Quotes from book
By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
Paulo Coelho Original title Na margem do rio Piedra eu sentei e chorei (Brazilian Portuguese, 1994)

This is the story of Pilar, an independent and practical yet restless young woman, whose life is forever changed by an encounter with a childhood friend.


Paulo Coelho photo

“The moment we begin to seek love, love begins to seek us.
And to save us.”

By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept (1994)
Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
Context: Love is always new. Regardless of whether we love once, twice, or a dozen times in our life, we always face a brand-new situation. Love can consign us to hell or to paradise, but it always takes us somewhere. We simply have to accept it, because it is what nourishes our existence. If we reject it, we die of hunger, because we lack the courage to reach out a hand and pluck the fruit from the branches of the tree of life. We have to take love where we find it, even if it means hours, days, weeks of disappointment and sadness.
The moment we begin to seek love, love begins to seek us.
And to save us.

Paulo Coelho photo
Paulo Coelho photo
Paulo Coelho photo

“Life takes us by surprise and orders us to move toward the unknown — even when we don't want to and when we think we don't need to.”

By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept (1994)
Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

Paulo Coelho photo
Paulo Coelho photo

“Love is a trap. When it appears, we see only its light, not its shadows.”

Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

Paulo Coelho photo
Paulo Coelho photo

“All love stories are the same.”

Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

Paulo Coelho photo

“I could have. What does this phrase mean? At any given moment in our lives, there are certain things that could have heppened but, didn't. The magic moments go unrecognized, and then suddenly, the hand of destiny changes everything.”

Variant: At any given moment in our lives, there are certain things that could have happened but didn't. The magic moments
go unrecognized, and then suddenly, the hand of destiny changes everything.
Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

Paulo Coelho photo

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

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

Paulo Coelho photo
Paulo Coelho photo

“It's one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it's another to think yours is the only path.”

Variant: 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.
Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

Paulo Coelho photo

“I think that when we look for love courageously, it reveals itself, and we wind up attracting even more love. If one person really wants us, everyone does. But if we’re alone, we become even more alone. Life is strange.”

Variant: I think that if we look for love courageously, it reveals itself, and we wind up attracting even more love. If one person really wants us, everyone does. But if we’re alone, we become even more alone. Life is strange.
Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

Paulo Coelho photo

“You have to take risks … We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen.”

By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept (1994)
Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
Context: You have to take risks … We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen. Every day, God gives us the sun — and also one moment in which we have the ability to change everything that makes us unhappy. Every day, we try to pretend that we haven't perceived that moment, that it doesn't exist — that today is the same as yesterday and will be the same as tomorrow. But if people really pay attention to their everyday lives, they will discover that magic moment. It may arrive in the instant when we are doing something mundane, like putting our front-door key in the lock; it may lie hidden in the quiet that follows the lunch hour or in the thousand and one things that all seem the same to us. But that moment exists — a moment when all the power of the stars becomes a part of us and enables us to perform miracles.

Paulo Coelho photo

“Every day, God gives us the sun — and also one moment in which we have the ability to change everything that makes us unhappy.”

Variant: Everyday God gives us a moment in which it is possible to change everything that makes us unhappy.
Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

Paulo Coelho photo

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