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I love The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, it will always remain my favorite book.  The first time I read it, I couldn’t help but think a little part of me was the Shepherd boy Santiago seeking his destiny by listening to his heart and following his dreams.  If my apartment caught fire and I could only take three things, they would be my Cat named Alchemy, my laptop, and my first edition signed copy of The Alchemist.   

“At that moment, it seemed to him that time stood still, and the Soul of the World surged within him.  When he looked intro her dark eyes, and saw that her lips were poised between a laugh and silence, he learned the most important part of the language that all the world spoke-the language that everyone on earth is capable of understanding in their heart.  It was love. Something older then humanity, more ancient then the desert.  Something that exerted the same force whenever two pairs of eyes met, as had theirs here at the well.  She smiled, and that was certainly an omen-the omen he had been awaiting, without even knowing he was, for all his life.  The omen he had sought to find with his sheep and in his books, in the crystals and in the silence of the desert. It was the pure language of the World.  It required no explanation, just as the universe need none as it travels through endless time.  What the boy felt at that moment was that he was in the presence of the only women in his life, and that, with no need for words, she recognized the same thing.  He was more certain of it than anything in the world… …And when two such people encounter each other, and their eyes meet, the past and the future become unimportant.  There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only.  It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world.  Without such love, one’s dreams would have on meaning.  Maktub, thought the boy.”   P. 97 The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho 

“The boy didn’t know what a person’s ‘destiny’ was.   ‘It’s what you have always wanted to accomplish.  Everyone, when they are young, knows what their destiny is.  At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible.  They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives.  But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their destiny…  It’s a force that appears to be negative, but actually shows you how to realize your destiny.  It prepares your spirit and you will, because there is one great truth on this planet: 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.   ‘Even when all you want to do is to travel? Or marry the daughter of a textile merchant?’   ‘Yes, or even search for treasure.  The Soul of the World is nourished by people’s happiness.  And also by unhappiness, envy, and jealousy.  To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only real obligation.  All things are one.  And, when you want something, all the universe conspires to helping you to achieve it’.”  The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho 

“There, he could exchange his book for a thicker one, fill his wine bottle, shave, and have a haircut; he had to prepare himself for his meeting with the girl, and he didn’t want to think about the possibility that some other shepherd, with a larger flock of sheep, had arrived there before him and asked for her hand.  It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting, he thought, as he looked again at the position of the sun, and hurried his pace.  He had suddenly remembered that, in Tarifa, there was an old woman who interpreted dreams.”    P.11 The Alchemist  by Paulo Coelho  

“I’m alive”, he said to the boy, as they ate a bunch of dates one night, with no fires and no moon.  “When I’m eating, that’s all I think about.  If I’m on the march, I just concentrate on marching.  If I have to fight, it will be just a good day to die as any other.  “Because I don’t live in either my past or my future.  I’m only interested in the present.  If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man.  You’ll see that there is life in the desert, that there are stars in the heavens, and that tribesmen fight because they are part of the human race.  Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living right now.”  P.89 The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho