Key Takeaways
- Maktub: It is written
- Life wants you to achieve your destiny (the principle of favorability, beginner’s luck)
- Love never keeps a man from pursuing his destiny
- Get rid of the notion of time, and live each moment fully
Quotes
On travel and people
That was what made traveling appeal to him, he always made new friends, and he didn’t need to spend all of his time with them. 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
On destiny
It’s called the principle of favorability, beginner’s luck. Because life wants you to achieve your destiny
Maktub: It is written
On love
And the boy sat there by the well for a long time, remembering that one day in Tarifa the levanter had brought to him the perfume of that woman, and realizing that he had loved her before he even knew she existed
I have been waiting for you here at this oasis for a long time. I have forgotten about my past, about my traditions, and the way in which men of the desert expect women to behave. Ever since I was a child, I have dreamed that the desert would bring me a wonderful present. Now, my present has arrived, and it’s you
You must understand that love never keeps a man from pursuing his destiny. If he abandons that pursuit, it’s because it wasn’t true love… the love that speaks the Language of the World.
One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.
On time
We have to try to get rid of the notion of time. And when you have an intense contact of love with nature or another human being, like a spark, then you understand that there is no time and that everything is eternal.
Paulo Coelho on death
Since then, I realize that death is not the end of life, but it is also my best friend. She is always sitting by my side, even while I am talking to you, looking to the mountains here with snow.
Interviewer: Your death is always sitting by your side?
Paulo Coelho: By my side, sitting in the chair right in front of me. I see death as a beautiful woman.
Interviewer: What is she saying?
Paulo Coelho: She is saying, “I am going to kiss you,” and I say to her, “Not now, please.” But she says, “OK, not now, but pay attention and try to get the best of every moment because I am going to take you.” And I say, “OK, thank you for giving me the most important advice in life, to live your moment fully.”