Paulo Coelho Quotes

"Great suffering has a silver-lining that we can be grateful for, because it builds up a human being and puts him or her within reach of self-knowledge."

Courage and initiative come when you understand your purpose in life.

Once an individual's search for meaning is successful, it not only renders him happy but also gives him the capability to cope with suffering

There is nothing the body suffers the soul may not profit by.

Many of us feel stress and get overwhelmed not because we're taking on too much, but because we're taking on too little of what really strengthens us.

Set yourself earnestly to see what you are made to do, and then set yourself earnestly to do it.

When you see how you react when you suffer that's when you know what you are made of.

Acceptance of one's life has nothing to do with resignation; it does not mean running away from the struggle. On the contrary, it means accepting it as it comes, with all the handicaps of heredity, of suffering, of psychological complexes and injustices.

In the final analysis, the questions of why bad things happen to good people transmutes itself into some very different questions, no longer asking why something happened, but asking how we will respond, what we intend to do now that it happened.

A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the 'why' for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any 'how.'

I get why we don't want to be in pain, but there's something very essential about what happens when we're in pain and some of the growth that can come from it if we stare at it straight in the face.

Those who suffer profoundly are granted profound wisdom.

I know who I fight for and why.

Decide what to go be and be it.

I just kind of, like, know who I am. I think that comes from having an incredibly strong sense of purpose for a very long time.

It's OK to feel pain and experience it. I'm not trying to fix myself. My suffering has given me so much.

We need energy, commitment, and courage not to run from our life nor to cover it over with any philosophy—material or spiritual.

Tribulation first makes one realize what one is.

The tragedy is not so much the experience that you're having. The tragedy is that we don't take the time to understand the meaning and purpose behind what we're going through.

Nature has not been lavish in her endowments, but each person has his or her own potential in terms of achievement and service. The awareness of that potential is the discovery of purpose; the fulfillment of that potential is the discovery of strength.

Having a dream is what keeps you alive. Overcoming the challenges makes life worth living.

As the most generous vine, if it is not pruned, runs out into many superfluous stems, and grows at last weak and fruitless; so dote the best man, if he be not cut short of his desires and pruned with afflictions. If it be painful to bleed, it is worse to wither. Let me be pruned, that I may grow, rather than be cut up to burn.

You make your own kinds of mistakes, and I’m sure you’ll have your share of regrets in life. But commitment was never your problem, sweetie. You have a better chance of making this work than most forty-year-olds I know. My little middle-aged child. Luckily, you seem to have found another old soul.

A man with nothing to die for has even less for which to live.