The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream
*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.
*In his pursuit of the dream, he was being constantly subjected to tests of his persistence and courage. So he could not be hasty, nor impatient. If he pushed forward impulsively, he would fail to see the signs and omens left by God along his path.
*Everything on earth is being continuously transformed, because the earth is alive and it has a soul. We are part of that soul, so we rarely recognize that it is working for us.
*There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.
*When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.
*When you want something with all your heart, that’s when you are closest to the Soul of the World. It’s always a positive force.
*When you are loved, you can do anything in creation. When you are loved, there’s no need at all to understand what’s happening, because everything happens within you.
*I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living now.
*It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.
*There is only one way to learn,” the alchemist answered. “It’s through action. Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.
*Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place.
*Tell your heart that 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.
*Every search begins with beginner’s luck and ends with the victor’s being severely tested.
*Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure. You’ve got to find the treasure, so that everything you have learned along the way can make sense.
*Because people become fascinated with pictures and words, and wind up forgetting the Language of the World.
*If someone isn’t what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.
*It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.
*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?
*My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer,’ the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky. ‘Tell your heart that 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.
*People learn early in their lives what is their reason for being. Maybe that’s why they give up on it so early, too.
*Love is an untamed force. When we try to control it, it destroys us. When we try to imprison it, it enslaves us. When we try to understand it, it leaves us feeling lost and confused.
*When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.
*If someone isn’t what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.
*I learned that the world has a soul, and that whoever understands that soul can also understand the language of things. I learned that many alchemists realized their destinies, and wound up discovering the Soul of the World, the Philosopher’s Stone, and the Elixir of Life. But above all, I learned that these things are all so simple they could be written on the surface of an emerald.
*What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream. That’s the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one “dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.
*There was a language in the world that everyone understood, a language the boy had used throughout the time that he was trying to improve things at the shop. It was the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, and as part of a search for something believed in and desired.
LIVE-LOVE-LAUGH-LEARN 
This is one of the very few books that I've sat down and read more than once. It's not a long complicated story and reading it more than once allows you to absorb more and think deeper into your own existence.
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Indeed Ceska! Thank you for dropping a nice comment.. Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist is indeed a nice piece of art.. 🙂
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