Paulo Coelho

"Because you believed I was capable of behaving decently, I did."

"After all, what is happiness? Love, they tell me. But love doesn't bring and never has brought happiness. On the contrary, it's a constant state of anxiety, a battlefield; it's sleepless nights, asking ourselves all the time if we're doing the right thing. Real love is composed of ecstasy and agony."

"Ester asked why people are sad. That’s simple, says the old man. They are the prisoners of their personal history. Everyone believes that the main aim in life is to follow a plan. They never ask if that plan is theirs or if it was created by another person. They accumulate experiences, memories, things, other people's ideas, and it is more than they can possibly cope with. And that is why they forget their dreams."

"Love, too, was just a question of time"

"None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, yet still we go forward. Because we trust. Because we have faith."

"If pain must come, may it come quickly. Because I have a life to live, and I need to live it in the best way possible. If he has to make a choice, may he make it now. Then I will either wait for him or forget him."

"“Forgive but do not forget, or you will be hurt again. Forgiving changes the perspectives. Forgetting loses the lesson.”"

"“Certain things in life simply have to be experienced -and never explained. Love is such a thing.”"

"“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”"

"There are moments when troubles enter our lives and we can do nothing to avoid them. But they are there for a reason. Only when we have overcome them will we understand why they were there."

"The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them."

"The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times."

"“You are someone who is different, but who wants to be the same as everyone else. And that in my view is a serious illness. God chose you to be different. Why are you disappointing God with this kind of attitude?”"

"No one should ever ask themselves that: why am I unhappy? The question carries within it the virus that will destroy everything. If we ask that question, it means we want to find out what makes us happy. If what makes us happy is different from what we have now, then we must either change once and for all or stay as we are, feeling even more unhappy."

"No one loses anyone, because no one owns anyone. That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it"

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

"The roller coaster is my life; Life is a fast, dizzying game. Life is a parachute jump; it's taking chances; falling over and getting up again. It's mountaineering; it's wanting to get to the very top of yourself and to feel angry and dissatisfied when you don't manage it. But if we are talking in terms of making progress in life, we must understand that "good enough" is very different from the "Best."

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

"It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting."

"And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."