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Paulo Coelho Quotes
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844 Quotes for Your Inspirational Journey of Love, Life, and Fulfillment

Explore the wisdom of Paulo Coelho with his iconic quotes on love, life, and personal fulfillment. Let his words inspire your own journey of self-discovery and spiritual awakening.

Paulo Coelho de Souza is a highly acclaimed Brazilian lyricist and novelist, known for his novel "The Alchemist" which became an international best-seller. He has since published 30 more books. Born in Rio de Janeiro, Coelho attended a Jesuit school and faced struggles as he was committed to a mental institution by his parents at a young age. Despite their wishes for him to become a lawyer, Coelho dropped out of law school and lived as a hippie, traveling through various countries and experimenting with drugs.

After returning to Brazil, Coelho worked as a songwriter and gained popularity for his collaboration with Raul Seixas. However, he faced accusations of plagiarism due to the content of some songs. In 1974, he was arrested by the ruling military government for perceived left-wing activities and tortured. Coelho also dabbled in acting, journalism, and directing before finally pursuing his dream of becoming a writer full-time.

Coelho's life experiences greatly influenced his writings, particularly his spiritual awakening during a pilgrimage along the Road of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. This journey inspired his autobiographical work "The Pilgrimage." In addition to his writing career, Coelho married artist Christina Oiticica in 1980 and they currently reside in Geneva, Switzerland.

A biographical film about Paulo Coelho called "The Pilgrim - Story of Paulo Coelho" was released in 2014. It portrays the story of Coelho's pursuit of his dream against various challenges he encountered throughout his life.

✵ 24. August 1947  •  Other names Pablo Coelho
Paulo Coelho photo
Paulo Coelho: 844 quotes177 likes

Paulo Coelho Quotes

“Life is made of our attitudes. And there are certain things that the gods oblige us to live through. Their reason for this does not matter, and there is no action we can take to make them pass us by.”

Paulo Coelho book The Fifth Mountain

Source: The Fifth Mountain

“It feels like my soul is slowly leaving my body and heading off to an unknown place, some "safe" place where it doesn't have to put up with me and my night terrors.”

Paulo Coelho book Adultery

Source: Adultery

“Everything depends on which path you take.”

Paulo Coelho book Brida

Source: Brida

“I'm an old, superstitious Arab, and I believe in our proverbs. There's one that says, 'Everything that happens once can never happen again. But anything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist

“I haven’t the slightest interest in being happy. I prefer to live life passionately, which is dangerous because you never know what might happen next.”

Paulo Coelho book Adultery

Source: Adultery

“What they forget is that, from Ancient Greece on, the people who returned from battle were either dead on their shields or stronger, despite and because of their scars.”

Paulo Coelho

Source: The Witch Of Portobello

“It isn't the desire to abide by the law that makes everyone behave as society requires, but the fear of punishment. Each one of us carries a gallows inside us.”

Paulo Coelho book The Devil and Miss Prym

Source: The Devil and Miss Prym

“Where your treasure is, there also will be your heart.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist

“Give time time.”

Paulo Coelho book Brida

Source: Brida

“My smile is my way of saying: "You can destroy my body, but not my soul.”

Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra

Source: Manuscript Found in Accra (2012), Our fate

“No one can go back, but everyone can go forward.”

Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra

Source: Manuscript Found in Accra

“And although she was sometimes dissatisfied with herself, she felt unable to go beyond her own limitations. Books were safer.”

Paulo Coelho book Brida

Source: Brida

“Live the life you always wanted to live. Avoid criticizing others and concentrate on fulfilling your dreams.”

Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra

Source: Manuscript Found in Accra

“I love you because all the loves in the world are like different rivers flowing into the same lake where they meet and are transformed into a single love that becomes rain and blesses the earth.”

Paulo Coelho book Aleph

Source: Aleph

“Success is falling down 7 times but getting up 8!”

Paulo Coelho

“Victories and defeats form part of everyone's life - everyone, that is, except cowards, as you call them, because they never lose or win.”

Paulo Coelho book The Devil and Miss Prym

Source: The Devil and Miss Prym

“because it seemed too simple to accept that life was an act of faith.”

