Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho, born in 1947, is celebrated for his spiritually centered narratives.
A law school dropout, he explored the world before transitioning from songwriting to writing.
His first book, “The Pilgrimage”, was inspired by his journey to Santiago de Compostela.
His globally acclaimed work, “The Alchemist”, portrays a shepherd’s mystical quest.
Despite his sometimes didactic style, his exploration of faith and spirituality, as seen in “The Valkyries” and “By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept”, achieved worldwide recognition.
Coelho, who also authored “Veronika Decides to Die” and “Eleven Minutes”, expanded his audience through blogging and offering free books.
Related: Peter Drucker Quotes and Joyce Meyer Quotes.
He also founded the Paulo Coelho Institute to assist children and the elderly.
I have collected a list of the best quotes by Paulo Coelho.
Inspirational Paulo Coelho Quotes
1. “Don’t allow your mind to tell your heart what to do. The mind gives up easily.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
2. “Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
3. “It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
4. “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
5. “You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it’s better to listen to what it has to say.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
6. “You can’t avoid pain, but you can choose to overcome it.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
7. “The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
8. “Sometimes you have to travel a long way to find what is near.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
9. “You have two choices, to control your mind or to let your mind control you.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
10. “Travel is never a matter of money but of courage.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
11. “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
12. “You are what you believe yourself to be.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
13. “When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
14. “If you’re brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
15. “So, I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
16. “It’s what you do in the present that will redeem the past and thereby change the future.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
17. “We must never stop dreaming. Dreams provide nourishment for the soul, just as a meal does for the body.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
18. “There is no time to leave important words unsaid.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
19. “A life without a cause is a life without effect.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
20. “We always know which is the best road to follow, but we follow only the road that we have become accustomed to.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
21. “If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine; it is lethal.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
22. “The danger of an adventure is worth a thousand days of ease and comfort.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
23. “Fortunate are those who take the first steps.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
Popular Paulo Coelho Quotes
24. “Fight for your dreams, and your dreams will fight for you.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
25. “If you believe in victory, then victory will believe in you.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
26. “Happiness is something that multiplies when it is divided.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
27. “If you love someone, you must be prepared to set them free.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
28. “Haters are confused admirers who can’t understand why everybody else likes you” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
29. “Life always waits for some crisis to occur before revealing itself at its most brilliant.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
30. “Love simply is.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
31. “Life has many ways of testing a person’s will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
32. “Don’t waste your time with explanations: people only hear what they want to hear.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
33. “The universe only makes sense when we have someone to share our feelings with.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
34. “Be like the fountain that overflows, not like the cistern that merely contains.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
35. “Sadness does not last forever when we walk in the direction of that which we always desired.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
36. “The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
37. “One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
38. “The axe always forgets. The tree always remembers.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
39. “Life is short. Kiss slowly, laugh insanely, love truly and forgive quickly.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
40. “The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
41. “Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
42. “Nothing in this world happens by chance.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
43. “If you conquer yourself, then you conquer the world.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
44. “If you are never alone, you cannot know yourself.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
45. “Your eyes show the strength of your soul.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
46. “Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worst kind of suffering.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
47. “Don’t explain. Your friends do not need it, and your enemies will not believe you.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
48. “Stay mad, but behave like normal people. Run the risk of being different, but learn to do so without attracting attention.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
49. “Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
50. “Tell your 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.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
51. “Life is like a garden, you reap what you sow.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
52. “You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
53. “Always remember the proverb: “This too shall pass.” Your negative feelings won’t last forever, there’s a light at the end of every tunnel. It might not happen today or tomorrow, but you’ll feel better eventually.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
54. “Only cowards hide behind silence.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
Top Paulo Coelho Quotes
55. “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.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
56. “Borges said there are only four stories to tell: a love story between two people, a love story between three people, the struggle for power and the voyage. All of us writers rewrite these same stories ad infinitum.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
57. “When you say ‘yes’ to others, make sure you are not saying ‘no’ to yourself.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
58. “If there is any possible consolation in the tragedy of losing someone we love very much, it’s the necessary hope that perhaps it was for the best.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
59. “If one day I could get out of here, I would allow myself to be crazy. Everyone is indeed crazy, but the craziest are the ones who don’t know they’re crazy; they just keep repeating what others tell them to.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
60. “Do something instead of killing time. Because time is killing you.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
61. “And a mistake repeated more than once is a decision.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
62. “It’s always easy to blame others. You can spend your entire life blaming the world, but your successes or failures are entirely your own.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
63. “If you only walk on sunny days you’ll never reach your destination.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
64. “Imagine a new story for your life and start living it.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
65. “Never apologize for being yourself.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
66. “When I had all the answers, the questions changed.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
67. “I start to think that I’m losing the love I have without having yet won the love I hope to win.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
68. “People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
69. “You are not defeated when you lose. You are defeated when you quit.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
70. “Remember your dreams and fight for them. You must know what you want from life. There is just one thing that makes your dream become impossible: the fear of failure.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
71. “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.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
72. “Follow your dreams, transform your life.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
73. “The adrenaline and stress of an adventure are better than a thousand peaceful days.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
74. “You can’t change the wind. But you can adjust the sails to reach your destination.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
75. “Even if it is only for a matter of moments, because those moments bring with them a Love so intense that it justifies the rest of our days.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
76. “The eyes are the mirror of the soul and reflect everything that seems to be hidden; and like a mirror, they also reflect the person looking into them.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
77. “Miracles only happen if you believe in miracles.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
78. “When in doubt, just take the next small step.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
79. “Straight roads do not make skillful drivers.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
Famous Paulo Coelho Quotes
80. “Your decision to walk creates the path ahead.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
