numbered and that everything will end when they least expect it, people make of their lives a battle that is worthy of a being with eternal life. What people regard as vanity-leaving great works, having children, acting in such a way as to prevent one's name from being forgotten- I regard as the highest expression of human dignity.”

“It's a good idea always to do something relaxing prior to making an important decision in your life.”

“We are always trying to convert people to a belief in our own explanation of the universe. We think that the more people there are who believe as we do, the more certain it will be that what we believe is the truth. But it doesn't work that way at all.”

“We always know which is the best road to follow, but we follow only the road that we have become accustomed to.”

“The busiest people I have known in my life always have time enough to do everything. Those who do nothing are always tired and pay no attention to the little amount of work they are required to do. They complain constantly that the day is too short. The truth is, they are afraid to fight the good fight.”

“everyone knows how to love because we are all born with that gift.”

“The aim of every human being is to understand the meaning of total love.”

“The true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it.”

“Its best to live as if it were the first and last day of my life.”

“No one owns anything. Anyone who has lost something they thought was theirs forever finally comes to realize that nothing really belongs to them. And if nothing belongs to me, then there's no point wasting my time looking after things that aren't mine.”

“If I must be faithful to someone or something, I have, first of all, have to be faithful to myself.”

“Sometimes, you get no second chance and that its best to accept the gifts the world offers you.”

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

“How is it possible for the beauty that was there only minutes before to vanish so quickly?”

“Everyone is indeed crazy but the craziest are those who don't know they're crazy; they just keep repeating what others tell them to.”

“Whenever someone dies, a part of the universe dies too. Everything a person felt, experience and saw dies with them, like tears in the rain.”

“Fashion may renew itself every six months but one thing remains the same: bouncers always wear black.”

“Fashion is merely a saying: I belong to your world. I'm wearing the same uniform as your army, so don't shoot.”

“Je ne veux plus avoir affaire à mes propres ténèbres, me suis-je promis à moi même, fermant définitivement la porte au nez de l'Autre. Une chute de troisième étage fait tout autant de dégâts qu'une chute du centième étage.”

“W czoko jest spoko.”

“Follow your dreams and take your risks.”

“People destroy what they love.”

“One way or another, I have wound up destroying what I've loved. I've seen my dreams fall apart just when I seemed to achieve them. I always thought that was just the way life was. My life and everybody else's.”

“A love that asks for nothing and gives nothing in return; it is simply there. I will never be yours and you will never be mine; nevertheless, I can honestly say: I love you.”

“It is possible to avoid pain? Yes, but you'll never learn anything. Is it possible to know something without ever having experiencing it? Yes, but it will never truly be part of you.”

“We can never found the soul, just as we can never wound God, but we become imprisoned by our memories, and that makes our lives wretched, even when we have everything we need in order to be happy.”

“Life is one long training session, in preparation for what will come. Life and death lose their meaning, there are only challenges to be met with joy and overcome with tranquility.”

“At times, when loneliness seems to crush all beauty, the only way to resist is to remain open.”

“Life is a constant risk, and anyone who forget this will be unprepared for the challenges that fate may have in store.”

“We see the evil in others because we know the evil in ourselves. We never forgive those whou wound us because we believe that we would never be forgiven. We say the painful truth to others because we want to hide it from ourselves. We show our strength, so that no one can see our frailty. That is why, whenever you judge your brother, be aware that it is you who is in the dock.”

“O homen nunca pode parar de sonhar. O sonho e o alimento da alma, como a comida e o alimento do corpo.”

“I have won important things for myself, but I'm going to destroy them, because I tell myself they have lost their meaning. I know that is not true. I know they are important, and that if I destroy them, I'll be destroying myself, as well.”

“Up until then, travel and the idea of going far away had just been a dream, and dreaming is very pleasant as long as you are not forced to put your dreams into practice. That way, we avoid all the risks, frustrations and difficulties, and when we are old, we can always blame other people--preferably our parents, our spouses or our children--for our failure to realize our dreams.”

“That is what marks out the warrior: the knowledge that willpower and courage are not the same thing. Courage can attract fear and adulation, but willpower requires patience and commitment. Men and women with immense willpower are generally solitary types and give off a kind of coolness. Many people mistakenly think that (they) are cold (people) when nothing could be further from the truth.”

“It was then as he discovered that death could elude him that the fear of death returned.”

“I'm not doing anything, and yet I'm also doing the most important thing a man can do: I'm listening to what I needed to hear from myself.”

“No one could make a choice without feeling afraid.”

“You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen.Every day, God gives us the sun - and also one moment when we have the ability to change everything that makes us unhappy. Every day, we try to pretend that we haven't perceived that moment, that it doesn't exist - that today is the same as yesterday and will be the same as tomorrow. But if people really pay attention to their everyday lives, they will discover that magic moment. It may arrive in the instant when we are doing something mundane, like putting our front-door key in the lock; it may lie hidden in the quiet that follows the lunch hour or in the thousand and one things that all seem the same to us. But that moment exists - a moment when all the power of the stars becomes a part of us and enables us to perform miracles.Joy is sometimes a blessing, but it is often a conquest. Our magic moment helps us to change and sends us off in search of our dreams. Yes, we are going to suffer, we will have difficult times, and we will experience many disappointments - but all of these are transitory; it leaves no permanent mark. And one day we will look back with pride and faith at the journey we have taken.Pitiful is the person who is afraid of taking risks. Perhaps, this person would never be disappointed or disillusioned; perhaps she won't suffer the way people do when they have a dream to follow. But when the person looks back - she will never hear her heart saying 'What have you done with the miracles that God planted in your days? What have you done with the talents God has bestowed upon you? You buried yourself in a cave because you were fearful of losing those talents. So this is your heritage, the certainty that you wasted your life.'Pitiful are the people who must realize this. Because when they are finally able to believe in miracles, their life's magic moments will have already passed them by.”

“Todos los caminos del mundo llevan hasta el corazón del guerrero; él se zambulle sin pensar en el río de las pasiones que corre por su vida.”

“Entonces los ojos y el corazón del guerrero empiezan a acostumbrarse a la luz. Ya no le asusta, y él pasa a aceptar su Leyenda, aunque eso signifique correr riesgos.”

“Why do they make things so complicated?""So that those who have the responsibility for understanding can understand.," he said. "Imagine if everyone went around transforming lead into gold. Gold would lose its value.""It's those who are persistent, and willing to study things deeply, who achieve the Master Work.”

“We, their hearts, become fearful just thinking of loved ones who go away forever, or of moments that could have been good but weren't, or of moments that could have been found but were forever hidden in the sands.”

“Joy is a blessing but it often it is a conquest”

“O God, when I listen to the voices of animals, the sounds of trees, the murmurings of water, the singing of birds, the whistling of the wind, or the boom of thunder, I see in them evidence of Your unity; I feel that You are supreme power, omniscience, supreme knowledge, and supreme justice.I recognize You, O God, in the trials I am going through. May Your pleasure be my pleasure, too. May I be Your joy, the joy that a Father feels for a son. And may I think of You calmly and with determination, even when I find it hard to say I love You.”