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
And with the passing years, what had once seemed like a miracle or the luckiest of chances and which he had always promised himself he would never become enslaved by, has gradually become his sole reason to go on living.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects how time can transform initial feelings of wonder into a dependency that defines our existence.
In this quote, Paulo Coelho discusses the powerful impact of time on our perceptions and motivations. What once felt like a miraculous opportunity can evolve into an addiction or a sole purpose that dictates our life choices. The protagonist's journey illustrates the struggle between the joy of initial experiences and the enslavement that often accompanies prolonged attachment. This transformation prompts reflection on how we can maintain a balance in our pursuits and avoid becoming overly reliant on any one aspect of life.
Themes
MiracleTimeDependencyLifePurpose
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a motivational speech about self-discovery.
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
People go on postponing everything that is meaningful. Tomorrow they will laugh; today, money has to be gathered... more money, more power, more things, more gadgets. Tomorrow they will love - today there is no time. But tomorrow never comes, and one day they find themselves burdened with all kinds of gadgets, burdened with money. They have come to the top of the ladder - and there is nowhere to go except to jump in a lake.
RajneeshRead
My dear, dear girl [. . .] we can't turn back the days that have gone. We can't turn life back to the hours when our lungs were sound, our blood hot, our bodies young. We are a flash of fire--a brain, a heart, a spirit. And we are three-cents-worth of lime and iron--which we cannot get back.
Thomas WolfeRead
She makes life over, he realized. She controls life, whereas I just sit on my can and let it happen to me.
Philip K. DickRead
I go back to St. Lucia, and the exhilaration I feel is not simply the exhilaration of homecoming and of nostalgia. It is almost an irritation of feeling: 'Well, you never got it right. Now you have another chance. Maybe you can try and look harder.'
Derek WalcottRead
Life is a daring adventure or nothing.
Helen KellerRead
I am younger each year at the first snow. When I see it, suddenly, in the air, all little and white and moving; _x000D_ then I am in love again and very young and I believe everything.
Anne SextonRead