I'm not doing anything, and yet I'm also doing the most important thing a man can do: I'm listening to what I needed to hear from myself.
Paulo CoelhoRead
Love fills everything. It cannot be desired because it is an end in itself. It cannot betray because it has nothing to do with possession. It cannot be held prisoner because it is a river and will overflow its banks. Anyone who tries to imprison love will cut off the spring that feeds it, and the trapped water will grow stagnant.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Love is an abundant force that cannot be controlled or contained.
This quote by Paulo Coelho emphasizes the nature of love as a free-flowing and boundless emotion. It suggests that love exists for its own sake, cannot be owned or possessed, and that any attempts to limit or control it will ultimately lead to its deterioration, much like water that becomes stagnant when trapped. Coelho uses the imagery of a river to illustrate love's intrinsic quality of overflow and the inherent danger of trying to confine it.
Themes
LoveFreedomEmotionAbundanceNature
In practice
Example use cases
During a wedding ceremony to emphasize the importance of unconditional love.
More from Paulo Coelho
All quotes →Each stone, each bend cries welcome to him. He identifies with the mountains and the streams, he sees something of his own soul in the plants and the animals and the birds of the field.
Paulo CoelhoRead
We need to clear our minds of bad thoughts.
Paulo CoelhoRead
Having the courage to take the steps we always wanted to take is the only way of showing that we trust in God.
Paulo CoelhoRead
The fool who loves giving advice on our garden never tends his own plants
Paulo CoelhoRead
Sometimes the Warrior feels as if he were living two lives at once.
Paulo CoelhoRead
Similar quotes
But there is another way. And that is to organize mass non-violent resistance based on the principle of love. It seems to me that this is the only way as our eyes look to the future. As we look out across the years and across the generations, let us develop and move right here. We must discover the power of love, the power, the redemptive power of love. And when we discover that we will be able to make of this old world a new world. We will be able to make men better. Love is the only way.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Read
She often spoke to falling seeds and said, "Ah hope you fall on soft ground," because she had heard seeds saying that to each other as they passed. The familiar people and things had failed her so she hung over the gate and looked up the road towards way off. She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie's first dream was dead, so she became a woman.
Zora Neale HurstonRead
It doesn't matter how old you are, there is a little child within who needs love and acceptance.
Louise HayRead
I do want people to know that the songs that I wrote when I was with women were really about women. And the songs that I've written since have been fairly obvious about men.
George MichaelRead
You are like a hurricane, there's calm in your eyes, and I'm getting blown away.
Neil YoungRead
I think about being married again, having a home and a wife. No one can ever be married too many times, and maybe if I keep trying I'll get it right one day.
Richard PryorRead