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😉 Greetings to my readers! Friends, everyone who is engaged in self-development and loves to read, this name is familiar – Paulo Coelho. There are many great quotes from his works on the Internet. In the article “Paulo Coelho: biography and quotes” about the life of the writer, who overcame many obstacles on the way to his beloved work.
Biography of Paulo Coelho
Paulo was born into a wealthy family of an engineer. This happened on August 24, 1947 (zodiac sign – Virgo) in Rio de Janeiro.
From the age of 7, Paulo studied at the school of the Catholic Jesuit Order. As a teenager, he began to show artistic aspirations and a great desire to write books. Parents did not support their son’s talented endeavors and were against his rejection of the traditional path of life.
Childhood. Family photo
Later, under pressure from his parents, the guy entered the law faculty, leaving his dream of becoming a writer. A year later, he dropped out. He enjoys journalism. In the family, terrible disputes and disagreements began.
Believe it or not, the family put their son in a private psychiatric clinic! He was treated for schizophrenia for three years, during which he escaped three times, but was returned to a medical “prison.”
Why were the parents against the son’s dream? Here’s the answer: in the 60s in Brazil, all forms of art (including writing books) were banned by the military dictatorship. The mother and father were worried about the future of their son.
All tests in a psychiatric hospital helped Coelho describe the feelings of the protagonist of the novel “Veronica Decides to Die” (1998). The novel served as a catalyst for the adoption of the law in Brazil “On the prohibition of forced hospitalization”, which had been discussed in the country for several years.
Free life
Soon, Paulo joined the hippies. He leaves home and travels to Latin America, North Africa and Europe. As the writer himself admitted, these were crazy times with drugs and a riotous life.
In the 1970s, he returned to Brazil and became interested in writing anarchist lyrics for the rock singer Raúl Seixas. Thanks to Paulo, Raul becomes popular. Paulo has money.
In 1973, Paulo and Raul joined the “Alternative Society” – whose members denied the values of capitalism, declared the individual’s right to free expression. This activity of the “criminal group” attracted the attention of the military authorities, they were accused of anti-government activities.
Friends – Raul Seixas and Paulo Coelho (right)
Friends go to jail. Paulo is being tortured. Coelho’s escape was unexpectedly helped by the past. He declared his madness and said that he was in a psychiatric hospital three times. He was released.
A life-changing meeting
In 1982, an event took place that became a turning point in the life of the writer. By chance, in a cafe in Amsterdam, he met a representative of the Catholic monastic order RAM, who became Paulo’s spiritual mentor. He will describe this meeting in his first novel “The Diary of a Magician” (1987).
On the advice of the Teacher, in 1986 the writer made a pilgrimage – he walked the sacred “Path of Santiago”, 500 miles. An epiphany comes to him and he left the lucrative career of a songwriter and decided to fulfill his childhood dream – he started writing books.
The novel “Alchemist”
The second novel, The Alchemist, written in 1988, is the most popular. It has been translated into 67 languages and has been staged on theater stages around the world. Excerpts from this novel are widely quoted. Not everyone has the same attitude to the “Alchemist”.
In Russia he is criticized. For example, the famous Russian TV presenter and screenwriter Avdotya Smirnova said the following about the novel:
“The irritation that a writer causes in any more or less literary sophisticated reader is explained primarily by his extraordinary seriousness, some goose-like importance – mortal boredom. For the whole novel, not a single joke, not a single smile, not a single wit.
I do not mean giggles-hakhanki, there are any jokes in literature – phonetic, philosophical, twisting idioms. But this is how, without even a single shadow of juggling, without the slightest artistry, without a hint of mental play, this is how real literature does not happen. Meanwhile, it is this seriousness that makes Coelho such a popular writer. “
Paulo Coelho: personal life
Our hero has always liked women and was married several times. He is now married for the fourth time. In the early 80s, the writer met the artist Christina Oytisika. It was she who made him believe in himself.
Christina and Paulo
Quotes by Paulo Coelho
To better understand the quotes of the writer, you need to know his biography. Only when you have experienced, felt and experienced on yourself, you can say about it so that you are heard. Behind every quote is his difficult life.
“I’m not jealous! If a person is yours, then he is yours. And if he is drawn somewhere else, then nothing will hold him, and even more so he is not worth my nerves or attention. “
“If you were discharged from an insane asylum, this does not mean that you have been cured. You just became like everyone else. “
“Sometimes you have to go around the whole world to understand that the treasure is buried in your own home.”
“Life is always waiting for the hour when the further depends only on your decisive actions.”
“A child can teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, always find something to do and insist on his own.”
“The duel between Good and Evil occurs every second in the heart of every person. For the heart is the battlefield where angels and demons fight ”.
“If I do what people expect of me, I will be enslaved to them.”
“I love you. More than yesterday, but less than tomorrow. ” (from the work “Zaire”).
“If I am part of your destiny, then someday you will return to me.”
“Life is short. There is no time to leave important words unsaid. “
“You shouldn’t leave this life without knowing what you are capable of.”
Conclusion
The Brazilian writer is the recipient of many international literary awards, including the French Legion of Honor, the Crystal Award of the Swiss World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Grinzane Cavour of Italy.
From his biography, we see his difficult path to recognition: a psychiatric hospital, drugs, prison, torture and humiliation. This man did not break down, he dreamed from childhood to be a writer and his dream came true.
I think that 99% could have been different. But “If a person really wants something, then the whole Universe will help to make his wish come true.”
The life philosophy of this writer is positive and gives confidence in the future. His philosophy instills the understanding that a person’s fate is in his own hands.
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