Maw Books Blog

Read my book review of The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho here.  There are a lot of great quotes from The Alchemist, too many in fact, so they deserved their own post.

So here you go:

 . . . every blessing ignored becomes a curse.  I don’t want anything else in life.  But you are forcing me to look at wealth and at horizons that I have never known.  Now that I have seen them, and now that I see how immense my possibilities are, I’m going to feel worse than I did before you arrived.  Because I know the things I should be able to accomplish, and I don’t want to do so.  - page 58.

When I had my sheep, I was happy, and I made those around me happy.  People saw me coming and welcomed me, he thought.  But now I’m sad and alone.  I’m going to become bitter and distrustful of people because one person betrayed me.  I’m going to hate those who have found their treasure because I never found mine.  And I’m going to hold on to what little I have, because I’m too insignificant to conquer the world.  - page 39.

. . . when each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lies every day the sun rises.  - page  29.

If you start out by promising what you don’t even have yet, you’ll lose your desire to work toward getting it.  - page 26

It’s [your Personal Legend] what you have always wanted to accomplish.  Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is.  At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible.  They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives.  But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their Personal Legend.  - page 22.

If God leads the sheep so well, he will also lead a man.  - page 37.

When you know [the Universal Language], it’s easy to understand that someone in the world awaits you, whether it’s in the middle of the desert or in some great city.  And when two such people encounter each other, and their eyes meet, the past and the future become unimportant.  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.  - page 98

When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person realize his dream.  - page 121.

You must understand that love never keeps a man from pursuing his Personal Legend.  If he abandons that pursuit, it’s because it wasn’t true love.  - page 126.

One is loved because one is loved.  No reason is needed for loving.  - page 128.

There is only one way to learn . . . It’s through action.  Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.  - page 131

Wherever your heart is, that is where you’ll find your treasure.  - page 128.

Treason is a blow that comes unexpectedly.  If you know your heart well, it will never be able to do that to you.  Because you’ll know its dreams and wishes, and will know how to deal with them  You will never be able to escape from your heart.  So it’s better to listen to what it has to say.  That way, you’ll never have to fear an unanticipated blow.  - page 129

People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don’t deserve them, or that they’ll be unable to achieve them.  - page 130

. . . the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.  And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.  - page 130.

When you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed.  - page 134

Do you have a favorite among them or one that stands out?