Quotes from a book| Some of my favorites from The Alchemist
The Alchemist was quite a read. It keeps you engaged throughout the entire book, and the meaning behind every part is so great. Here's a glimpse of The Alchemist:
"It's a book that says the same thing almost all the other books in the world say...It describes people's inability to choose their own Personal Legends And it ends up saying that everyone believes the world's greatest lie." "The world's greatest lie...It's this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie." - page 18
"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. It's your mission on earth." - page 22
"The Soul of the World is nourished by people's happiness. And also by unhappiness, envy, jealousy. To realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation. All things are one. And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it." - page 22
"I'm like everyone else--I see the world in terms of what I would like to see happen, not what actually does." -page 40
"He had learned that there were certain things one shouldn't ask about, so as not to flee from one's own Personal Legend. 'I promised that I would make my own decisions.'" - page 41
"This wasn't a strange place; it was a new one." - page 41
"It was as if the world had fallen silent because the boy's soul had. He sat there, staring blankly through the door of the cafe, wishing that he had died, and that everything would end forever at that moment." - page 47
"Never stop dreaming...Follow the omens." page 62
"But the sheep had taught him something even more important: that there was language in the world that everyone understood...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. Tangier was no longer a strange city, and he felt that, just as he had conquered this place, he could conquer the world." - page 62
"Because 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. You'll see that there is life in the desert, that there are stars in the heavens, and that tribesmen fight because they are part of the human race. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we're living right now." - page 85
"Things have to be transmitted this way because they were made up from the pure life, and this kind of life cannot be captured in pictures or words. Because people become fascinated with pictures and words, and wind up forgetting the Language of the World." - page 87
"He learned the most important part of the language that all the world spoke--the language that everyone on earth was capable of understanding in their heart. It was love. Something older than humanity, more ancient than the desert. Something that exerted the same force whenever two pairs of eyes met, as had theirs here at the well." -page 93
"When you know that language, it's easy to understand that someone in the world awaits you...And when two such people encounter each other, and their eyes meet, the past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world. Without such love, one's dreams would have no meaning." page 93
"He felt sleepy. In his heart, he wanted to remain awake, but he also wanted to sleep. 'I am learning the Language of the World, and everything in the world is beginning to make sense to me'...And, in that mood, he was grateful to be in love. When you are in love, things make even more sense." - page 100
"It's not what enters men's mouths that's evil...It's what comes out of their mouths that is." - page 115
"This wise men understood that this natural world is only an image and a copy of paradise. The existence of this world is simply a guarantee that there exists a world that is perfect. God created the world so that, through its visible objects, men could understand his spiritual teachings and the marvels of his wisdom. That's what I mean by action." page 127
"'Even though I complain sometime,' [his heart] said, 'it's because I'm the heart of a person, and people's hearts are that way. People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don't deserve them, or that they'll be unable to achieve them. We, their hearts, become fearful just thinking of loved ones who go away forever, or of moments that could have been good but weren't, or of treasures that might have been found but were forever hidden in the sands. Because, when these things happen, we suffer terribly.'" - page 130
"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." - page 130
"'We, people's 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. But, 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. So we, their hearts, speak more and more softly. We never stop speaking out, but we begin to hope that our words won't be heard: we don't want people to suffer because they don't follow their hearts'...From then on, the boy understood his heart. He asked it, please, never to stop speaking to him." page 131
"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 towards 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 when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.'" - page 132
"One of life's simple lessons...When you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed." -page 134
"Your eyes show the strength of your soul." -page 137
"Don't give in to your fears....If you do, you won't be able to talk to your heart...If a person is living out his Personal Legend, he knows everything he needs to know. There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure." - page 141
"'What is love?' the desert asked. 'Love is the falcon's flight over your sands. Because for him you are a green field, from which he always returns with game.'
'The falcon's beak carries bits of me,' the desert said. 'For years, I care for his game, feeding it the little water that I ave, and then I show him where the game is. And, one day, as I enjoy the fact that his game thrives on my surface, the falcon dives out of the sky, and takes away what I've created.'
'But that's why you created the game in the first place,' the boy answered. 'To nourish the falcon. And the falcon nourishes man. And eventually, man will nourish your sands, where the game will once again flourish. That's how the world goes....that's what love is. It's what makes the game become the falcon, the falcon become man, and man, in his turn, the desert. It's what turns lead into gold, and makes the gold return to the earth.'
'I don't understand what you're talking about,' the desert said.
