The Zahir by Paulo Coelho

Those who follow and read my blog know very well that I enjoy taking some lines from the books I read and the movies I watch. Click here to see my previous entries.

”What the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over.”

NARRATOR

”There is, after all, that invisible institution called the Favor Bank, which I have always found very useful.”

”I’m rich, I’m famous, and if Esther has really left me, I’ll soon find someone to replace her. I’m free, I’m independent. But what is freedom?”

”How could they possibly know if they were in the mood or not if they have never tried?”

”I don’t regret the painful times; I bear my scars as if they were medals.”

”And yet, I cant’t accept it, I can’t accept that she would leave like that, without giving me a reason.”

”When someone leaves, it’s because someone else is to arrive – I’ll find love again.”

”We humans have two great problems: the first is knowing when to start, the second is not knowing when to stop.”

”It was good for a woman’s ego to be with a man and know that he had chosen her even though he had had the pick of many others.”

”In my hearts of hearts, I believed that my career as a writer was over, because the woman who had made me begin was no longer there.”

”When people praise us, we should always keep a close eye on how we behave.”

”Blessed are those who are not afraid to admit that they don’t know something.”

”When I had nothing more to lose, I was given everything.”

”Maybe I really don’t understand, but that’s precisely why I’m here – in order to understand.”

”Fate, however, had other chance.”

”There are two kinds of world: the one we dream about and the real one.”

”The Zahir always won, though; it was always there, making me think, ‘I think she was here with me.”’

”Love is giving me a pretty hard time at the moment, as you know.”

”No one is alone in their troubles, there is always someone else thinking, rejoicing, or suffering in the same way, and that gives us the strength to confront the challenge before us.”

”If there is suffering, then it’s best to accept it, because it won’t go away just because you pretend it’s not there. If there is joy, it’s best to accept that too, even though you’re afraid it might end one day.”

”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 know 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.”

”If I behave in the way people expect me to behave, I will become their slave.”
”The trouble is we’re heading toward a point where things are becoming too comfortable, where love stops creating problems and confrontations and becomes instead a merely solution.”

”If a lie is said often enough, it ends up convincing everyone.”

”I’ve taken the first step and I must continue to the end.”

”I am a child again, doing something that is wrong, forbidden but which gives me enormous pleasure.”

”This story needs to reach its end.”

”There are moments in life when we reach our limit.”’

”Our human condition makes us tend to share only the best of ourselves, because we are always searching for love and approval.”

”I began to imagine how many millions of people were, at that moment, feeling utterly useless and wretched – however rich, charming and delightful they might be – because they were alone that night, as they were yesterday, and as they might well be tomorrow.”

”Everything in life has its price.”

”Information is one of expensive products in the world.”

”We must never make our parents sad even if it means giving up everything that makes us happy.”

”I was nothing and that seemed to me marvelous.”

”I write because I want to be loved.”

”…the moment when her hand touched mine and changed my life.”

”Critics are insecure, they don’t really know what’s going on.”

”Mediocrity and anonymity are the safest choice. If you opt for them, you’ll never face any major problems in life.”

”…being with someone you really want to be, not because convention obliges you to be.”

”I fought and lost as well. I’m not trying to sew up what was rent. Like you, i want to fight to the bitter end.”

”And that is enough: knowing that the fundamental questions of life will never be answered, and that we can, nevertheless, still go forward.”

”I am the most generous person because i am close to my objective and afraid of what awaits me. my reaction is to try to help others, to show God that i’m a good person and i deserve this blessing that i have pursued so long and hard.”

”If she repeated every morning that she was happy with her life, then she would doubtly end up believing it herself and making everyone around us believe it too.”

ESTHER

”We’ve built our lives together. I love my man and he loves me, even though he’s not always the most faithful of all husbands..”

”What is fidelity? The feeling that i possess a body and a soul that aren’t mine?”

”Precisely that. I have everything, but I’m not happy.”

