Paulo Coelho

Novelist

1947-08-24

Brazilian novelist known for spiritually themed fiction, especially The Alchemist. His books have been translated into many languages and have sold widely worldwide. He has also written memoir and reflective prose works.

Books by Paulo Coelho

O Alquimista
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Brida
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Am Ufer des Rio Piedra saß ich und weinte
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Quotes by Paulo Coelho

Every day was there to be lived or to mark one's departure from this world.
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Even from a distance, their eyes conveyed the strength of their souls. And their eyes spoke of death.
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She didn't struggle and soshe didn't grow
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(On the myth of Eros)Each time I recall this myth, I wonder: Are we never to be able to see the true face of love? And I understand what the Greeks meant by this: Love is an act of faith and its face should always be covered in mystery. Every moment should be lived with feeling and emotion because if we try to decipher it and understand it, the magic disappears.
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Haven't you learned anything, not even with the approach of death? Stop thinking all the time that you're in the way, that you're bothering the person next to you. If people don't like it, they can complain. And if they don't have the courage to complain, that's their problem
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If you have a past with which you feel dissatisfied, then forget it, now. Imagine a new story for your life and believe in it. Focus only on the moments when you achieved what you desired, and that strength will help you to get what you want.
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Madness is the inability to communicate your ideas. It's as if you were in foreign country, able to see and understand everything that's going on around you, but incapable of explaining what you need to know or of being helped, because you don't understand the language they speak there. 'We've all felt that.' 'And all of us, one way or another, are mad.
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It's whatever the majority deems it to be. It's not necessarily the best or the most logical, but it's the one that has become adapted to the desires of society as a whole.
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Society had more and more rules, and laws that contradicted the rules, and new rules that contradicted the laws. People felt too frightened to take even a step outside the invisible regulations that guided everyone's lives.
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Each human being is unique, each with their own qualities, instincts, forms of pleasure, and desire for adventure. However, society always imposes on us a collective ways of behaving, and people never stop to wonder why they should behave like that. They just accept it, the way typists accepted the fact that the QWERTY keyboard was the best possible one. Have you ever met anyone is your entire life who asked why the hands of a clock should go in one particular direction and not the other?
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It's better to lose some of battles in the struggle for your dreams than to be defeated without ever even knowing what you're fighting for.
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Remember that human wisdom is madness in the eyes of God. But if we listen to the child who lives in our soul, our eyes will grow bright.
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Joy is sometimes a blessing, but it is often a conquest. our magic moment help us to change and sends us off in search of our dreams. Yes, we are going to suffer, we will experience many disappointment- but all of this is transitory,; it leaves no permanent mark.
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We're living in an age in which everything is allowed, and democracy is being devoured and destroyed by that limitless freedom.
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Everyday, God gives us the sun- and also one moment in which we have the ability to change everything that makes us unhappy. Everyday, we try to pretend that we haven't perceived that moment, that it doesn't exist - that today is the sames as tomorrow. But if people really pay attention to their everyday lives, they will discover that magic moment.
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God never abandons His children.
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In life, each person cantake one of two attitudes: to build or to plant. The builders mighttake years over their tasks, but one day, they finish what they'redoing. Then they find they're hemmed in by their own walls. Lifeloses its meaning when the building stops.Then there are those who plant. They endure storms and allthe many vicissitudes of the seasons, and they rarely rest. But,unlike a building, a garden never stops growing. And while it requiresthe gardener's constant attention, it also allows life for thegardener to be a great adventure.Gardeners always recognize one another, because they knowthat in the history of each plant lies the growth of the wholeWorld.
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We can't choose our lives, but we can decide what to do with the joys or griefs we're given.
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Make sure that when you touch the other person, all your five senses are working, because sex has a life of its own. The moment you begin, you're no longer in control; it takes control of you. And whatever you bring to it, your fears, your desires, your sensibility will remain. That's why people become impotent. When you have sex, take with you to bed only love and your senses, all five of them. Only then will you experience communion with God.
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Insanity is the ability to communicate your ideas. It's as if you were in a foreign country, able to see and understand everything that's going on around you but incapable of explaining what you need to know or of being helped, because you don't understand the language they speak there.
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