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Paulo Coelho Quotes and Sayings
#1 Paulo Coelho’s Website, 30 July 2008
1. In love lies the seed of our growth. The more we love, the closer we are to the spiritual experience.
#2 Eleven Minutes, Chapter 10
2. All my life, I thought of love as some kind of voluntary enslavement. Well, that’s a lie: freedom only exists when love is present. The person who gives him or herself wholly, the person who feels freest, is the person who loves most wholeheartedly.
#3-6 From the diary of Maria, the prostitute in Eleven Minutes
3. 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. The universe only makes sense when we have someone to share our feelings with.
4. In love, no one can harm anyone else; we are each of us responsible for our own feelings and cannot blame someone else for what we feel.
5. If I must be faithful to someone or something, then I have, first of all, to be faithful to myself.
6. Love one another, but let’s not try to possess one another.
#7-9 The Alchemist, 1988
7. Because when we love, we always strive to become better than we are.
8. One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.
9. Love is the force that transforms and improves the soul of the world.
#10 Twitter, 11 December 2010
10. Love perseveres. It’s people who change.
#11 Twitter, 19 June 2014
11. If everybody loves you, something is wrong. You can’t please everybody.
#12 Twitter, 18 December 2012
12. We don’t need to explain our love. We only need to show it.
#13 The Winner Stands Alone
13. If you love someone, you must be prepared to set them free.
#14 Twitter [S]
14. Kiss slowly,
laugh insanely,
love truly,
forgive quickly.
#15-16 The Zahir: A Novel of Obsession
15. The energy of hatred won’t get you anywhere; but the energy of forgiveness, which reveals itself through love, will transform your life in a positive way. [S]
16. History will only change when we are able to use the energy of love, just as we use the energy of the wind, the seas, the atom. [S]
#17 Facebook, 31 May 2016
17. Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.
#18 Twitter, 6 February 2014
18. Life sometimes separates people so that they can realize how much they mean to each other.
#19 Aleph, 2011
19. Love always triumphs over what we call death. That’s why there’s no need to grieve for our loved ones, because they continue to be loved and remain by our side.
Twitter, 6 June 2018
20. We can harness the energy of the winds, the seas, the sun. But the day we learn to harness the energy of love, that will be as important as the discovery of fire.
#21 Twitter, 1 April 2017
21. Live simply. Dream big. Be grateful. Give love. Laugh lots.
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Excerpt from Wikipedia: Paulo Coelho (born August 24, 1947) is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist.
In 1986, Coelho walked the 500-plus mile Road of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, a turning point in his life. On the path, Coelho had a spiritual awakening, which he described autobiographically in The Pilgrimage. In an interview, Coelho stated “[In 1986], I was very happy in the things I was doing. I was doing something that gave me food and water — to use the metaphor in The Alchemist, I was working, I had a person who I loved, I had money, but I was not fulfilling my dream. My dream was, and still is, to be a writer.” Coelho would leave his lucrative career as a songwriter and pursue writing full-time.
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Paulo Coelho Sayings
#1-9 Aleph, 2011
1. Past and future exist only in our memory. The present moment, though, is outside of time, it’s Eternity.
2. In magic—and in life—there is only the present moment, the now. You can’t measure time the way you measure the distance between two points. “Time” doesn’t pass.
3. Life has been very hard on me, but, at the same time, it has taught me a great deal.
4. It isn’t what you did in the past that will affect the present. It’s what you do in the present that will redeem the past and thereby change the future.
5. We are not the person other people wish we were. We are who we decide to be.
6. Only mediocrity is sure of itself, so take risks, and do what you really want to do.
7. What hurts us is what heals us.
8. When I knocked, the door opened. When I looked, I found.
9. To live is to experience things, not sit around pondering the meaning of life.
#10 Dona M. Deane: Honor Your Gifts, 2007, p. 199.
10. But there is suffering in life, and there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it’s better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for your dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what you’re fighting for.
#11 Twitter, 27 September 2010
11. Our dreams give us strength to perform impossible tasks.
#12 Facebook, 12 October 2010: No pongas tus sueños en manos de aquellos que pueden destruirlos
12. Don’t place your dreams in the hands of those whom can destroy them.
#13 Twitter, 25 May 2017
13. Your past is just a lesson, not a life sentence.
#14 Facebook, 18 May 2014
14. Life can seem short or life can seem long, depending on how you live it.
#15 Twitter, 22 Apr 2011
15. You are the light of the world. Shine, and darkness will disappear.
#16 Facebook, 12 December 2009
16. Joy goes against the foundations of mathematics: it multiplies when we divide.
#17 Facebook, 10 May 2011
17. Many people are afraid to hope. They want to be prepared for failure.
#18-22 Closing cycles, 27 December 2016
18. Before a new chapter is begun, the old one has to be finished: tell yourself that what has passed will never come back.