”And I’m with the man I always wanted to be at my side..”

”There are moments in life when we need to trust blindly in intuition.”

”That’s all I ask. To create a world where I can always find refuge if I need it: not so far away that i can’t be seen to be having an independent life, and not so close that it looks as if I’m invading your universe.”

”Tonight i’m going to pray with all my might and all my faith and ask God not to let me spend the rest of my days like this.”

”I waited as Penelope waited for Ulysses, as Romeo waited for Juliet, as Beatrice for Dante.”

MIKHAIL

”Reviewing history’s a great idea, that’s the only way you can change things.”

”That’s how love got lost, when we started laying down rules for love should or shouldn’t appear.”

”In how many other areas of our lives are we obeying rules we don’t understand?”

”I realize that that all it takes to become someone in the world is a little intelligence.”

”She tells me not to worry, just tell the truth and he will understand.”

”People can’t go on deceiving themselves forever.”

MARIE

”…Because i’m in love and i’m afraid of suffering.”

”I’d like to know if you love me as much as I love you. but I don’t have the courage to ask.”

”I wouldn’t dare ask that question because the answer could ruin my life.”

”Well, I’m going to fight for you anyway because I think you’re worth it.”

”I could repeat what I said to you once: ‘I’m going to fight to the bitter end.’ Well, I fought and I lost, and now I’ll just have to lick my wounds and leave.”

”I suffer every day, did you know that? I’ve been suffering for months now, trying to show how much I love you, how things are important when you’re by my side. But now, whether I suffer or not, I’ve decided enough is enough. it’s over. I’m tired. If blow comes, it comes. it can lay me on the canvas, it can knock me out cold, but one day i’ll recover.”

”Suffering occurs when we want other people to love us in the way we imagine we want to be loved, and not in the way that love should manifest itself – free and untrammeled, guiding us with its force and driving us on.”

NOMAD

”They are the prisoners of their personal history. everyone believes that the main aim in life is to follow a plan.. they never ask if that plan is theirs or if it was created by another person. they accumulate experiences, memories, things, other people’s ideas, and it’s more than they could possible cope with. and that is why they forget their dreams.”

”In order to live fully, it is necessary to be in constant movement; only then can each day be different from the last.”

”The nomads has no past, only the present, and that is why they were always happy..”

”When love grows, we grow with it.”

”Only when we close that story or chapter can we begin a new one.”

”The important things always stay.; what we lose are the things we thought were important..”

”We need to forget who we think we are in order to become who we really are.”

et. al.

”That’s the way things are” – Trainman

”The day that man allows true love to appear, those things which are well made will fall into confusion and will overturn everything we believe to be right and true.” – Dante

”You’re the one who’s poor – you have no control over your time, you can’t do what you want, you’re forced to follow rules you didn’t invent and which you don’t understand.” – Beggar

”That is why it is so important to let certain things go. to release them. to cut loose. people need to understand that no one is playing with marked cards; sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. don’t expect to get anything back, don’t expect recognition for your efforts, don’t expect your genius to be discovered or your love to be understood. complete the circle. not of our pride, inability, or arrogance, but simply because whatever it is no longer fits in your life. close the door, change the record, clean the house, get rid of t dust. stop being who you were and become who you are.”

”The accomodator or giving-up point: there is always event in our lives that is responsible for us failing to progress: a trauma, a particularly bitter defeat, a disappointment in love, even a victory that we did not quite understand, can make cowards of us and prevent us from moving on. as part of the process in increasing his hidden powers, the shaman must first himself from that giving-up point and, to do so, he must review his whole life and find out where it occurred.”

”Why don’t we look at our world as it is and not with what we imagine it to be?” – Party guest

”Everything that once made me happy just bores me, leaves me cold. for the sake of my marriage, the love of my children and the enthusiasm for my work, i decided to take two months off just for myself, and to take a long look at my life. and it’s working.” – Jan, a pilgrim