Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho de Souzais a Brazilian lyricist and novelist. He is the recipient of numerous international awards, amongst them the Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum. His novel The Alchemist has been translated into 80 languages. The author has sold over 200 million copies worldwide and is the all-time bestselling Portuguese language author...
NationalityBrazilian
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth24 August 1947
CityRio de Janeiro, Brazil
CountryBrazil
The first spiritual quality we need to have is not faith; it is courage.
Love is the glue that keeps the stars in place.
I am very present in my work and my work is somehow an expression of my soul, but at the same time I think that a writer cannot write out of nothing.
I don't choose. Normally it's the book that chooses me.
People are reading more and writing more because of the internet. So the virtual world is a way for me to listen to my readers and interact with my readers. It is a way that they can voice their opinion.
Brazil is my way to see the world. Being born in that country means: "you don't have a wall separating the physical reality from the magical reality."
I am going to die. But I am going to die in peace because I lived my life as intensely as I could.
Walking is almost as important as breathing, for me.
Walking helps me a lot to feel alive, and I do this every single day, my wife and I. We have long conversations about nature, and we also walk silently, just contemplating.
You have two types of writers: one like Proust who was locked in his room and wrote the masterpiece. And the other type was Hemingway who celebrated life and also wrote a masterpiece.
You need to change yourself. The moment that you change yourself it is a gigantic step. And this is what I do. The book is much more important than the writer.
I don't know if the books are making the world a much better place. I don't write with that objective. What I know is that I see my readers creating a critical mass so we can at least understand this world in a different way.
I write because I need to share my thoughts with the audience.
I don't make plans. I live my life on a daily basis.