Favorite words from The Alchemist

*"We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it's our life or our possessions and property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand."

*"The boy was becoming more and more convinced that alchemy could be learned in one's daily life."

*"But you are in the desert. So immerse youself in it. The desert will give you an understanding of the world; in fact, anything on the face of the earth will do that. You don't even have to understand the desert: all you have to do is contemplate a simple grain of sand, and you will see in it all the marvels of creation."

*"They continued across the desert. With every day that passed, the boy's heart became more and more silent. It no longer wanted to know about things of the past or future; it was content simply to contemplate the desert, and to drink with the boy from the South of the World. The boy and his heart had become friends, and neither was capable now of betraying the other."

*Conversation between boy and the alchemist:

" 'Don't give in to your fears,' said the alchemist, in a strangely gentle voice. 'If you do, you won't be able to talk to your heart.'

"But I have no idea how to turn myself into the wind.'

"If a person is living out his Personal Legend, he knows everything he needs to know. There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.'

'I'm not afraid of failing. It's just that I don't know how to turn myself into the wind.'

'Well, you'll have to learn; your life depends on it.'

'But what if I can't?'

'Then you'll die in the midst of trying to realize your Personal Legend. That's a lot better than dying like millions of other people, who never even knew what their Personal Legends were...But don't worry,' the alchemist continued. 'Usually the threat of death makes people a lot more aware of their lives.' "

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*"We are men of the desert"

*"This is what we call love...when you are loved, you can do anything in creation."

*(Addressing the alchemist):
" 'You old sorcerer', the boy shouted up to the sky. 'You knew the whole story...Couldn't you have saved me from that?'
'No,' he heard a voice on the wind say. 'If i had told you, you wouldn't have seen the Pyramids. They're beautiful, aren't they?' "