81. “The power of storytelling is exactly this: to bridge the gaps where everything else has crumbled.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
82. “The darkest hour was just before dawn.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
83. “Empty your mind, stop thinking about anything, simply be.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
84. “If you don’t care about what people think, you already passed the first step of success.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
85. “Discipline and freedom are not mutually exclusive but mutually dependent because otherwise, you’d sink into chaos.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
86. “Every search begins with beginner’s luck. And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
87. “Never give up. When your heart becomes tired, just walk with your legs – but move on.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
88. “Change. But start slowly, because direction is more important than speed.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
89. “Life was always a matter of waiting for the right moment to act.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
90. “Dreamers can’t be tamed.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
91. “Listen to your heart. It knows all things, because it came from the Soul of the World and it will one day return there.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
92. “You can achieve anything if you believe in yourself. But the opposite is also true; without strong self-belief you will not go far.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
93. “People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of. It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting. And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
94. “Love is an unconditional commitment to an imperfect person. To love somebody isn’t just a strong feeling. It is a decision, a judgment, and a promise.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
95. “Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning. Dream is also just a word until you decide to fight for it with all your enthusiasm and commitment.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
96. “Never stop dreaming.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
97. “Teaching is only demonstrating that it is possible. Learning is making it possible for yourself.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
98. “An enthusiastic heart finds opportunities everywhere.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
99. “Don’t give up. Normally it is the last key on the ring which opens the door.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
100. “If it’s still in your mind, it is still in your heart.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
101. “When you are enthusiastic about what you do, you feel this positive energy. It’s very simple.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
102. “Whenever you want to achieve something, keep your eyes open, concentrate and make sure you know exactly what it is you want. No one can hit their target with their eyes closed.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
103. “Tears are words that need to be written.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
104. “Nothing in the world is ever completely wrong. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
105. “I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living now.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
106. “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.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
107. “Freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose – and commit myself to – what is best for me.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
Short Paulo Coelho Quotes
108. “What hurts us is what heals us.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
109. “Remember the saying, What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger? It’s true!” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
110. “When I had nothing to lose, I had everything. When I stopped being who I am, I found myself.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
111. “No one loses anyone, because no one owns anyone. That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
112. “I can choose either to be a victim of the world or an adventurer in search of treasure. It’s all a question of how I view my life.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
113. “And one has to understand that braveness is not the absence of fear but rather the strength to keep on going forward despite the fear.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
114. “And, when you can’t go back, you have to worry only about the best way of moving forward.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
115. “It’s only those who are persistent and willing to study things deeply, who achieve the master work.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
116. “It’s the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
117. “Only two things can reveal life’s great secrets: suffering and love.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
118. “Listen to your heart. It knows everything.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
119. “Anyone who loves in the expectation of being loved in return is wasting their time.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
120. “Every blessing ignored becomes a curse.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
121. “Love is not to be found in someone else, but in ourselves; we simply awaken it. But in order to do that, we need the other person. The universe only makes sense when we have someone to share our feelings with.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
122. “All you have to do is to pay attention; lessons always arrive when you are ready, and if you can read the signs, you will learn everything you need to know in order to take the next step.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
123. “Don’t give in to your fears. If you do, you won’t be able to talk to your heart.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
124. “There are moments when troubles enter our lives and we can do nothing to avoid them. But they are there for a reason. Only when we have overcome them will we understand why they were there.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
125. “There is only one way to learn. It’s through action. Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
126. “Whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it’s because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It’s your mission on earth.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
127. “Scars speak more loudly than the sword that caused them.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
128. “Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
129. “What is a teacher? I’ll tell you: it isn’t someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give of her best in order to discover what she already knows.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
Best Paulo Coelho Quotes
130. “Every moment in life is an act of faith.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
131. “If I must be faithful to someone or something, I have, first of all, have to be faithful to myself.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
132. “Certain things in life simply have to be experienced -and never explained. Love is such a thing.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
133. “Intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
134. “Accept what life offers you and try to drink from every cup. All wines should be tasted; some should only be sipped, but with others, drink the whole bottle.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
135. “To love is to lose control.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
136. “You are someone who is different, but who wants to be the same as everyone else. And that in my view is a serious illness. God chose you to be different. Why are you disappointing God with this kind of attitude?” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
137. “And if I’m alone in bed, I will go to the window, look up at the sky, and feel certain that loneliness is a lie, because the Universe is there to keep me company.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
138. “The devil is in the detail.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
139. “Remember your dreams and fight for them.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
140. “Sometimes there’s just no way to hold back the river.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
141. “But if you believe yourself worthy of the thing you fought so hard to get, then you become an instrument of God, you help the Soul of the World, and you understand why you are here.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
142. “My heart might be bruised, but it will recover and become capable of seeing beauty of life once more. It’s happened before, it will happen again, I’m sure. When someone leaves, it’s because someone else is about to arrive – I’ll find love again.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
143. “If you want to be successful, you must respect one rule. Never lie to yourself.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
144. “I don’t regret my painful times, i bare my scars as if they were medals. I know that freedom has a high price, as high as that of slavery; the only difference is that you pay with pleasure and a smile, even when that that smile dimmed by tears.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
145. “Love is only a word, until we decide to let it possess us with all its force. Love is only a word, until someone arrives to give it meaning. Don’t give up. Remember, it’s always the last key on the key ring that opens the door.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
146. “With the rain, falls the wisdom of heaven.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
147. “Impossible is just an opinion.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
148. “Death frees from the fear of dying.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
149. “Don’t live every day as if it were your last. Live every day as if it were your first.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
150. “Dreaming is very pleasant as long as you are not forced to put your dreams into practice.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).
151. “If pain must come, may it come quickly. Because I have a life to live, and I need to live it in the best way possible. If he has to make a choice, may he make it now. Then I will either wait for him or forget him.” ~ (Paulo Coelho).