Paulo Coelho (born 1947) is a Brazilian novelist and the best-selling author of The Alchemist. He is best known for his internationally successful novels The Alchemist and Brida. His books have been translated into 81 languages, with over 150 million copies sold throughout the world.
He was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is the son of an engineer and a schoolteacher, and he studied engineering at university before turning to journalism and writing.
At age 14, he began writing poetry as a way to deal with his parent’s divorce. In 1967 he moved to Paris to study French literature at the Sorbonne, where he had his first short stories published in 1967, and in 1968 he returned to Brazil after graduating from college.
Coelho has written many international best-selling books that have been translated into 67 languages as of 2013–making him one of the most translated authors in the world.
Check out these 119 inspiring quotes that he has shared on success, life, and love
“Never give up. When your heart becomes tired, just walk with your legs – but move on.”
“You are what you believe yourself to be.”
“Life was always a matter of waiting for the right moment to act.”
“If you want to be successful, you must respect one rule – Never lie to yourself.”
“Love is not a habit, a commitment, or a debt. It isn’t what romantic songs tell us it is – love simply is.”
“No matter how you feel today, get up, dress up and show up.”
“Forgive but do not forget, or you will be hurt again. Forgiving changes the perspectives. Forgetting loses the lesson.”
“If you believe in victory, then victory will believe in you.”
“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.”
“The secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better.”
“Be Brave. Take Risks. Nothing can substitute experience. ”
“When you repeat a mistake, it is not a mistake anymore: it is a decision.”
“Do something instead of killing time. Because time is killing you.”
“It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.”
“You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen.”
“Don’t forget: temporary insanity moments spice up your life.”
“Waiting hurts. Forgetting hurts. But not knowing which decision to take can sometimes be the most painful.”
“People want to change everything and, at the same time want it all to remain the same.”
“Your eyes show the strength of your soul.”
“Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worse kind of suffering.”
“It takes huge effort to free yourself from memory.”
“Passion makes a person stop eating, sleeping, working, feeling at peace. A lot of people are frightened because, when it appears, it demolishes all the old things it finds in its path. No one wants their life thrown into chaos. ”
“Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.”
“You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it is better to listen to what it has to say.”
“People want to change everything and, at the same time, want it all to remain the same.”
“The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”
“No one can lie, no one can hide anything when he looks directly into someone’s eyes.”
“Life can seem short or life can seem long, depending on how you live it.”
“At a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That’s the world’s greatest lie.”
“If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine. It is lethal.”
“Happiness is something that multiplies when it is divided.”
“The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.”
“One day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted to do. Do it now.”
“I have seen many storms in my life. Most storms have caught me by surprise, so I had to learn very quickly to look further and understand that I am not capable of controlling the weather, to exercise the art of patience and to respect the fury of nature.”
“Go and get your things,’ he said. ‘Dreams mean work.”
“You must understand that love never keeps a man from pursuing his personal legend. If he abandons that pursuit, it’s because it wasn’t a true love…The love that speaks the language of the world.”
“If you want to see a rainbow you have to learn to see the rain.”
“Because I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’m interested only in the present.”
“I’m not a body with a soul, I’m a soul that has a visible part called the body.”
“What is a teacher? I’ll tell you: it isn’t someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give their best in order to discover what they already know.”
“It’s only those who are persistent and willing to study things deeply, who achieve the master work.”
“You have two choices, to control your mind or to let your mind control you.”
“A life without cause is a life without effect.”
“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.”
“When someone leaves, it’s because someone else is about to arrive.”
“Love is an untamed force. When we try to control it, it destroys us. When we try to imprison it, it enslaves us. When we try to understand it, it leaves us feeling lost and confused.”
“And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
“The moment we begin to seek love, love begins to seek us. And to save us.”
“When I had nothing to lose, I had everything. When I stopped being who I am, I found myself.”
“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dream.”
“Don’t explain. Your friends do not need it, and your enemies will not believe you.”
“If I must fall, may it be from a high place.”
“People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don’t deserve them, or that they’ll be unable to achieve them.”
“There is always a gap between intention and action.”
“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
“The secret of life is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”
“People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.”
“Sometimes you have to travel a long way to find what is near.”
“Life has many ways of testing a person’s will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once.”
“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”
“If you’re brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.”
“If you want to be successful, you must respect one rule: never lie to yourself.”
“Life has a way of testing a person’s will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen at once.”
“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 she had nothing to lose, she was free.”
“Whenever you want to achieve something, keep your eyes open, concentrate and make sure you know exactly what it is you want. No one can hit their target with their eyes closed.”
“You must always know what it is that you want.”
“If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine; it is lethal.”
“People are capable at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.”
“One day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do it now.”
“When you are enthusiastic about what you do, you feel this positive energy. It’s very simple.”
“Never miss an opportunity to show your love.”
“Freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose – and commit myself to – what is best for me.”
“When each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.”
“And, when you can’t go back, you have to worry only about the best way of moving forward.”
“Don’t give in to your fears. If you do, you won’t be able to talk to your heart.”
“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
“If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine: it is lethal.”
“There is only one way to learn. It’s through action. Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.”
“Considering the way the world is, one happy day is almost a miracle.”
“Dreaming is very pleasant as long as you are not forced to put your dreams into practice.”
“Close some doors today, not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because they lead you nowhere.”
“We need to forget what we think we are so that we can really become what we are.”
“The act of discovering who we are will force us to accept that we can go further than we think.”
“Whatever you decide to do, make sure it makes you happy.”
“God always offers us a second chance in life.”
“Being human means having doubts and yet still continuing on your path.”
“Don’t give in to your fears, if you do, you won’t be able to talk to your heart.”
“Blessed are those who do not fear solitude, who are not afraid of their own company, who are not always desperately looking for something to do, something to amuse themselves with, something to judge.”
”When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”
“One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.”
“Everything tells me that I am about to make a wrong decision, but making mistakes is just part of life. What does the world want of me? Does it want me to take no risks, to go back to where I came from because I didn’t have the courage to say “yes” to life?”
“Fight for your dreams and your dreams will fight for you.”
“Don’t allow your mind to tell your heart what to do. The mind gives up easily.”
“Miracles only happen if you believe in miracles.”
“I think you can have 10,000 explanations for failure, but no good explanation for success.”
“We must never stop dreaming. Dreams provide nourishment for the soul, just as a meal does for the body.”
“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.”
“Tears are words that need to be written.”
“Nothing in the world is ever completely wrong. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.”
“Live truly and forgive quickly.”
“Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.”
“It is possible to avoid pain? Yes, but you’ll never learn anything. Is it possible to know something without ever having experiencing it? Yes, but it will never truly be part of you.”
“What hurts us is what heals us.”
“Never give up.”
“Don’t waste your time with explanations: people only hear what they want to hear.”
“Love is a trap. When it appears, we see only its light, not its shadows.”
“How much I missed, simply because I was afraid of missing it.”
“Talent is a universal gift, but it takes a lot of courage to use it. Don’t be afraid to be the best.”
“You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.”
“Don’t waste your time with explanations, people only hear what they want to hear.”
“Fortunate are those who take the first steps.”
“Life sometimes separates people so that they can realize how much they mean to each other.”
“People are never satisfied. If they have a little, they want more. If they have a lot, they want still more. Once they have more, they wish they could be happy with little, but are incapable of making the slightest effort in that direction.”
“I want to continue being crazy; living my life the way I dream it, and not the way the other people want it to be.”
“When someone leaves, its because someone else is about to arrive – I’ll find love again.”
“All you have to do is pay attention: lessons always arrive when you are ready.”
“Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.”
