“Everything tells me that I am about to make a wrong decision, but making mistakes is just part of life. What does the world want of me? Does it want me to take no risks, to go back to where I came from because I didn't have the courage to say "yes" to life?”
― Paulo Coelho, Eleven Minutes

“I've been in love before, it's like a narcotic. At first it brings the euphoria of complete surrender. The next day you want more. You're not addicted yet, but you like the sensation, and you think you can still control things.You think about the person you love for two minutes then forget them for three hours. But then you get used to that person, and you begin to be completely dependent on them. Now you think about him for three hours and forget him for two minutes. If he's not there, you feel like an addict who can't get a fix. And just as addicts steal and humiliate themselves to get what they need, you're willing to do anything for love."- By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept”
― Paulo Coelho

“Yes, my mind was wandering. I wished I were there with someone who could bring peace to my heart someone with whom I could spend a little time without being afraid that i would lose him the next day. With that reassurance, the time would pass more slowly. We could be silent for a while because we'd know we had the rest of our lives together for conversation. I wouldn't have to worry about serious matters, about difficult decisions and hard words.”
― Paulo Coelho, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

“At every moment of our lives, we all have one foot in a fairy tale and the other in the abyss.”
― Paulo Coelho

“The most important thing in all human relationships is conversation, but people don’t talk anymore, they don’t sit down to talk and listen. They go to the theater, the cinema, watch television, listen to the radio, read books, but they almost never talk. If we want to change the world, we have to go back to a time when warriors would gather around a fire and tell stories.”
― Paulo Coelho

“إننا نحاول دوماً تفسير الأمور وفق ما نريد، لا وفق ما هي عليه”
― باولو كويلو, ألف

“Everyone believes the world's greatest lie..." says the mysterious old man.
"What is the world's greatest lie?" the little boy asks.
The old man replies, "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.”
― paulo coelho

“It's risky, falling in love."

"I know that," I answered. "I've been in love before. It's like a narcotic. At first it brings the euphoria of complete surrender. The next day, you want more. You're not addicted yet, but you like the sensation, and you think you can still control things. You think about the person you love for two minutes, and forget them for three hours.

"But then you get used to that person, and you begin to be completely dependent on them. Now you think about him for three hours and forget him for two minutes. If he's not there, you feel like an addict who can't get a fix. And just as addicts steal and humiliate themselves to get what they need, you're willing to do anything for love."

"What a horrible way to put it," he said.”
― Paulo Coelho, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

“In love, no one can harm anyone else; we are each responsible for our own feelings and cannot blame someone else for what we feel.”
― Paulo Coelho, Eleven Minutes

“Never be ashamed,’ he said. ‘Accept what life offers you and try to drink from every cup. All wines should be tasted; some should only be sipped, but with others, drink the whole bottle.’
‘How will I know which is which?’
‘By the taste. You can only know a good wine if you have first tasted a bad one.”
― Paulo Coelho, Brida

“No matter how you feel today, get up, dress up & show up”
― Paulo Coelho

“When someone leaves, its because someone else is about to arrive- I'll find love again.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Zahir

“When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“Don't explain. Your friends do not need it, and your enemies will not believe you”
― Paulo Coelho

“أحياناً نحتاج إلى أن نكون غرباء عن أنفسنا، عندئذ سينير النور في روحنا ما نحتاج إلى رؤيته”
― باولو كويلو, ألف

“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.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Winner Stands Alone

“It is not time that changes man nor knowledge the only thing that can change someone's mind is love.”
― Paulo Coelho, Eleven Minutes

“Love is not to be found in someone else but in ourselves; we simply awaken it. But in order to do that, we need the other person.”
― Paulo Coelho, Eleven Minutes

“All religions lead to the same God, and all deserve the same respect. Anyone who chooses a religion is also choosing a collective way for worshipping and sharing the mysteries. Nevertheless, that person is the only one responsible for his or her actions along the way and has no right to shift responsibility for any personal decisions on to that religion.”
― Paulo Coelho, Like the Flowing River

“Choosing a path means having to miss out on others”
― Paulo Coelho, Brida

“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.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“The boat is safer anchored at the port; but that’s not the aim of boats.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Pilgrimage

“Love, too, was just a question of time”
― Paulo Coelho, The Devil and Miss Prym

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“God hides the fires of hell within paradise.”
― Paulo Coelho, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

“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.”
― Paulo Coelho, Veronika Decides to Die

“And they will return one day knowing the miracle of the heavens and of all the world. God knew what he was doing when he drew their attention to the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If he hadn’t wanted them to eat it, he would never have mentioned it.”
― Paulo Coelho, Brida

“You are not trying to find the answer to a question, you are simply trying to confirm something you desperately want to believe; That everyone is evil. ” Chantal”
― Paulo Coelho, The Devil and Miss Prym

“I ran across an excerpt today (in English translation) of some dialogue/narration from the modern popular writer, Paulo Coelho in his book: Aleph.(Note: bracketed text is mine.)... 'I spoke to three scholars,' [the character says 'at last.'] ...two of them said that, after death, the [sic (misprint, fault of the publisher)] just go to Paradise. The third one, though, told me to consult some verses from the Koran. [end quote]' ...I can see that he's excited. [narrator]' ...Now I have many positive things to say about Coelho: He is respectable, inspiring as a man, a truth-seeker, and an appealing writer; but one should hesitate to call him a 'literary' writer based on this quote. A 'literary' author knows that a character's excitement should be 'shown' in his or her dialogue and not in the narrator's commentary on it. Advice for Coelho: Remove the 'I can see that he's excited' sentence and show his excitement in the phrasing of his quote.(Now, in defense of Coelho, I am firmly of the opinion, having myself written plenty of prose that is flawed, that a novelist should be forgiven for slipping here and there.)Lastly, it appears that a belief in reincarnation is of great interest to Mr. Coelho ... Just think! He is a man who has achieved, (as Leonard Cohen would call it), 'a remote human possibility.' He has won lots of fame and tons of money. And yet, how his preoccupation with reincarnation—none other than an interest in being born again as somebody else—suggests that he is not happy!”
― Roman Payne

“The truth is that we don't want to be saved by in the way God has chosen; we want to keep absolute control over our every step, to be fully conscious of our decisions, to be capable of choosing the object of our devotion. It isn't like that with love - it arrives, moves in, and starts directing everything.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello