# Quote — Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

> This is why alchemy exists, the boy said. So that everyone will search for his treasure, find it, and then want to be better than he was in his former life. Lead will play its role until the world has no further need for lead; and then lead will have to turn itself to gold. That’s what alchemists do. They show that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too. Well, why did you say that I don’t know about love? the sun asked the boy. Because it’s not love to be static like the desert, nor is it love to roam the world like the wind. And it’s not love to see everything from a distance, like you do. Love is the force that transforms and improves the Soul of the World. When I first reached through to it, I thought the Soul of the World was perfect. But later, I could see that it was like other aspects of creation, and had its own passions and wars. It is we who nourish the Soul of the World, and the world we live in with be either better or worse, depending on whether we become better or worse. And that’s where the power of love comes in. Because when we love, we always strive to become better than we are.

- Author: [Paulo Coelho](https://www.leafyquotes.com/paulo-coelho.md)
- Book: [The Alchemist](https://www.leafyquotes.com/paulo-coelho/the-alchemist.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Alchemist_(novel)#Quotes) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/paulo-coelho/the-alchemist/this-is-why

## More from this book

> I’ve crossed these sands many times, said one of the camel drivers one night. But the desert is so huge, and the horizon so distant, that they make a person feel small, and as if he should remain silent. The boy intuitively knew what he meant, even without having ever set foot in the desert before. Whenever he saw the sea, or a fire, he fell silent, impressed by their elemental force. I’ve learned things from the sheep, and I’ve learned things from crystal, he thought. I can learn something from the desert, too. It seems old and wise

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/paulo-coelho/the-alchemist/ive-crossed-these.md)

> I'm like everyone else - I see the world in terms of what I would like to see happen, not what actually does.

p. 40 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/paulo-coelho/the-alchemist/im-like-everyone.md)

> ….It was the pure Language of the World. It required no explanation, just as the universe needs none as it travels through endless time. What the boy felt at that moment was that he was in the presence of the only woman in his life, and that, with no need for words, she recognized the same thing. He was more certain of it than of anything in the world. He had been told by his parents and grandparents that he must fall in love and really know a person before becoming committed. But maybe people who felt that way had never learned the universal language. Because, when you know that language, it’s easy to understand that someone in the world awaits you, whether it’s in the middle of the desert or in some great city. And when two such people encounter each other, and their eyes meet, the past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainly that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world. Without such love, one’s dreams would have no meaning. Maktub [which means “It Is Written” or destined, in Arabic], thought the boy.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/paulo-coelho/the-alchemist/it-was-the.md)