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Quotes from The Fifth Mountain

Last Updated: July 20, 1998


Paulo Coelho, The Fifth Mountain:

All life's battles teach us something, even those we lose.... you'll discover that you have defended lies, deceived yourself, or suffered for foolishness. If you're a good warrior, you will not blame yourself for this, but neither will you allow your mistakes to repeat themselves.

... a man must choose... therein lies his strength: the power of his decisions... he who makes no choice is dead in the eyes of the Lord...

There is no tragedy, only the unavoidable. Everything has its reason for being: you only need to distinguish what is temporary from what is lasting.
        What is temporary?... The unavoidable... and what is lasting?... The lessons of the unavoidable.

I discovered something:  the meaning of my life was whatever I wanted it to be.

Why did you attack at night?... there is no custom that forbids it... all of you were so preoccupied with custom that you forgot that times change.

The unavoidable always happens.

If you have a past that dissatisfies you, then forget it now.

Ask the children, they know everything... because... the children have no past.

A child can teach an adult three things:  to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something, and to know how to demand with all his might that which he desires.

Cowards never allow their hearts to blaze with this fire: all they desire is for the changed situation to quickly return to what it was before, so they can go on living their lives and thinking in their customary way. The brave however, set afire that which was old and, even a the cost of great internal suffering, abandon everything and continue onward.

There are moments when God demands our obedience. but there are moments in which He wishes to test our will and challenges us to understand His love.

Take advantage of the chance that tragedy has given you; not everyone is capable of doing so.

Sadness does not last forever when we walk in the direction of that which we always desired.

It's always necessary to know when a stage of one's life has ended. If you stubbornly cling to it after the need has passed, you lose the joy and meaning of the rest. And you risk being shaken to your senses by God.

 

 

Richard Shelquist (wahiduddin)
Longmont, Colorado