“Only one thing can spoil sand: perfume.”

“There was only one thing the perfume could not do. It could not turn him into a person who could love and be loved like everyone else. So, to hell with it he thought. To hell with the world. With the perfume. With himself”

“Don't think about what you've left behind" The alchemist said to the boy as they began to ride across the sands of the desert. "If what one finds is made of pure matter, it will never spoil. And one can always come back. If what you had found was only a moment of light, like the explosion of a star, you would find nothing on your return.”

“There is only one good thing in life, and that is love. And how you misunderstand it! how you spoil it! You treat it as something solemn like a sacrament, or something to be bought, like a dress.”

“If what one finds is made of pure matter; it will never spoil. and one can always come back. If what you had found was only a moment of light, like the explosion of a star, you would find nothing in return.”

“I want to be spoiled like a child. Cry to my heart's content. But I can only suppress my feelings...”