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.
“That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it.”
“love is just a further impetus, not something that will prevent us going forward. We do not realize that those who genuinely wish us well want us to be happy and are prepared to accompany us on that journey.”
“It is not time that changes man nor knowledge the only thing that can change someone's mind is love.”
“life can seem either very long or very short, according to how you live it.”
“The story of one person is the story of all of humanity.”
“If you understand life you need a reality check.”
“A Warrior knows that an angel and a devil are both competing for his sword hand. The devil says: "You will weaken. You will not know exactly when. You are afraid." The angel says: "You will weaken. You will not know exactly when. You are afraid." The Warrior is surprised. Both the angel and the devil have said the same thing. The devil continues: "Let me help you." And the angel says: "I will help you." At that moment the Warrior understands the difference. The words may be the same but these two allies are completely different. And he chooses the angel's hand.”
“I don't know why we human beings are so obsessed with making rules about everything.”
“The optimist and the pessimist both die in the end, but each lives is life in a completely different way.”
“I can only conclude that worse than hunger or thirst, worse than being unemployed, unhappy in love or defeated and in despair, far worse than any of all those things, is feeling that no one, absolutely no one, cares about us.”
“We see the world in terms of what we would like to see happen, not what actually does.”
“Lo que perturba es el riesgo de ser diferente, y el horror de ser igual...”
“Don't explain. Your friends do not need it, and your enemies will not believe you”
“Cuando todos los días resultan iguales es porque las personas han dejado de percibir las cosas buenas que aparecen en sus vidas siempre que el sol cruza el cielo.”
“we can harness the energy of the winds, the seas, the sun . But the day man learns to harness the energy of love, that will be as important as the discovery of fire.”
“Avoiding problems you need to face is avoiding life you need to live”
“Come on, let's go. Crazy people do crazy things.”
“if you force yourself to be the same as everyone else. It causes neuroses, psychoses, and paranoia. it's a distortion of nature, it goes against God's laws, for in all the world's woods and forests he did not create a single leaf the same as another.”
“she considered the possibility of telling her about everything that was happening, but then she changed her mind; people never learn anything by being told; they have to find out for themselves.”
“Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place.”
“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.”
“If I can learn to understand this language without words, I can learn to understand the world.”
“As he mused about these things, he realized that he had to choose between thinking of himself as the poor victim of a thief and as an adventurer in quest of his treasure.”
“It's one thing to feel you are on the right path, but it's another to think that yours is the only path.”
“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.”
“Tomorrow, sell our camel and buy a horse. Camels are traitorous: they walk thousands of paces and never seem to tire. Then suddenly, they kneel and die. But horses tire bit by bit. You always know how much you know you can ask of them, and when it is that they are about to die.”
“If you don't want to believe me, you don't have to do anything about it.”
“Well, then, why do we need all these books?" the boy asked. "So that we can understand those few lines," the Englishman answered, without appearing really to believe what he had said.”
“The boy knew a lot of people in the city. That was was what made traveling appeal to him-- he always made new friends, and he didn't need to spend all if his time with them.”
“I have never heard of them, but, if it was a child who showed them to you, they exist.”
“But ever since he had been a child, he wanted to know the world, and this was much more important to him than knowing God and learning about man's sins.”
“He told himself that he would have to start reading thicker books: they lasted longer, and made more comfortable pillows.”
“Freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose - and commit myself to - what is best for me.”
“When trying to seduce a woman, a writer says: 'I'm a writer', and scribbles a poem on a napkin. It always works.”
“I want to be a writer, not an engineer who writes books.”
“I've discovered my vocation. I want to be a writer.”
“I want to be someone capable of seeing the unseen faces, of seeing those who do not seek fame or glory, who silently fulfil the role life has given them. I want to be able to do this because the most important things, those that shape our existence, are precisely the ones that never show their faces.”
“The future would end up finding out the truth about the past.”
“Things do not always happen the way I would have wanted, and it's best that I get used to that.”
“The celebrity syndrome. When people forget who they are and start to believe what other people say about them. The Superclass, everyone's dream, a world without shadows or darkness, where yes is the only possible answer to any request.”
“If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine; it is lethal.”
“Close cycles. Not because of pride or arrogance, but because that no longer fits your life”
“I've lit a fire on the mountain opposite yours”
“It hurt when I lost each the various men I fell in love with. Now, though, I am convinced that no one loses anyone, because no one owns anyone.That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it.”
“And the person who loves wholeheartedly feels free.”
“Life sometimes separates people so that they can realize how much they mean to each other.”
“Fortunate are those who take the first steps.”
“It's true; life really is generous to those who pursue their destiny”
“Words are tears that have beenwritten down. Tears are words thatneed to be shed.”
“They were there, but they were sitting as silently as everyone else, theireyes fixed on you, trying to supportyou with their gaze, as if a gazecould ever support anyone.”