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08 November, 2005

Paulo Coelho's "The Alchemist"

Recently I read what I thought was a highly over-rated book, Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist.” I didn’t realize what it would do to me as I waded through the monotonous dialogue and seemingly dreary tale of a shepherd boy who goes in search of his destiny and love.

I won’t reveal what he found out. But on the way he meets the Alchemist whose words of wisdom inspire him and egg him towards his goal.

Following are a few gleanings from the Alchemist’s repository of wisdom:

“When a man pursues his destiny, everything in the world conspires to make it possible.”

Maktub: “It is written” (Means your destiny is already written.)

“It is not what enters men’s mouth that is evil, it is what comes out of their mouth that is.”

“Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure. You’ve got to find the treasure, so that everything you have learned along the way can make sense.”

“You will spend the rest of your days knowing that you didn’t pursue your destiny, and that now it is too late.”

“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.”

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

“To show you one of life’s simple lessons, when you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed.”

“If a person is living out his destiny he knows everything he needs to know. There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”

“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. As long as the wind helps, of course.”

“Because when we love, we always strive to become better than we are.”

“Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.”

“It is true. Life really is generous to those who pursue their destiny.”

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5 Comments:

Blogger UltimateWriter said...

The last quote is true but unfortunately, too many of us fail to pursue our destiny and end up accumulating excuse riddled regrets.

09 November, 2005 23:35  
Blogger Unknown said...

a book not to be missed. i'd blogged about it too. check out http://pepperymasala.blogspot.com/2005/07/do-you-see-omens.html

somehow i dont think it's just a story of a shepherd.. it's more like a silent mirror that looks at life in a whole new perspective..

10 November, 2005 14:49  
Blogger Gypsynan said...

Of all the unworthy best selling books out there, why does this raise the hackles of the Indian intellectual the best? Have not read it - yet - but I think Mallika Sherawat has :P or was it John Abraham?

11 November, 2005 05:51  
Blogger Sudarshan said...

This book always reminds me of a line from Nathaniel Hawthorne's preface to his 'House of The Seven Gables' :

When romances do really teach anything, or produce any effective operation, it is usually through a far more subtile process than the ostensible one. The author has considered it hardly worth his while, therefore, relentlessly to impale the story with its moral as with an iron rod,--or, rather, as by sticking a pin through a butterfly, --thus at once depriving it of life, and causing it to stiffen in an ungainly and unnatural attitude.


A bit wordy, I agree, but atleast he makes sense ;)

16 November, 2005 11:07  
Blogger Sameera said...

yeah i agree that it was a good book but more hype than it required.

19 November, 2005 15:10  

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