PAULO COELHO

Culture makes people understand each other better. And if they understand each other better in their soul, it is easier to overcome the economic and political barriers. But first they have to understand that their neighbour is, in the end, just like them, with the same problems, the same questions.

Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.

Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worse kind of suffering.

I can control my destiny, but not my fate. Destiny means there are opportunities to turn right or left, but fate is a one-way street. I believe we all have the choice as to whether we fulfil our destiny, but our fate is sealed.

When you are enthusiastic about what you do, you feel this positive energy. It's very simple.

You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.

My literature is much more the result of a paradox than that of an implacable logic, typical of police novels. The paradox is the tension that exists in my soul.

Everybody is a political person, whether you say something or you are silent. A political attitude is not whether you go to parliament; it's how you deal with your life, with your surroundings.

I have seen many storms in my life. Most storms have caught me by surprise, so I had to learn very quickly to look further and understand that I am not capable of controlling the weather, to exercise the art of patience and to respect the fury of nature.

The good old days, when each idea had an owner, are gone forever.

Sometimes I catch myself stooping, and whenever I am like that, I am sure something is not quite right.

I'm not a person that socializes very well.

Things do not always happen the way I would like them to happen, and I had better get used to that.

I was not encouraged to follow the career of a writer because my parents thought that I was going to starve to death. They thought nobody can make a living from being a writer in Brazil. They were not wrong.

You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen.

Elegance is usually confused with superficiality, fashion, lack of depth. This is a serious mistake: human beings need to have elegance in their actions and in their posture because this word is synonymous with good taste, amiability, equilibrium and harmony.

Music for me, it demands full concentration.

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.

MySpace is my wife... Facebook is my mistress.

I am a Catholic because I choose to be a Catholic. And then I go to the Mass because I choose. It is out of my free will.

Life was always a matter of waiting for the right moment to act.

The wise are wise only because they love. The fool are fools only because they think they can understand love.

MySpace is an addiction.

I'm first and foremost a writer. I followed my personal legend, my childhood dream of becoming a writer, but I can't say why I'm one.

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 you can stop making an effort.