Paulo Coelho, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

"This was the kiss I had waited for so long - a kiss born by the river of our childhood, when we didn't yet know what love meant. A kiss that had been suspended in the air as we grew, that had traveled in the world in the souvenir of a medal, and that had remained hidden behind piles of books. A kiss that had been lost and now was found. In the moment of that kiss were years of searching, disillusionment and impossible dreams."

"But it’s better to lose some of the battles in the struggle for your dreams than to be defeated without ever even knowing what you’re fighting for"

"Break the glass, please, and free us from all these damned rules, from needing to find an explanation for everything, from doing only what others approve of."

"These are people who accept the fire of the Holy Spirit,' he said, 'the fire that is left behind but that is used by so few people to light their candles."

"Love never comes just a little bit at a time, I thought, as I watched him, absorbed in contemplation of the Virgin. The previous day, the world made sense, even without love's presence. But now we needed each other in order to see the true brilliance of things."

"There is a legend that everything that falls into the waters of this river -- leaves, insects, the feathers of birds -- is transformed into the rocks that make the riverbed. If only I could tear out my heart and hurl it into the current, then my pain and longing would be over, and I could finally forget."

"Love can only be found through the act of loving."

"Break the glass, I thought to myself, because it is a symbolic gesture. Try to understand that within myself, things were breaking of much more importance than a glass, and I’m happy for that. Look to your own inner struggles and break this glass. Our parents taught us to be careful with glasses and with our bodies. They taught us that the passions of childhood are impossible; we should not remove men from the priesthood, that people do not perform miracles and that no one goes on a journey without knowing where he wants to go. Break this cup, please, I thought to myself, and release of all these damn misconceptions, the habit you have of only doing that which everyone agrees with."

"I know you don't love me. But I'm going to fight for your love. There are some things in life that are worth fighting for the end. You are worth it."

"Fortunate are those who take the first step. Someday people will realize that men and women are capable of speaking the language of the angels - that all of us are possessed of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and that we can perform miracles, cure, prophesy, and understand."

"Rarely do we realize that we are in the midst of the extraordinary. Miracles occur all around us, signs from God show us the way, angels plead to be heard, but we pay little attention to them because we have been taught that we must follow certain formulas and rules if we want to find God. We do not realize that God is wherever we allow Him/Her to enter."

"The more God asks us to participate in His mysteries, the more disoriented we become, because He asks us constantly to follow our dreams and our hearts. And that's difficult to do when we're used to living in a different way. Finally we discover, to our surprise, that God wants us to be happy, because He is the Father."

"Tell me about your life since I last saw you." | "There are no great mysteries to tell. My path is always there, and I do everything I can to follow it in a dignified way." | "What is your path" | "The path of someone seeking love." | "And love's path is really complicated." | "Because on that path we can go either to heaven or to hell?"

"It's one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it's another to think yours is the only path."

"Those who are truly enlightened, those whose souls are illuminated by love, have been able to overcome all of the inhibitions and preconceptions of their era. They have been able to sing, to laugh, and to pray out loud; they have danced and shared what Saint Paul called 'the madness of saintliness'. They have been joyful - because those who love conquer the world and have no fear of loss. True love is an act of total surrender."

"I kissed him hard. The few people in the bar must have been thinking that all they were seeing was just a kiss. They didn't know that this kiss stood for my whole life - and his life, as well. The life of anyone who has waited, dreamed, and searched for their true path. The moment of that kiss contained every happy moment I had ever lived."

"Tell me about your life since I last saw you." | "There are no great mysteries to tell. My path is always ther, and I do everything I can to follow it in a dignified way." | "What is your path" | "The path of someone seeking love." | "And love's path is really complicated." | "Because on that path we can go either to heaven or to hell?"

"God, in his infinite wisdom, hid Hell in the middle of Paradise, to keep us on our toes."

"I am tired of days that are all the same."

"All this was new to me. Life takes us by surprise and orders us to move towards the unknown - even when we don't want to and we think we don't need to."