The Alchemist | Book Highlights
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
His purpose in life was to travel.
Whenever he could, he sought out a new road to travel.
It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.
A shepherd always takes his chances with wolves and with drought, and that’s what makes a shepherd’s life exciting.
It’s the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary.
When someone sees the same people every day, as had happened with him at the seminary, they wind up becoming a part of that person’s life. And then they want the person to change. If someone isn’t what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.
“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.”
“It’s what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is. At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives. But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their Personal Legend.”
“It’s a force that appears to be negative, but actually shows you how to realize your Personal Legend. It prepares your spirit and your will, because 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.”
To realize one’s Personal Legend is a person’s only real obligation. All things are one.
“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
“People learn, early in their lives, what is their reason for being,” said the old man, with a certain bitterness. “Maybe that’s why they give up on it so early, too. But that’s the way it is.”
When each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.
“In order to find the treasure, you will have to follow the omens. God has prepared a path for everyone to follow. You just have to read the omens that he left for you.”
“The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon.’”
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.
“When you want something, all the universe conspires to help you achieve it,” the old king had said.
When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.
People need not fear the unknown if they are capable of achieving what they need and want.
“We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it’s our life or our possessions and property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand.”
“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.”
“This is the first phase of the job,” he said. “I have to separate out the sulfur. To do that successfully, I must have no fear of failure. It was my fear of failure that first kept me from attempting the Master Work. Now, I’m beginning what I could have started ten years ago. But I’m happy at least that I didn’t wait twenty years.”
“You must understand that love never keeps a man from pursuing his Personal Legend. If he abandons that pursuit, it’s because it wasn’t true love... the love that speaks the Language of the World.”
“There is only one way to learn,” the alchemist answered. “It’s through action.
“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.”
Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place.
“You already know about alchemy. It is about penetrating to the Soul of the World, and discovering the treasure that has been reserved for you.”
“Don’t give in to your fears,” said the alchemist, in a strangely gentle voice. “If you do, you won’t be able to talk to your heart.”
There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
“This is for you,” he said, holding one of the parts out to the monk. “It’s for your generosity to the pilgrims.”
“But this payment goes well beyond my generosity,” the monk responded.
“Don’t say that again. Life might be listening, and give you less the next time.”The alchemist said, “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.”
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.