Short Motivational Story by Paulo Coelho

Short Motivational Story by Paulo Coelho

Father and Son

A father was trying to read the newspaper, but his son was disturbing him. At last, the father became tired of his sons mischief and, tearing a page from the newspaper – one that had a map of the world drawn on it– he cut it into several pieces and handed them to his son.

‘I have a task for you. I’ve given you a map of the world but it is in pieces and I want you to put it back together properly.’

He restarted his reading; he knew that the task would keep the kid engaged for the rest of the day. However, a quarter of an hour later, the boy came back with the map.

‘Has your mother been training you in geography?’ asked his father in astonishment.

‘I don’t even know what that is,’ answered the lad ‘But there was a photograph of a man on the other side of the page, so I put the man back together and in the process I’d put the world back together as well.’

Memory and Salt

I arrive in Madrid at 8 o'clock in the morning. I will only be here a few hours, so it's not worth calling friends and going to meet them. I come to a decision to go for a walk unaccompanied in my favourite places, and I end up sitting on a bench in the Retiro Park.

'You look miles away,' says an old man, joining me on the bench.

'Oh, I'm here,' I say, 'but I'm sitting on this same bench with a painter friend of mine, Anastasio Ranchal, twelve years ago in 1986. We are both watching my wife, Christina, who has had a bit too much to drink and is trying to dance the flamenco.'

'Enjoy the reminiscences,' says the old man. 'But don't overlook the fact that memory is like salt: the right amount brings out the taste in food, however too much ruins it. If you live in the past all the time, you'll find yourself with no present to remember.

Paulo Coelho Quotes

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”

― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”

― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worst kind of suffering.”

― Paulo Coelho, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

“The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”

― Paulo Coelho, Alchemist

“The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.”

― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“If pain must come, may it come quickly. Because I have a life to live, and I need to live it in the best way possible. If he has to make a choice, may he make it now. Then I will either wait for him or forget him.”

― Paulo Coelho, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

 “Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.”

― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

 “When someone leaves, it's because someone else is about to arrive.”

― Paulo Coelho, The Zahir

 “Love is an untamed force. When we try to control it, it destroys us. When we try to imprison it, it enslaves us. When we try to understand it, it leaves us feeling lost and confused.”

― Paulo Coelho

“Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.”

― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation. It's one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it's another to think that yours is the only path.”

― Paulo Coelho

“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity.”

― Paulo Coelho, Alchemist

“When I had nothing to lose, I had everything. When I stopped being who I am, I found myself.”

― Paulo Coelho, Eleven Minutes

“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.”

― Paulo Coelho

 “No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn't know it.”

― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

 “When you find your path, you must not be afraid. You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes. Disappointment, defeat, and despair are the tools God uses to show us the way.”

― Paulo Coelho, Brida

 “Nothing in the world is ever completely wrong. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.”

― Paulo Coelho, Brida

 “When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.”

― Paulo Coelho, The Devil and Miss Prym

 “There are moments when troubles enter our lives and we can do nothing to avoid them.

But they are there for a reason. Only when we have overcome them will we understand why they were there.”

― Paulo Coelho, The Fifth Mountain

 “Passion makes a person stop eating, sleeping, working, feeling at peace. A lot of people are frightened because, when it appears, it demolishes all the old things it finds in its path.

No one wants their life thrown into chaos. That is why a lot of people keep that threat under control, and are somehow capable of sustaining a house or a structure that is already rotten. They are the engineers of the superseded.

Other people think exactly the opposite: they surrender themselves without a second thought, hoping to find in passion the solutions to all their problems. They make the other person responsible for their happiness and blame them for their possible unhappiness. They are either euphoric because something marvelous has happened or depressed because something unexpected has just ruined everything.

 “Don't give in to your fears. If you do, you won't be able to talk to your heart.”

― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

 “The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter.”

― Paulo Coelho, Veronika Decides to Die