Quotes from Paulo Coelho

Life has many ways of testing a person's will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once.

Freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose - and commit myself to - what is best for me.

Love fills everything. It cannot be desired because it is an end in itself. It cannot betray because it has nothing to do with possession. It cannot be held prisoner because it is a river and will overflow its banks. Anyone who tries to imprison love will cut off the spring that feeds it, and the trapped water will grow stagnant.

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 most people give up. It'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.

Wait. This was the first lesson I had learned about love. The day drags along, you make thousands of plans, you imagine every possible conversation, you promise to change your behavior in certain ways -- and you feel more and more anxious until your loved one arrives. But by then, you don't know what to say. The hours of waiting have been transformed into tension, the tension has become fear, and the fear makes you embarrassed about showing affection.

Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning.

If there is any possible consolation in the tragedy of losing someone we love very much, it's the necessary hope that perhaps it was for the best.

Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him.

If you want to control someone, all you have to do is to make them feel afraid.

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.

Finding one important thing in your life doesn't mean you have to give up all the other important things.

No matter how you feel today, get up, dress up & show up

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.

Reason lost the battle, and all I could do was surrender and accept I was in love.

So you see, Good and Evil have the same face; it all depends on when they cross the path of each individual human being.

People are never satisfied. If they have a little, they want more. If they have a lot, they want still more. Once they have more, they wish they could be happy with little, but are incapable of making the slightest effort in that direction.

Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.

I am surprised how difficult for people is to say I love you. They only say the three magic words when they are sure they will hear I love you too back. C'mon! Spread the energy of love without expecting anything! Cowards are incapable of expressing love; it is the prerogative of the brave

Lord, protect our decisions, because making Decision is a way of praying. Give us the courage after our doubts, to be able to choose between one road and another. May our YES always be a YES and our NO always be a NO. Once we have chosen our road, may we never look back nor allow our soul to be eaten away by remorse. And in order for this to be possible.

Feelings do not grow old along with the body. Feelings form part of a world I don't know, but it's a world where there's no time, so space, no frontiers.

The secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better. -- The Alchemist

In order to have faith in his own path, he does not need to prove that someone else's path is wrong.

Because true love never keeps a man from pursuing his destiny

But if you believe yourself worthy of the thing you fought so hard to get, then you become an instrument of God, you help the Soul of the World, and you understand why you are here.