Standing, Toddling, Discovering

The Alchemist – Santiago’s journey has come to an end. So near, yet so far. His treasures are actually in his own backyard. Sometimes, in life, we go around a big circle and then to come back again to the actual place where it all started :)

There is only one way to learn – it’s through action.

They were seeking the treasure of their Personal Legend, without wanting actually to live out the Personal Legend.

Why do we have to listen to our hearts? – Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you’ll find your treasure.

But my heart is agitated. It has its dreams, it gets emotional and it’s become passionate over a woman of the desert. It ask things of me, and it keeps me from sleeping many night, when I’m thinking about her – Well, that’s good. Your heart is alive. Keep listening to what it has to say.

My heart is a traitor. It doesn’t want me to go on – That makes sense, naturally it’s afraid that, in pursuing your dream, you might lose everything you’ve won.

Well, then, why should I listen to my heart? – Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet. Even if you pretend not to have heard what it tells you, it will always be there inside you, repeating to you what you’re thinking about life and about the world.

You mean I should listen, even if it’s treasonous? - Treason is a blow that comes unexpectedly. If you know your heart well, it will never be able to do that to you. Because you’ll know its dreams and wishes, and will know how to deal with them. You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it’s better to listen to what it has to say. That way, you’ll never have to fear an unanticipated blow.

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.

Why don’t people’s hearts tell them to continue to follow their dreams? – Because that’s what makes a heart suffer most, and hearts don’t like to suffer.

Before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World test 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 most people give up. It’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.

That the darkest hour of the night came just before the dawn.

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

Does a man’s heart always help him? – Mostly just the hearts of those who are trying to realize their Personal Legends. But they do help children, drunkards, and the elderly too.

Does that mean that I’ll never run into danger? – It means only that the heart does what it can.

Your eyes show the strength of your soul.

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

When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too. Lead will play its role until the world has no further need for lead; and then lead will have to turn itself into gold.

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

It’s true; life really is generous to those who pursue their Personal legend.