“Is that the one thing I still need to know?”

“No”, the alchemist answered. “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, as we say in the language of the desert,
one ‘dies of 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.”

Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream


Painting by Samy Charnine

“Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.”

Paulo Coelho


Painting Vladimir Kush

“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 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


Painting by Michael Cheval

“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


Painting by Samy Charnine

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

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Oblinski Rafal

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

Paulo Coelho


Art by Jesse Peper

“The moment of that kiss contained every happy moment I had ever lived.”

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Vladimir Kush

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

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Jacek Yerka

“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


Painting by Vladimir Kush

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

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Vladimir Kush

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

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Vladimir Kush

“One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.”

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Vladimir Kush

“But there is suffering in life, and there are defeats. No one can avoid them.
'But it's better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for your dreams
than to be defeated without ever knowing what you're fighting for.”

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Vladimir Kush

“We have to stop and be humble enough to understand that there is something called mystery.”

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Jacek Yerka

“If you start by promising what you don't even have yet, you'll lose your desire to work towards getting it.”

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Vladimir Kush

“No one can lie, no one can hide anything, when he looks directly into someone's eyes.”

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Vladimir Kush

"Every day, God gives us the sun-and also one moment in which we have the ability to change
everything that makes us unhappy."

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Vladimir Kush

"You have passed through the two hardest tests on the spiritual road: the patience to wait for the right
moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what you encounter."

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Vladimir Kush

"A child can always 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


Painting by Vladimir Kush

"If everyone there just lived their lives and let others do the same, God would be in every moment,
in every grain of mustard, in the fragment of cloud that is there and then gone the following moment.
God was there and yet people believed they still had to go on looking, because it seemed too simple
to accept that life was an act of faith."

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Vladimir Kush

"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


Paiting by Vladimir Kush

"There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure."

Paulo Coelho


Paintings by Vladimir Kush

"I don't regret the painful times; I bare my scars as if they were medals."

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Vladimir Kush

"Freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose--and commit myself to--what is best."

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Vladimir Kush

"We all have the ability…we just don't all have the courage to follow our dreams and to follow the signs."

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Vladimir Kush

"Live. If you live, God will live with you. If you refuse to run his risks,
he’ll retreat to that distant heaven and be merely a subject for philosophical speculation.
Everyone knows this, but no one takes the first step, perhaps for fear of being called insane."

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Jacek Yerka

"You’re someone who’s different, but who wants to be the same as everyone else.
And that, in my view, is a serious illness."

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Vladimir Kush

"Each stone, each bend cries welcome to him. He identifies with the mountains and the streams,
he sees something of his own soul in the plants and the animals and the birds of the field."

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Vladimir Kush

"Then, accepting the help of God and of God's signs, he allows his personal legend to guide
him toward the tasks that life has reserved for him."

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Vladimir Kush

“I think that when we look for love courageously, it reveals itself,
and we wind up attracting even more love. If one person really wants us,
everyone does. But if we're alone, we become even more alone. Life is strange.”

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Vladimir Kush

"In these words lies all his power: He chose the path along which he is walking and so has no complaints.
Warriors of the light are not perfect. Their beauty lies in accepting this fact and still desiring to grow and to learn.
A warrior of the light...never confuses tension with anxiety."

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Vladimir Kush

"Join with those who sing songs, tell stories, enjoy life … because happiness is contagious.
Join those who walk with their heads high even when they have tears in their eyes.
Avoid those who … have never shed a tear."

Paulo Coelho


Painting by Vladimir Kush

"May love be your guide in every moment of your life."

Paulo Coelho