Paulo Coelho

Source: Veronika Decides to Die

“You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it's better to listen to what it has to say”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Variant: You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it's better to listen to what it has to say.
Source: The Alchemist

“Christ surrounded himself with beggars, prostitutes, tax-collectors and fishermen…. what he meant by this was that the divine spark is in every soul and is never extinguished…”

Paulo Coelho

“She wants to drink that man too, and then she can forget forever the cheap wine that you gulp down and that makes you feel drunk, but always leaves you with a headache and an empty space in your soul.”

Paulo Coelho book Eleven Minutes

Source: Eleven Minutes

“Dreaming carries no risks. The dangerous thing is trying to transform your dreams into reality.”

Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra

Source: Manuscript Found in Accra

“I will follow you — until you tell me to go away. Then I'll leave. But I have to love you for the rest of my life.”

Paulo Coelho book By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept (1994)
Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
Context: I am going to sit here with you by the river. If you go home to sleep, I will sleep in front of your house. And if you go away, I will follow you — until you tell me to go away. Then I'll leave. But I have to love you for the rest of my life.

“Don't forget that everything you deal with is only one thing and nothing else……. above all dont forget to follow your destiny through to its conclusion”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist

“You're a man who has suffered and wants revenge,' she said. 'Your heart is dead, your soul is in darkness. The devil by your side is smiling because you are playing the game he invented.”

Paulo Coelho book The Devil and Miss Prym

Source: The Devil and Miss Prym

“Lie down on the ground and feel the planet's heart beating.”

Paulo Coelho book By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

“And to those who believe that adventures are i say try routine: it kills you far more quickly.”

Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra

Source: Manuscript Found in Accra (2012), Afraid to Change

“Dear Depression, please keep your distance. Don’t be nasty. Find some other person with more reason than me to look in the mirror and say: “What a pointless existence.” Whether you like it or not, I know how to defeat you. You’re wasting your time.”

Paulo Coelho book Adultery

Source: Adultery

“If you're asking me if I like your company, the answer is yes. If, on the other hand, you're asking me if I could live without you, the answer is also yes.”

Paulo Coelho book The Zahir

Source: The Zahir

“Love was the key to understanding all of the mysteries.”

Paulo Coelho book Brida

Source: Brida

“Man struggles to survive, not to succumb”

Paulo Coelho

Source: Veronika Decides to Die

“Facing the difficulties, I can choose either to be a poor victim or a great adventurer.”

Paulo Coelho book Eleven Minutes

Source: Eleven Minutes

“we can harness the energy of the winds, the seas, the sun. But the day man learns to harness the energy of love, that will be as important as the discovery of fire.”

Paulo Coelho book The Zahir

Source: The Zahir

“The music could even penetrate his remote world, more distant than the moon itself; it could even perform miracles.”

Paulo Coelho

Source: Veronika Decides to Die

“That is why embittered people find heroes and madmen a perennial source of fascination, for they have no fear of life or death. Both heroes and madmen are indifferent to danger and will forge ahead regardless of what other people say.”

Paulo Coelho

Source: Veronika Decides to Die

“God has prepared a path for everyone to follow.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist

“What is outside is harder to change than what is inside.”

Paulo Coelho book Brida

Source: Brida

“But if we are talking in terms of making progress in life, we must understand that "good enough" is very different from "best.”

Paulo Coelho book Eleven Minutes

Source: Eleven Minutes

“Freedom has a high price, as high as that of slavery; the only difference is that you pay with pleasure and a smile, even when that smile is dimmed with tears.”

Paulo Coelho book The Zahir

Source: The Zahir

“if you force yourself to be the same as everyone else. It causes neuroses, psychoses, and paranoia. it's a distortion of nature, it goes against God's laws, for in all the world's woods and forests he did not create a single leaf the same as another.”

Paulo Coelho

Source: Veronika Decides to Die

“Our dreams are our own, and only we can know the effort required to keep them alive.”

Paulo Coelho book By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

“Scars are medals branded on the flesh, and your enemies will be frightened by them because they are proof of your long experience of battle.”

Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra

Source: Manuscript Found in Accra

“If I can learn to understand this language without words, I can learn to understand the world.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist