The Alchemist picked up a book that someone in the caravan
had brought. Leafing through the pages, he found a story about
Narcissus.
The alchemist knew the legend of Narcissus, a youth who knelt
daily beside a lake to contemplate his own beauty. He was so
fascinated by himself that, one morning, he fell into the lake
and drowned. At the spot where he fell, a flower was born, which
was called the narcissus.
But this was not how the author of the book ended the story.
He said that when Narcissus died, the goddesses of the forest
appeared and found the lake, which had been fresh water, transformed
into a lake of salty tears.
The Alchemist
Opening lines, Prologue. |
It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes
life interesting.
The Alchemist
Santiago thinking. |
Dreams are the language of God.
The Alchemist
Old woman to Santiago. |
It's the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary.
The Alchemist
Old woman to Santiago. |
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.
The Alchemist |
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.
The Alchemist
Old man claiming to be King of Salem, to
Santiago. |
The boy didn't know what a person's "destiny" was.
"It's what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone,
when they are young, knows what their destiny is. At that point
in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible.
They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they
would like to see happen to them in their lives. But, as time
passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will
be impossible for them to realize their destiny... It's a force
that appears to be negative, but actually shows you how to realize
your destiny. It prepares your spirit and you will, because
there is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or
whatever it is that you do, when you really want something,
it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe.
It's your mission on earth."
The Alchemist
Old king to Santiago. |
The Soul of the World is nourished by people's happiness.
And also by unhappiness, envy, and jealousy. To realize one's
destiny is a person's only real obligation.
The Alchemist
Old king to Santiago. |
All things are one.
The Alchemist
Old king to Santiago. |
When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping
you to achieve it.
The Alchemist
Old king to Santiago. |
People learn early in their lives what is their reason for
being. Maybe that's why they give up on it so early, too.
The Alchemist
Old king to Santiago. |
If you start out by promising what you don't even have yet,
you'll lose your desire to work toward getting it.
The Alchemist
Old king to Santiago. |
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.
The Alchemist |
There was nothing to hold him back except himself.
The Alchemist
Santiago thinking. |
God has prepared a path for everyone to follow. You just have
to read the omens that he left for you.
The Alchemist
Old king to Santiago. |
If God leads the sheep so well, he will also lead a man, he
thought, and that made him feel better. The tea seemed less
bitter.
The Alchemist
Santiago. |
It's called the principle of favourability, beginner's luck.
Because life wants you to achieve your destiny.
The Alchemist
Santiago recalls words of the old king. |
I'm afraid that if my dream is realized, I'll have no reason
to go on living.
The Alchemist
Crystal merchant to Santiago. |
I don't want to change anything, because I don't know how
to deal with change. I'm used to the way I am.
The Alchemist
Crystal merchant to Santiago. |
Every blessing ignored becomes a curse. I don't want anything
else in life. But you are forcing me to look at wealth and at
horizons that I have never known. Now that I have seen them,
and now that I see how immense my possibilities are, I'm going
to feel worse than I did before you arrived. Because I know
the things I should be able to accomplish, and I don't want
to do so.
The Alchemist
Crystal merchant to Santiago. |
Never stop dreaming. Follow the omens.
The Alchemist
Santiago recalls what old king had said. |
When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a
strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed
of when he first made the decision.
The Alchemist |
The boy was beginning to understand that intuition is really
a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of
life, where the histories of all people are connected, and we
are able to know everything, because it's all written there.
When you want something with all your heart, that's when you
are closest to the Soul of the World. It's always a positive
force.
The Alchemist
Englishman to Santiago. |
Everything on earth is being continuously transformed, because
the earth is alive ... and it has a soul. We are part of that
soul, so we rarely recognize that it is working for us.
The Alchemist
Englishman to Santiago. |
The alchemists spent years in their laboratories, observing
the fire that purified the metals. They spent so much time close
to the fire that gradually they gave up the vanities of the
world. They discovered that the purification of the metals had
led to a purification of themselves.
The Alchemist
Englishman to Santiago. |
I learned that the world has a soul, and that whoever understands
that soul can also understand the language of things. I learned
that many alchemists realized their destinies, and wound up
discovering the Soul of the World, the Philosopher's Stone,
and the Elixir of Life. But above all, I learned that these
things are all so simple they could be written on the surface
of an emerald.
The Alchemist
Santiago to the Englishman. |
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 right now.
The Alchemist
Camel driver to Santiago. |
Maybe God created the desert so that man could appreciate
the date trees, he thought.
The Alchemist
The alchemist. |
Because people become fascinated with pictures and words,
and wind up forgetting the Language of the World.
The Alchemist
The alchemist. |
In his pursuit of the dream, he was being constantly subjected
to tests of his persistence and courage. So he could not be
hasty, nor impatient. If he pushed forward impulsively, he would
fail to see the signs and omens left by God along his path.
The Alchemist
Santiago. |
At that moment, it seemed to him that time stood still, and
the Soul of the World surged within him. When he looked into
her dark eyes, and saw that her lips were poised between a laugh
and silence, he learned the most important part of the language
that all the world spoke - the language that everyone on earth
is capable of understanding in their heart. It was love. Something
older then humanity, more ancient then the desert. Something
that exerted the same force whenever two pairs of eyes met,
as had theirs here at the well.
The Alchemist
Santiago meets Fatima. |
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