There live a young shepherd in Andalusia, named Santiago. He is a great shepherd, he knows anything about sheep. He isn't only treat the sheep well, he also learns about the world from the sheep. He has a dream, about finding a treasure in the Pyramid of Egypt. A gypsy women tells him to pursue his dream and finds the treasure. But he doesn't believe in a gypsy until he meets the king of Salem that also tells him to after his dream. The old king also says "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.". Right after that, with all his courage he sells all his sheep to travel to Tangier, in Africa.
When he arrives at Tangier, a strange land to him, his money stolen, but he keeps thinking that it is a new experience to him, and it's not a strange land to him, but something new. He continues living without money, there when he finds a merchant crystal, and works for him to collect the money and turns back to Andalusia, where he could buy sheep, and live like he was. But after working there for several months, he finds an Englishman, who obsessed with the secrets of alchemy. The Englishman wants to find the Alchemist who have been live for two hundred years. The Alchemist live in the desert oasis. There where the shepherd chooses to go on finds the treasure. The shepherd and Englishman goes to the desert oasis, and lives for couples days there. Santiago meets Fatima at the desert oasis, and falls in love with her. He thinks that he already gets the treasure and thinks about to stop the journey and become a counsellor at the desert oasis. But then the Alchemist tells him that he hasn't finds the real treasure, there where the Alchemist tries to help him to finds the treasure. But at the last time, the Alchemist let Santiago finds it on his own, and says goodbye.
The main character is a shepherd, the writer called him a "boy". The intresting part are along his journey, the people he meets, the rode he takes, the struggle he faces, and the dream he has. It is truly inspiring, there is many things we could learn about a long journey, courage, life, faith, love, and strong desire to pursue the dream. And how we trust and listen to our heart, and learn to see the world from a different point. The philosophy also package in an enchanting story.
Quotes:
"I'm like anybody else-I see the world in term of what I would like to see happen, not what actually does"
"when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it"
"I'm afraid that if my dream is realized, I'll have no reason to go on living"
"When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision"
"Everybody has his or her own way of learning things"
"I don't live in either my past or my future. I'm intrested only in present. If you concentrate always on present, you'll be a happy man. You'll see there is life in desert, that there are stars in the heavens, and that tribesmen fight because they are part of the human race. Life will be a party to you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we're living right now."
"Don't be impatient. Eat when it's time to eat. And move along when it's time to move along"
"he learned the most important part of the language that all the world spoke-the language that everyone on earth was capable of understanding in their heart. It was love. Something that exerted the same force whenever two pairs of eyes met."
"maybe this desert could explain to him the meaning of love without ownership"
"You're crying?"
"I'm a women of the desert," she said, averting her face. "But above all, I'm a women."
"The fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself."
"most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place"
"There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure"
One of my favorite conversation:
“Why do we have to listen to our hearts?” the boy asked, when they had made camp that day.
“Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you’ll find your treasure.”
“But my heart is agitated,” the boy said. “It has its dreams, it gets emotional, and it’s become passionate over a woman of the desert. It asks things of me, and it keeps me from sleeping many nights, when I’m thinking about her.”
“Well, that’s good. Your heart is alive. Keep listening to what it has to say.”
“My heart is a traitor,” the boy said to the alchemist, when they had paused to rest the horses. “It doesn’t want me to go on.”
“That makes sense. Naturally it’s afraid that, in pursuing your dream, you might lose everything you’ve won.”
“Well, then, why should I listen to my heart?”
“Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet. ”
“You mean I should listen, even if it’s treasonous?”
“Treason is a blow that comes unexpectedly. If you know your heart well, it will never be able to do that to you. Because you’ll know its dreams and wishes, and will know how to deal with them.
“My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer,” the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky.
“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.”
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