19. Remember that there was a time when you could live without that thing or that person – nothing is irreplaceable, a habit is not a need.
20. Things pass, and the best we can do is to let them really go away.
21. Closing cycles. Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because that no longer fits your life.
22. Stop being who you were, and change into who you are.
#23 Twitter, 2 October 2012
23. Close some doors today. Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because they lead you nowhere.
#24 Twitter, 27 July 2015
24. Life has a way of testing a person’s will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen at once.
#25 Twitter, 13 February 2011
25. If you act like a victim, you are likely to be treated as one.
#26 Twitter, 4 August 2013
26. One day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do it now.
#27 Facebook, 9 April 2012
27. Don’t explain. Your friends do not need it, and your enemies will not believe you.
#28 Twitter, 8 June 2012
28. Do something instead of killing time. Because time is killing you.
#29 Twitter, 20 November 2012
29. Straight roads do not make skillful drivers.
#30 Twitter, 10 May 2013
30. I refuse to walk carefully through life only to arrive safely at death.
#31 Twitter, 18 April 2012
31. If you’re brave enough to say good bye, life will reward you with a new hello.
#32-35 Eleven Minutes, 2003
32. I can choose either to be a victim of the world or an adventurer in search of treasure. It’s all a question of how I view my life.
33. Life always waits for some crisis to occur before revealing itself at its most brilliant.
34. No one loses anyone, because no one owns anyone. That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it.
35. Anyone who has lost something they thought was theirs forever (as has happened often enough to me already) finally comes to realize that nothing really belongs to them.
#36 Twitter, 29 November 2012
36. A boat is safe in the harbor. But this is not the purpose of a boat.
#37 Facebook, 24 March 2014
37. Follow your dreams, transform your life.
#38 Twitter, 16 April 2013
38. Don’t allow your wounds to transform you into someone you are not.
#39 Facebook, 16 April 2012
39. Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.
#40 Twitter, 13 June 2017
40. If it’s not gonna matter in 5 months don’t be upset for more than 5 minutes.
#41 Twitter, 16 January 2017
41. Life takes us by surprise and orders us to move toward the unknown – even when we think we don’t need to.
#42 Twitter, 2 June 2017
42. Life is strange: people who know the least about you always have the most to say, suggest and criticize.
#43 2013: the first year of the rest of my life
43. No one can go back, but everyone can go forward. And tomorrow, when the sun rises, all you have to say to yourselves is: I am going to think of this day as the first day of my life.
#44 Twitter, 20 August 2013
44. Fight for your dreams, and your dreams will fight for you.
#45 The Alchemist
45. 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.
#46 Twitter, 12 January 2011
46. To enjoy the rainbow, first enjoy the rain.
#47 Twitter, 9 March 2010
47. Trust and start walking. We are not alone in the dark, our path will unfold as we move.
#48-51 MANUSCRIPT FOUND IN ACCRA
48. Help us to know that when our legs are tired, we can keep walking thanks to the strength in our hearts, and that when our hearts are tired, we can still carry on thanks to the strength of our Faith.
49. Success does not come from having one’s work recognised by others. It is the fruit of the seed that you lovingly planted.
50. To him who knocks, the door will open. He who asks will receive. He who consoles knows that he will be consoled.
51. You will only be loved and respected if you love and respect yourself. Never try to please everyone; if you do, you will be respected by no one.
#52 Facebook, 25 April 2014
52. All life battles teach us something, even those we lose.
#53 The Fifth Mountain
53. There are moments when troubles enter our lives and we can do nothing to avoid them. But they are there for a reason. Only when we have overcome them will we understand why they were there.
#54 The Devil and Miss Prym, 2000
54. When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not ready.
#55 Twitter, 24 July 2013
55. None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, yet still we go forward. Because we trust. Because we have Faith
#56 Facebook, 27 June 2014
56. It is useless to suffer for things we can not change, as it is useless to suffer for things we can.
#57 Facebook, 5 July 2014
57. No life is complete without a touch of madness.
#58 Twitter, 19 February 2015
58. Heaven and hell aren’t places, but states. You don’t need to die to know both.
#59 Twitter, 23 August 2015
59. Wasted time is worse than wasted money.
#60 Adultery: A novel
60. We can’t choose our lives, but we can decide what to do with the joys or griefs we’re given.
#61 Facebook, 24 May 2016
61. Never ruin a good day by thinking about a bad yesterday.
#62 Brida, 1990
62. When you find your path, you must not be afraid. You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes. Disappointment, defeat, and despair are the tools God uses to show us the way.
