Paulo Coelho
Brazilian novelist and lyricist, author of The Alchemist (1988) — one of the most-translated and most-read books of all time, with over 150 million copies sold across 81 languages. Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1947, his early life included teenage psychiatric institutionalization at his parents' insistence and a period of countercultural experimentation before a 1986 pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago changed his trajectory. The novels that followed — By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, Brida, Veronika Decides to Die, The Pilgrimage, Manual of the Warrior of Light — combined accessible storytelling with mystical and esoteric themes drawn from Sufism, Catholic mysticism, alchemy, and his own spiritual experiments. He has become one of the most quoted living authors in the world.
quotes in library
Quotes by Paulo Coelho
106 quotes“You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it's better to listen to what it has to say.”
“The secret of life is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”
“What is a teacher? A teacher is not someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give of her best.”
“You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.”
“Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worse kind of suffering.”
“There is only one way to escape the love of God: by sinning, by hating Him.”
“The world's greatest lie: at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate.”
“It's a difficult task at first to recognize a Personal Legend, but to abandon it is even harder.”
“You must always know what it is that you want.”
“When you make decisions, you become the universe.”
“Life is the train, not the station.”
“Love is something more than just a feeling. It is a sacrament.”
“The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon.”
“Life is a balance between attentiveness and surprise.”
“What hurts is not what life does to us, but what we do to ourselves.”
“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.”
“Closing a cycle. Saying goodbye. Letting go. The world is in the hands of those who have the courage to dream and run the risk of living their dreams.”
“There comes a time when you have to choose between turning the page and closing the book.”
“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
Explore More Teachers
Discover wisdom from 500+ spiritual teachers across all traditions.
Browse All Teachers