The Alchemist - The Most Memorable Quotes IMO

You know what feels good? Making a New Years Resolution of reading AT LEAST 5 books this year and being 20% there within the first few days of January. Boom! I thank my new Kindle Paperwhite for helping me achieve this.

The first book I finished this year is The Alchemist and wow, I loved it. I was recommended this book by a very dear friend who knows the type of person I am and what I value, and he pinned the nail on the donkey with this book. I connected extremely well with this book. It reinforced many of my beliefs and made me see things in a different light.

While reading I highlighted some key quotes that I want to remember for years to come. They’re the points that I connected with the most. If you haven’t read the book yet, read a few of the things that resonated with me below and quickly grab the book if you think this book is the type of book you can also connect to.

PS> This was a b%^&* to type out. Sorry for typos.

My Favorite Quotes from The Alchemist:

“The boy knew a lot of people in the city. 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.”

—-

“What’s the world’s greatest lie?” the boy asked, completely surprised.

“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. That’s the world’s greatest lie.”

—-

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.”

—-

“The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never forget the drops of oil on the spoon.”

—-

But the sheep had taught him something even more important: that there was a language in the world that everyone understood, a language in the world that everyone understood, a language the boy had used throughout time that he was trying to improve things at the shop.

It was the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, as a part of a search for something believed in and desired. Tangier was no longer a strange city, and he felt that, just as he had conquered this place, he could conquer the world.

—-

“When you want something, all the universe conspires to help you achieve it.”

—-

The closer one gets to realizing his destiny, the more that destiny becomes his true reason for being.

—-

“That’s the principle that governs all things,” he said. “In alchemy, it’s called Soul of the World. When you want something with all your heart, that’s when you are the closest to the Soul of the World. It’s always a positive force.”

—-

“Because I don’t live in either my past of my future. I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. You’ll see that there is life in the desert, that there are stars in the heavens, and that tribesmen fight because they are part of the human race. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living right now.”

—-

It was the pure language of the world. It required no explanation, just as the universe needs none as it travels through endless time. What the boy felt at that moment was that he was in the presence of the only woman in his life, and that, with no need for words, she recognized the same thing. He was more certain of it than of anything in the world. He had been told by his parents and grandparents that he must fall in love and really know a person before being committed. But maybe people who felt that way had never learned the universal language. Because, when you know that language, it’s easy to understand that someone in the world awaits you, whether it’s in the middle of the desert or in some great city. And when two such people encounter each other, and their eyes meet, the past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world. Without such love, one’s dreams would have no meaning.

—-

“When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream.”

—-

“It is not what enters men’s mouths that’s evil,” said the alchemist. “It’s what comes out of their mouths that is.”

—-

“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”

—-

“There is only one way to learn,” the alchemist answered. “It’s through action. Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.”

—-

“Listen to your heart. It knows all things, because it came from the Soul of the World, and one day it will return there.”

—-

“My heart is a traitor,” the boy said to the alchemist. “It doesn’t want me to go on.”

“That makes sense,” the alchemist answered. “Naturally it’s afraid that, in pursuing your dream, you might lose everything you’ve won.”

“Well, then, why should I listen to my heart?”

“Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet. Even if you pretend not to have heard what it tells you, it will always be there inside you, repeating to you what you’re thinking about life and about the world.”

“You’ll never be able to escape from your heart. So it’s better to listen to what it has to say. That way, you’ll never have to fear an unanticipated blow.”

—-

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. We, their hearts, become fearful just thinking of loved ones who go away forever, or moments that could have been good but weren’t, or of treasures that might have been found but were forever hidden in sands. Because, when these things happen, we suffer terribly.

“Tell you’re heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.”

—-

But, unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them – the path to their destinies, and to happiness. Most people see the world as a threatening place, and because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place.”

—-

“What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream. That’s the point at which most people give up. It’s the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one ‘dies to thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.’

—-

“Every search begins with beginner’s luck. And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested.”

—-

“Usually the threat of death makes people a lot more aware of their lives.”

“This is what we call love. When you are loved, you can do anything in creation. When you are loved, there’s no need at all to understand what’s happening, because everything happens within you, and even men can turn themselves into the wind.”

—-

“That’s what alchemists do. They show that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.”

Amazing book.