The Alchemist

BY: PAULO COELHO

In one line: One of the best-selling books in history and an all-time favorite; timeless wisdom & inspiration for the depths of your soul–if you haven’t read this one, it’s time to pick it up 🙂

In one more line: A favorite excerpt: People need not fear the unknown if they are capable of achieving what they want. “We are afraid of losing what we have, whether its our life or our possessions, or property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand.”

• The story of Narcissus – the youth boy who went and contemplated his beauty in the lake, falls in and drowns
• ‘When I read about clashes around the world–political clashes, economic clashes, cultural clashes–I am reminded that it is within our power to build a bridge to be crossed.  Even if my neighbor doesn’t understand my religion or understand my politics, he can understand my story.  If he can understand my story, then he’s never too far from me.  It is always within my power to build a bridge.  There is always a chance for reconciliation, a chance that one day he and I will sit around a table together and put an end to our history of clashes. And on this day, he will tell me his story and I will tell him mine.  – Paulo Coelho, 2014, ‘The Alchemist’
• Its the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting. (P13)
• Dreams are the language of God…if he speaks in the language of the soul, it is only you who can understand. (P15)
• Its the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary. (P17) – palm reader woman
• When someone sees the same people every day, they become part of that persons life. And then, they want the person to change. If someone isn’t what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how others should lead their lives, but none about his or her own. (P18)
• The world’s greatest lie is that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. – The King of Salem, Melchizedek (p20)
• Sometimes its better to be alone with ones books. They tell their incredible stories at the time when you want to hear them. (P22)
• Personal Legend is what you’ve always wanted to accomplish. Everyone when they are young knows it. At that point in their lives, everything is clear and possible. They’re 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 all be impossible for them to realize their Personal Legend…Its a force that appears to be negative, but actually shows you how to realize your legend. It prepares your spirit and your will, because there is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it’s because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. Its your mission on Earth. To realize ones personal legend is a persons only real obligation. All things are one. And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. (P23-24)
• People are capable, at any time in the lives, of doing what they dream of. (P25)
• Everything in life has its price. (P27)
• If you start out by promising what you don’t even have yet, you’ll lose your desire to work toward getting it. (P27)
• When each day is the same as the next, its because people fail to recognize the things that happen in their lives every day, that the sun rises. (P30)
• “The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon.” A shepherd may like to travel but he should never forget about his sheep. (P35)
• “I’m like everyone else—I see the world in terms of what I would like to see happen, not what actually does.” (P43)
• Why ask more out of life? Because we have to respond to omens. Its called the principle of favorability, beginner’s luck. Because the universe wants you to achieve your personal legend. (P54)
• The Koran/Quran (Muslim) says to satisfy five duties in life – believe in one true god, pray 5 times a day, be charitable to the poor, pilgrimage, and fast during Ramadan. (P56)
• Every blessing ignored becomes a curse. – The Crystal Merchant (P60)
• There’s a language in the world that everyone understood, the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, and as part of a search for something believed in and desired. (P64)
• Making a decision is only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, they are really diving into a strong current that will carry them to places they had never dreamed of when they first made the decision. – The Englishman searching for the Alchemist (p70)
• If I could, I’d write a huge encyclopedia about the words luck and coincidence. It’s with those words that the universal language is written.” – The Englishman (p73)
• Intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life, where the histories of all people are connected, and we are able to know everything because its all written there. (P76/77)
• People need not fear the unknown if they are capable of achieving what they want. “We are afraid of losing what we have, whether its our life or our possessions and property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand.” – The old camel driver (P77)
• “That’s the principle that governs all things. In alchemy its called the Soul of the World. 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.” – The Englishman
• Its only those who are persistent, and willing to study things deeply, who achieve the Master Work. – The Englishman (P85)
• It’s not that things reveal anything at all; it’s that people, looking at what was occurring around them, can find a means of penetration to the soul of the world — essentially we find a way to create symbolic meaning out of the things that happen around us and what we see. (P104)
• “If good things are coming, they will be a pleasant surprise,” said the seer. “If bad things are, and you know in advance, you will suffer greatly before they even occur.” (P106)
• 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. Forget about the future, and live each day according to the teachings, Confident that God loves his children. Each day brings with it an eternity. – The Seer (P106)
• Courage is the quality most essential to understanding the language of the world. You must not let up, even after having come so far. You must love the desert, but never trust it completely because the desert tests all men: it challenges every step, and kills those who become distracted.” – The Stranger on the White Horse (P115)
• “Its not what enters men’s mouths that’s evil, said the alchemist. Its what comes out of their mouths that is.” (P119)
• “One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.” – Fatima (P126)
• There is only one way to learn. Its through action. – The Alchemist (P129)
• Immerse yourself in wherever you are. You dont have to understand it if you immerse yourself in it, it will give you an understanding. (p131)
• Listen to your heart. It knows all things, because it came from the Soul of the World, and it will one day return there. – The Alchemist (P132)
• You listen to your heart because wherever your heart is where you will find your treasure. Your heart is alive, keep listening to it. – the Alchemist (P133)
• You will never escape from your heart. So its better to listen to what it has to say. That way you will never have to fear an unanticipated blow. (P134)
• The fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second one of the search is a seconds encounter with God & eternity. (p134)
• Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits them. We speak of peoples hearts, seldom say much about those treasures, because people no longer want to go in search of them. We speak of them only to children. Later, we simply let life proceed, in its own direction, toward its own fate. Unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them—the path to their Personal Legends, and to happiness. Most people see the world as a threatening place and because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place. – Message from Santiago’s heart (P135)
• What you 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. Thats the point at which most people give up. Its 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.’ Every search begins with beginners luck. And every search ends with the victors being severely tested. – The Alchemist (P137). The darkest hour of the night comes just before the dawn.
• One of lifes simplest lessons…when you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed. (P138)
• Your eyes show the strength of your soul. – The Alchemist (P141)
• There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure. – The Alchemist (P146)
• “That’s what alchemists do. They show that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” – Santiago
• It is we who nourish the Soul of the World. And the world we live in will either be better or worse, depending on whether we become better or worse. And that’s where the power of loves comes in. Because when we love, we always strive to become better than we are. (p155)
• “Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.” – Arab Proverb (P161)
• “No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn’t know it.” – The Alchemist (P163)