#63 What is funny about man
63. They are so anxious about the future, that they neglect the present, and thus live in neither the present nor the future. They live as if they were never going to die, and die as if they had never lived.
#64-71 The Alchemist, 1988
64. We warriors of light must be prepared to have patience in difficult times and to know the Universe is conspiring in our favor, even though we may not understand how.
65. The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.
66. It’s the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary; only wise men are able to understand them.
67. When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
68. Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dream.
69. There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.
70. Wherever your heart is, that is where you’ll find your treasure.
71. There is only one way to learn. It’s through action. Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.
#72 By the River Piedra, I Sat Down and Wept, 1994
72. You have to take risks, he said. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen.
#73 Twitter, 28 October 2014
73. Telling the truth and making someone cry is better than telling a lie to make someone laugh.
#74 Twitter, 13 July 2017
74. Be a good person, but don’t waste your time trying to prove it.
#75 Twitter, 25 July 2017
75. There comes a point in your life when you realize what really matters, what never did, and what always will.
#76 Twitter, 5 August 2017
76. Things worth having are worth waiting for.
#77 Publishing Tips: Weekly Strategies for the Independent Writer, Linda A. Lavid, 2008, p. 57.
77. You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.
#78 Twitter, 2 September 2017
78. Patience is not about waiting, but how we act when things take longer than we expect.
#79 Twitter, 26 September 2017
79. Friendship isn’t about whom you have known the longest. It’s about who came and never left.
#80 Twitter, 12 October 2017
80. Take the first chance that you get because you may never get another one.
#81 Twitter, 10 November 2017
81. Silence and Smile are two very powerful tools. Smile is the way to solve many problems. Silence is the way to avoid many problems.
#82 Twitter, 8 April 2018
82. Negative thoughts, if not resisted, soon become the only way to see the world.
#83 Twitter, 17 February 2018
83. I want to continue being crazy; living my life the way I dream it, and not the way the other people want it to be.
#84 Twitter, 5 March 2018
84. When you are going through difficult times, remember: you might have lost some major battles, but you survived and you’re still here. That is a victory. Show your happiness and celebrate your ability to go forward.
#85 Twitter, 24 June 2018
85. Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming someone. Maybe it’s about getting rid of everything that isn’t really you.
#86 Twitter, 3 June 2012
86. The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.
#87 Aleph, HarperCollins UK, 1 September 2011
87. When faced by any loss, there’s no point in trying to recover what has been, it’s best to take advantage of the large space that opens up before us and fill it with something new.
#88-97 Paulo Coelho’s Blog [S]
88. Miracles only happen if you believe in miracles.
89. It is always important to know when something has reached its end. Closing circles, shutting doors, finishing chapters, it doesn’t matter what we call it; what matters is to leave in the past those moments in life that are over.
90. The world lies in the hands of those who have the courage to dream and who take the risk of living out their dreams – each according to his or her own talent.
91. The most important experiences we can have are those that take us to the very limit. That is the only way we learn, because it requires all our courage.
92. Those who never take risks can only see other people’s failures.
93. ‘Someday’, ‘maybe’ and ‘if’ are very dangerous words that must be avoided.
94. Be crazy! But learn how to be crazy without being the center of attention. Be brave enough to live different.
95. We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation. It’s one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it’s another to think that yours is the only path.
96. You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one, each day brings a miracle of its own. It’s just a matter of paying attention to this miracle.
97. Whenever you want to achieve something, keep your eyes open, concentrate and make sure you know exactly what it is you want. No one can hit their target with their eyes closed.
#98 X (Formerly Twitter)
98. Some people around you will not understand your journey. They don’t need to; it’s not for them. [S]
#99 The Spy
99. Even the tallest trees are able to grow from tiny seeds like these. Remember this, and try not to rush time.
#100 Twitter, 17 August 2018 [S]
100. Not all storms come to disrupt your life, some come to clear your path.
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Unsourced Paulo Coelho Quotes
1. When we love, it is not necessary to understand what is happening outside, because everything happens inside us instead.
2. When you love, things make even more sense.
3. Certain things in life simply have to be experienced and never explained. Love is such a thing.
4. Love creates bridges where it would seem they were impossible.
5. You can’t preserve your emotions in formal. Love changes with time and discovers new ways of expressing itself.
6. You can’t avoid pain, but you can chose to overcome it.
7. Don’t expect to get anything back, don’t expect recognition for your efforts, don’t expect your genius to be discovered or your love to be understood. Act because you need to act.
8. There are moments when you must be prepared to take a risk to do something crazy.
9. I learned long ago that in order to heal my wounds, I must have the courage to face up to them.
Connect to Paulo Coelho’s Official Site and blog