Paulo Coelho, Brazilian novelist known for employing rich symbolism in his depictions of the often spiritually motivated journeys taken by his characters
11 Minutes by Paulo Coelho is an amazing story about a young girl from a Brazil town with big dreams who finally settles down in Switzerland as a prostitute. Book does have some beautiful moments that describe how we look at love, sex, happiness, and possession.
Paulo completely fascinates you, and this book has some really interesting life lessons. Excerpts from the book include;
- What the eyes don’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over.
- Life is too short, or too long, to allow me the luxury of living it so badly.
- I can choose either to be a victim of the world or an adventurer in search of treasure. It’s all a question of how I view my life.”
- Don’t listen to the malicious comments of those friends who, never taking any risks themselves, can only see other people’s failures.”
- Human beings can withstand a week without water, two weeks without food, many years of homelessness, but not loneliness. It is the worst of all tortures, the worst of all sufferings.”
- No one loses anyone, because no one owns anyone. That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it”
- When we meet someone and fall in love, we have a sense that the whole universe is on our side. And yet if something goes wrong, there is nothing left! How is it possible for the beauty that was there only minutes before to vanish so quickly? Life moves very fast. It rushes from heaven to hell in a matter of seconds.”
- Dreaming is very pleasant as long as you are not forced to put your dreams into practice.”
- The universe only makes sense when we have someone to share our feelings with.
- …and that, in the end, the most interesting people always leave.
