81 Best Paulo Coelho Quotes W/ Photos (The Alchemist Author)

These Paulo Coelho quotes are filled with wisdom and inspiration—everything you need to start your day with the right dose of motivation.

Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian novelist and lyricist known for his internationally bestselling The Alchemist, an inspirational self-help book about a young man who travels out of his comfort zone seeking purpose, love, and adventure.

It’s one of my favorite Brazilian books, and one that I read whenever I need to up my motivation on a gray winter day.

While I included some quotes from his masterpiece, I also included many other quotes from Paulo Coelho’s books.

I hope you enjoy it!

Paulo Coelho quotes from The Alchemist

These are some of my favorite The Alchemist quotes, but you will find some more throughout this article.

1. “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” – Paulo Coelho

2. “You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it’s better to listen to what it has to say.” – Paulo Coelho
3. “Every blessing ignored becomes a curse.” – Paulo Coelho
4. “Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.” – Paulo Coelho

5. “What’s the world’s greatest lie?… It’s this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate.” – Paulo Coelho
6. “Love never keeps a man from pursuing his destiny.” – Paulo Coelho
7. “Never stop dreaming.” – Paulo Coelho

Wise Paulo Coelho quotes

8. “When I had nothing to lose, I had everything. When I stopped being who I am, I found myself.” – Paulo Coelho
9. “A child can teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something, and to know how to demand with all his might that which he desires.” – Paulo Coelho
10. “Nothing in the world is ever completely wrong. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.” – Paulo Coelho

11. “The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.” – Paulo Coelho
12. “You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one, each day brings a miracle of its own. It’s just a matter of paying attention to this miracle.” – Paulo Coelho
13. “All you have to do is pay attention: lessons always arrive when you are ready.” – Paulo Coelho

14. “When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” – Paulo Coelho
15. “I’m not saying that love always takes you to heaven. Your life can become a nightmare. But that said, it is worth taking the risk.” – Paulo Coelho
16. “Never explain. Your friends won’t need it. And haters will continue to hate (because they also hate themselves).” – Paulo Coelho
17. “When you repeat a mistake, it is not a mistake anymore: it is a decision.” – Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho quotes on motivation

18. “When someone leaves, it’s because someone else is about to arrive.” – Paulo Coelho
19. “Whatever you decide to do, make sure it makes you happy.” – Paulo Coelho
20. “Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.” – Paulo Coelho

21. “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.” – Paulo Coelho
22. “The more in harmony with yourself you are, the more joyful you are and the more faithful you are. Faith is not to disconnect you from reality – it connects you to reality.” – Paulo Coelho
23. “The secret of life is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.” – Paulo Coelho

24. “You are what you believe yourself to be.” – Paulo Coelho
25. “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.” – Paulo Coelho
26. “Happiness is something that multiplies when it is divided.” – Paulo Coelho
27. “Don’t waste your time with explanations, people only hear what they want to hear.” – Paulo Coelho

Inspirational quotes from Paulo Coelho

28. “Everybody has a creative potential and from the moment you can express this creative potential, you can start changing the world.” – Paulo Coelho
29. “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?” – Paulo Coelho
30. “The more violent the storm, the quicker it passes.” – Paulo Coelho

31. “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.” – Paulo Coelho
32. “Now that she had nothing to lose, she was free.” – Paulo Coelho
33. “None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, yet still we go forward. Because we trust. Because we have Faith.” – Paulo Coelho

34. “Fortunate are those who take the first steps.” – Paulo Coelho
35. “The act of discovering who we are will force us to accept that we can go further than we think.” – Paulo Coelho
36. “If you’re brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.” – Paulo Coelho
37. “If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine: it is lethal.” – Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho quotes on life

38. “Live truly and forgive quickly.” – Paulo Coelho
39. “You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen.” – Paulo Coelho
40. “Life is too short, or too long, for me to allow myself the luxury of living it so badly.” – Paulo Coelho