'But you can at least understand that somewhere in your sands there is a woman waiting for me. And that's why I have to turn myself into the wind.'" - page 144
"The wind approached the boy and touched his face. It knew of the boy's talk with the desert, because the winds know everything. They blow across the world without a birthplace, and with no place to die." - page 145
"It's not love to be static like the desert, nor is it love to roam the world like the wind. And it's not love to see everything from a distance, like [the sun does]. Love is the force that transforms and improves the Soul of the World. When I first reached through to it, I thought the Soul of the World was perfect. But later, I could see that it was like other aspects of creation, and had it's own passions and wards. It is we who nourish the Soul of the World, and the world we live in will be either better or worse, depending on whether we become better or word. And that's where the power of love comes in. Because when we love, we always strive to become better than we are." - page 150
"There's [a proverb] that says, 'Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.'" -page 156
"The boy told himself that, on the way toward realizing his own Personal Legend, he had learned all he needed to know, and had experienced everything he might have dreamed of. But here he was, at the point of finding his treasure, and he reminded himself that no project is completed until its objective has been achieved." - page 160
"It's a book that says the same thing almost all the other books in the world say...It describes people's inability to choose their own Personal Legends And it ends up saying that everyone believes the world's greatest lie." "The world's greatest lie...It's this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie." - page 18
"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. It's your mission on earth." - page 22
"The Soul of the World is nourished by people's happiness. And also by unhappiness, envy, jealousy. To realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation. All things are one. And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it." - page 22
"I'm like everyone else--I see the world in terms of what I would like to see happen, not what actually does." -page 40
"He had learned that there were certain things one shouldn't ask about, so as not to flee from one's own Personal Legend. 'I promised that I would make my own decisions.'" - page 41
"This wasn't a strange place; it was a new one." - page 41
"It was as if the world had fallen silent because the boy's soul had. He sat there, staring blankly through the door of the cafe, wishing that he had died, and that everything would end forever at that moment." - page 47
"Never stop dreaming...Follow the omens." page 62
"But the sheep had taught him something even more important: that there was language in the world that everyone understood...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. Tangier was no longer a strange city, and he felt that, just as he had conquered this place, he could conquer the world." - page 62
"Because 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. You'll see that there is life in the desert, that there are stars in the heavens, and that tribesmen fight because they are part of the human race. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we're living right now." - page 85
"Things have to be transmitted this way because they were made up from the pure life, and this kind of life cannot be captured in pictures or words. Because people become fascinated with pictures and words, and wind up forgetting the Language of the World." - page 87
"He learned the most important part of the language that all the world spoke--the language that everyone on earth was capable of understanding in their heart. It was love. Something older than humanity, more ancient than the desert. Something that exerted the same force whenever two pairs of eyes met, as had theirs here at the well." -page 93
"When you know that language, it's easy to understand that someone in the world awaits you...And when two such people encounter each other, and their eyes meet, the past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world. Without such love, one's dreams would have no meaning." page 93
"He felt sleepy. In his heart, he wanted to remain awake, but he also wanted to sleep. 'I am learning the Language of the World, and everything in the world is beginning to make sense to me'...And, in that mood, he was grateful to be in love. When you are in love, things make even more sense." - page 100
"It's not what enters men's mouths that's evil...It's what comes out of their mouths that is." - page 115
"This wise men understood that this natural world is only an image and a copy of paradise. The existence of this world is simply a guarantee that there exists a world that is perfect. God created the world so that, through its visible objects, men could understand his spiritual teachings and the marvels of his wisdom. That's what I mean by action." page 127
"'Even though I complain sometime,' [his heart] said, 'it's because I'm the heart of a person, and people's hearts are that way. People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don't deserve them, or that they'll be unable to achieve them. We, their hearts, become fearful just thinking of loved ones who go away forever, or of moments that could have been good but weren't, or of treasures that might have been found but were forever hidden in the sands. Because, when these things happen, we suffer terribly.'" - page 130
"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." - page 130
"'We, people's 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. But, 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. So we, their hearts, speak more and more softly. We never stop speaking out, but we begin to hope that our words won't be heard: we don't want people to suffer because they don't follow their hearts'...From then on, the boy understood his heart. He asked it, please, never to stop speaking to him." page 131
"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 towards 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 when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.'" - page 132
"One of life's simple lessons...When you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed." -page 134
"Your eyes show the strength of your soul." -page 137
"Don't give in to your fears....If you do, you won't be able to talk to your heart...If a person is living out his Personal Legend, he knows everything he needs to know. There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure." - page 141
"'What is love?' the desert asked. 'Love is the falcon's flight over your sands. Because for him you are a green field, from which he always returns with game.'
'The falcon's beak carries bits of me,' the desert said. 'For years, I care for his game, feeding it the little water that I ave, and then I show him where the game is. And, one day, as I enjoy the fact that his game thrives on my surface, the falcon dives out of the sky, and takes away what I've created.'
'But that's why you created the game in the first place,' the boy answered. 'To nourish the falcon. And the falcon nourishes man. And eventually, man will nourish your sands, where the game will once again flourish. That's how the world goes....that's what love is. It's what makes the game become the falcon, the falcon become man, and man, in his turn, the desert. It's what turns lead into gold, and makes the gold return to the earth.'
'I don't understand what you're talking about,' the desert said.
'But you can at least understand that somewhere in your sands there is a woman waiting for me. And that's why I have to turn myself into the wind.'" - page 144
"The wind approached the boy and touched his face. It knew of the boy's talk with the desert, because the winds know everything. They blow across the world without a birthplace, and with no place to die." - page 145
"It's not love to be static like the desert, nor is it love to roam the world like the wind. And it's not love to see everything from a distance, like [the sun does]. Love is the force that transforms and improves the Soul of the World. When I first reached through to it, I thought the Soul of the World was perfect. But later, I could see that it was like other aspects of creation, and had it's own passions and wards. It is we who nourish the Soul of the World, and the world we live in will be either better or worse, depending on whether we become better or word. And that's where the power of love comes in. Because when we love, we always strive to become better than we are." - page 150
"There's [a proverb] that says, 'Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.'" -page 156
"The boy told himself that, on the way toward realizing his own Personal Legend, he had learned all he needed to know, and had experienced everything he might have dreamed of. But here he was, at the point of finding his treasure, and he reminded himself that no project is completed until its objective has been achieved." - page 160
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