Paulo Coelho on Life

"I've been in love before, it's like a narcotic. At first it brings the euphoria of complete surrender. The next day you want more. You're not addicted yet, but you like the sensation, and you think you can still control things.You think about the person you love for two minutes then forget them for three hours. But then you get used to that person, and you begin to be completely dependent on them. Now you think about him for three hours and forget him for two minutes. If he's not there, you feel like an addict who can't get a fix. And just as addicts steal and humiliate themselves to get what they need, you're willing to do anything for love."- By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept"

"He knew one of the women well, and had shared his universe with her. They had seen the same mountains, and the same trees, although each of them had seem them differently. She knew his weaknesses, his moments of hatred, of despair. Yet she was there at his side. They shared the same universe."

"In fairy tales, the princesses kiss the frogs, and the frogs become princes. In real life, the pricesses kiss princes, and the princes turn into frogs."

"Terror, terror, terror. Life was a reign o terror in the shadow of the guillotine."

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

"To live is to experience things, not sit around pondering the meaning of life."

"Here I am, trying to persuade myself that I always give the best of myself, and nature is telling me exactly the opposite: anyone truly committed to life never stops walking."

"I can choose either to be a victim of the world or an adventurer in search of treasure. It's all a question of how I view my life."

"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."

"We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation."

"How much I missed, simply because I was afraid of missing it."

"We were born alone and we will die alone. But, while we are on this planet, we must accept and glorify our act of faith through other people."

"Life is a dream from which we wake only when we meet death."

"No one can go back, but everyone can go forward. And tomorrow, when the sun rises, all you have to say to yourselves is: I am going to think of this day as the first day of my life."

"Life always waits for some crisis to occur before revealing itself at its most brilliant."

"Life is too short, or too long, for me to allow myself the luxury of living it so badly."

"I told you that your dream was a difficult one. It's the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary; only wise men are able to understand them."

"Life has been very hard on me, but, at the same time, it has taught me a great deal."

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

"Accept what life offers you and try to drink from every cup. All wines should be tasted; some should only be sipped, but with others, drink the whole bottle."

"Now that I am at the end of my life, I leave for those who come after me everything that I learned while I walked the face of this Earth. May they make good use of it."

"If I were to persuade just one person to stop fighting for something they were convinced was worthwhile, I would end up persuading myself, and my whole life would be diminished."

"Life is one long training session in preparation for what will come. Life and death lose their meaning; there are only challenges to be met with joy and overcome with tranquility."

"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."

"Our great goal in life is to love. The rest is silence."

"There's nothing deeper than love. In fairy tales, the princesses kiss the frogs, and the frogs become princes. In real life, the princesses kiss princes, and the princes turn into frogs."

"The light of love flows out of my soul, but it can go nowhere because it’s blocked by pain. I could inhale and exhale every morning for the rest of my life, but that wouldn’t solve anything."

"It is part of the human nature always to judge others very severely and,when the wind turns against us,always to find an excuse for our own misdeeds,or to blame someone else for our mistakes."

"Solitude is not the absence of Love, but its complement...Solitude is not the absence of company, but the moment when our soul is free to speak to us and help us decide what to do with our life."

"All my life I've learned to suffer in silence."