41. “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.” – Paulo Coelho
42. “Life has a way of testing a person’s will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen at once.” – Paulo Coelho
43. “Certain things in life simply have to be experienced and never explained. Love is such a thing.” – Paulo Coelho

44. “When you are enthusiastic about what you do, you feel this positive energy. It’s very simple.” – Paulo Coelho
45. “Stay mad, but behave like normal people. Run the risk of being different, but learn to do so without attracting attention.” – Paulo Coelho
46. “If you start by promising what you don’t even have yet, you’ll lose your desire to work towards getting it.” – Paulo Coelho

47. “Life always waits for some crisis to occur before revealing itself at its most brilliant.” – Paulo Coelho
48. “Intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life.” – Paulo Coelho
49. “When we meet someone and fall in love, we have a sense that the whole universe is on our side. And yet if something goes wrong, there is nothing left! How is it possible for the beauty that was there only minutes before to vanish so quickly? Life moves very fast. It rushes from heaven to hell in a matter of seconds.” – Paulo Coelho
50. “A life without cause is a life without effect.” – Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho quotes on fear

51. “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.” – Paulo Coelho
52. “I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival because life is the moment we’re living now.” – Paulo Coelho
53. “If you want to be successful, you must respect one rule – Never lie to yourself.” – Paulo Coelho

54. “When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.” – Paulo Coelho
55. “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.” – Paulo Coelho
56. “Don’t give in to your fears. If you do, you won’t be able to talk to your heart.” – Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho quotes on dreams

57. “If I am really a part of your dream, you’ll come back one day.” – Paulo Coelho
58. “Miracles only happen if you believe in miracles.” – Paulo Coelho
59. “Keeping passion at bay or surrendering blindly to it – which of these two attitudes is the least destructive? I don’t know.” – Paulo Coelho
60. “Remember your dreams and fight for them. You must know what you want from life.” – Paulo Coelho

61. “People are capable at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.” – Paulo Coelho
62. “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.” – Paulo Coelho
63. “There is just one thing that makes your dream become impossible: the fear of failure.” – Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho quotes on life and learning

64. “You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.” – Paulo Coelho
65. “Tears are words that need to be written.” – Paulo Coelho
66. “We can never judge the lives of others because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation. It’s one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it’s another to think that yours is the only path.” – Paulo Coelho

67. “The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter.” – Paulo Coelho
68. “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.” – Paulo Coelho
69. “Why is patience so important? Because it makes us pay attention to.” – Paulo Coelho
70. “People never learn anything by being told, they have to find out for themselves.” – Paulo Coelho

71. “You’re always learning. The problem is, sometimes you stop and think you understand the world. This is not correct. The world is always moving. You never reach the point where you can stop making an effort.” – Paulo Coelho
72. “The two worst strategic mistakes to make are acting prematurely and letting an opportunity slip; to avoid this, the warrior treats each situation as if it were unique and never resorts to formulae, recipes or other people’s opinions.” – Paulo Coelho
73. “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.” – Paulo Coelho
74. “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.” – Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho quotes on love and friendship

75. “The strongest love is the love that can demonstrate its fragility.” – Paulo Coelho
76. “What is a teacher? I’ll tell you: it isn’t someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give of her best in order to discover what she already knows.” – Paulo Coelho
77. “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.” – Paulo Coelho
78. “Anyone who loves in the expectation of being loved in return is wasting their time.” – Paulo Coelho

79. “Our true friends are those who are with us when the good things happen. They cheer us on and are pleased by our triumphs. False friends only appear at difficult times, with their sad, supportive faces, when, in fact, our suffering is serving to console them for their miserable lives.” – Paulo Coelho
80. “I’ve learned that waiting is the most difficult bit, and I want to get used to the feeling, knowing that you’re with me, even when you’re not by my side.” – Paulo Coelho
81. “Don’t allow your mind to tell your heart what to do. The mind gives up easily” – Paulo Coelho

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