Quotes from Paulo Coelho

Writing books is a socially acceptable form of getting naked in public.

Whenever I refused to follow my fate, something very hard to bear would happen in my life.

A warrior of the Light is never in a hurry. Time works in his favor; he learns to master his impatience and avoids acting without thinking.

I'm just like that woman really. Or rather, that's what I used to be like: someone pretending to know everything, hidden away in my own silence

There are two things that prevent us from achieving our dreams: believing them to be impossible or seeing those dreams made possible by some sudden turn of wheel fortune, when you least expected it.

The Gods throw the dice,and they don't ask whether we want to be in the game or not.They don't care if when you go,you leave behind a lover,a home, a career or a dream.The Gods don't care whether you have it all,whether your every desire can be met through hardwork and persistence.The Gods don't want to know about your plans and hopes.Somewhere they're throwing the dice and you get chosen.From then on,winning and losing is only a question of luck.

Just one day was worth more than all the kingdoms in the world.

I can only conclude that worse than hunger or thirst, worse than being unemployed, unhappy in love or defeated and in despair, far worse than any of all those things, is feeling that no one, absolutely no one, cares about us.

I'm afraid of committing myself," she thought to herself. She wanted to follow all possible paths and so ended up following none.

what you brought from your past, is of no use in your present. When you must choose a new path, do not bring old experiences with you. Those who strike out afresh, but who attempt to retain a little of the old life, end up torn apart by their own memories.

The words of the Lord are written in the word around us. Merely be attentive to what happens in your life and you will discover where.

In the lives of individuals, just as in society at large, the profoundest changes take place within a very reduced time frame. When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready... The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.