Life Quotes Quote by Paulo Coelho, The Zahir — Inspiring Words on Life, Love & Wisdom

““Ester asked why people are sad.”

““Marie, let’s suppose that two firemen go into a forest to put out a small fire. Afterwards, when they emerge and go over to a stream, the face of one is all smeared with black, while the other man’s face is completely clean. My question is this: which of the two will wash his face?”

“No one should ever ask themselves that: why am I unhappy? The question carries within it the virus that will destroy everything. If we ask that question, it means we want to find out what makes us happy. If what makes us happy is different from what we have now, then we must either change once and for all or stay as we are, feeling even more unhappy.”

“Some people appear to be happy, but they simply don't give the matter much thought. Others make plans: I'm going to have a husband, a home, two children, a house in the country. As long as they're busy doing that, they're like bulls looking for the bullfighter: they react instinctively, they blunder on, with no idea where the target is. They get their car, sometimes they even get a Ferrari, and they think that's the meaning of life, and they never question it. Yet their eyes betray the sadness that even they don't know they carry in their soul. Are you happy?”

“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.”

“You don't have to disrespect and insult others simply to hold your own ground. If you do, that shows how shaky your own position is.”

“Allow the world to live as it chooses, and allow yourself to live as you choose.”

“Everything in life is luck.”

“No new horror can be more terrible than the daily torture of the commonplace.”

“I had a dream about you last night... you were a giant slinky and I watched you fall down the stairs.”