Paulo Coelho Quotes page 2 844 Quotes for Your Inspirational Journey of Love, Life, and Fulfillment

“Defeat exists but not suffering. A true warrior knows that when he loses a battle, he is improving the skill with which he wields a sword. He will be able to fight more skilfullly next time.”

Source: Manuscript Found in Accra

“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.”

“To realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation and when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

Source: The Alchemist (1988), p. 130 
Context: 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.

“A flower is not better when it blooms than when it is merely a bud; at each stage it is the same thing — a flower in the process of expressing its potential.”

Source: The Alchemist

“Avoid those who seek friends in order to maintain a certain social status or to open doors they would not otherwise be able to approach.”

Source: Warrior of the Light

“We are not the person other people wish we were. We are who we decide to be.”

Source: Manuscript Found in Accra

“As he was about to climb yet another dune, his heart whispered, "Be aware of the place where you are brought to tears. That's where I am, and thats where your treasure is.”

Source: Aleph (2011)

“That the truest experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it.”

Source: The Alchemist

“If there is suffering, then it's best to accept it, because it won't go away just because you pretend it's not there. If there is joy, then it's best to accept that too, even though you're afraid it might end one day.”

Variant: That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it.
Source: Eleven Minutes (2003), p. 97.
Context: 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. It hurt when I lost each of the various men I fell in love with. Now, though, I am convinced that 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.

Paulo Coelho book The Zahir

Source: The Zahir

“They say that in the second before our death, each of us understands the real reason for our existence, and out of that moment, heaven or hell is born.”

“Follow your dreams and take your risks.”

Source: Aleph

Paulo Coelho book The Valkyries

Source: The Valkyries

“Life will undertake to separate us, and we must each set off in search of our own path, our own destiny or our own way of facing death.”

“Don't ask permission. If it does not work, you can apologize later.”

Source: Manuscript Found in Accra

“… and I discovered something: the meaning of my life was whatever I wanted it to be.”

Paulo Coelho book The Fifth Mountain

Source: The Fifth Mountain

“My aim is to understand love. I know how alive I felt when I was in love, and I know that everything I have now, however interesting it might seem, doesn't really excited me.
But love is a terrible thing: I've seen my girlfriends suffer and I don't want the same thing to happen to me. … Although my aim is to understand love, and although I suffer to think of people to whom I gave my heart, I see that those who touched my heart failed to arouse my body, and that those who aroused my body failed to touch my heart.”

“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.”

Maria's diary entry at the age of 17, p. 16.
Eleven Minutes (2003)

“Perhaps they needn't even believe — it was enough that they needed angels, and the angels would return gladly.”

Introduction, p. xi.
The Alchemist (1988)

Paulo Coelho book The Valkyries

Source: The Valkyries (1992), p. 133.

“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.”

“I don’t believe in God as you imagine Him to be, but I believe in many things that you could never even dream of.”

Aleph (2011)

“A man who disrespects a woman doesn't deserve one.”

Aleph (2011)

“Your money saved us for three days. It's not often that money saves a person's life.”

Source: book Aleph

“Stop being who you were and become who you are.”

Source: The Alchemist (1988), p. 167

Paulo Coelho book The Zahir

Source: The Zahir (2005), p. 215.

“Elegance is not an outer quality, but a part of the soul that is visible to others.”

“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”

Manuscript Found in Accra (2012), About Elegance

“Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worst kind of suffering.”

Source: The Alchemist

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

By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept (1994)
Variant: Waiting Hurts. Forgetting Hurts. But not knowing which decision to take is the worst of suffering.
Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

“The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.”

“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.”

Variant: simple things are the most valuable and only wise people appreciate them".
Source: The Alchemist

“When I had nothing to lose, I had everything. When I stopped being who I am, I found myself.”

“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.”

Source: Eleven Minutes

“When you find your path, you must not be afraid. You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes.”

Source: The Alchemist (1988), p. 158.

Paulo Coelho book Brida

Source: Brida (1990).
Context: 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.

“Don't waste your time with explanations: people only hear what they want to hear.”

“Don't give in to your fears. If you do, you won't be able to talk to your heart.”

“The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter.”

Source: The Alchemist

“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.”

Variant: You have passed through the two hardest tests on the spiritual road: the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what you encounter.
Source: Veronika Decides to Die

Paulo Coelho book The Fifth Mountain

Source: The Fifth Mountain

“Now that she had nothing to lose, she was free.”

“None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, yet still we go forward. Because we trust. Because we have Faith.”

Source: Eleven Minutes

Paulo Coelho book Brida

Source: Brida

“People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.”