The Witch of Portobello Quotes

“You are what you believe yourself to be.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“What is a teacher? I'll tell you: it isn't someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give of her best in order to discover what she already knows.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“After all, what is happiness? Love, they tell me. But love doesn't bring and never has brought happiness. On the contrary, it's a constant state of anxiety, a battlefield; it's sleepless nights, asking ourselves all the time if we're doing the right thing. Real love is composed of ecstasy and agony.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“Love simply is.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“Love fills everything. It cannot be desired because it is an end in itself. It cannot betray because it has nothing to do with possession. It cannot be held prisoner because it is a river and will overflow its banks. Anyone who tries to imprison love will cut off the spring that feeds it, and the trapped water will grow stagnant.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“If there is any possible consolation in the tragedy of losing someone we love very much, it's the necessary hope that perhaps it was for the best.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“Reason lost the battle, and all I could do was surrender and accept I was in love.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“Faith is not Desire. Faith is Will. Desires are things that need to be satisfied, whereas Will is a force. Will changes the space around us,...”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“You are what you believe yourself to be”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“No one places her dreams in the hands of those who might destroy them.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“Everything, absolutely everything on this earth makes sense, and even the smallest things are worthy of our consideration.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“Don't be like those people who believe in "positive thinking" and tell themselves that they're loved and strong and capable. You don't need to do that because you know it already. And when you doubt it — which happens, I think, quite often at this stage of evolution — do as I suggested. Instead of trying to prove that you're better than you think, just laugh. Laugh at your worries and insecurities. View your anxieties with humor. It will be difficult at first, but you'll gradually get used to it. Now go back and meet all those people who think you know everything. Convince yourself that they're right, because we all know everything, it's merely a question of believing.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“People learn twenty-five percent from their teacher, twenty-five percent from listening to themselves, twenty-five percent from their friends, and twenty-five percent from time.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“They say that extroverts are unhappier than introverts and have to compensate for this by constantly proving to themselves how happy and contented and at ease with life they are.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“I start to think that I'm losing the love I have without having yet won the love I hope to win.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“music isn't just something that comforts or distracts us, it goes beyond that - it's an ideology. you can judge people by the kind of music they listen to.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“Because all my life I've learned to suffer in silence - Athena”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“The day is made up of 24 hours and an infinite number of moments. We need to be aware of those moments and make the most of them regardless of whether we're busy doing something or contemplating life.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“If theater is ritual, then dance is too... It's as if the threads connecting us to the rest of the world were washed clean of preconceptions and fears. When you dance, you can enjoy the luxury of being you.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“We women, when we’re searching for a meaning to our lives or for the path of knowledge, always identify with one of four classic archetypes.
The Virgin (and I’m not speaking here of a sexual virgin) is the one whose search springs from her complete independence, and everything she learns is the fruit of her ability to face challenges alone.
The Martyr finds her way to self-knowledge through pain, surrender and suffering.
The Saint finds her true reason for living in unconditional love and in her ability to give without asking anything in return.
Finally, the Witch justifies her existence by going in search of complete and limitless pleasure.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“And the best way to know who we are is often to find out how others see us.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“But time, as well as healing all wounds, taught me something strange too: that it's possible to love more than one person in a lifetime. I remarried. I'm very happy with my new wife, and I can't imagine living without her. This, however, doesn't mean that I have to renounce all my past experiences, as long as I'm careful not to compare my two lives. You can't measure love the way you can the length of a road or the height of a building.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“Her silence was the blank space between the words.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“What does learning mean: accumulating knowledge or transforming your life?”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“How many of us will be saved the pain of seeing the most important things in our lives disappearing from one moment to the next? I don't just mean people, but our ideas and dreams too: we might survive a day, a week, a few years, but we're all condemned to lose. Our body remains alive, yet sooner or later our soul will receive the mortal blow. The perfect crime - for we don't know who murdered our joy, what their motives were, or where the guilty parties are to be found...they too are the victims of the reality they created.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“I think classical ballet dancers dance on pointe because they're simultaneously touching the earth and reaching up to the skies”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“In order for us to liberate the energy of our strength, our weakness must first have a chance to reveal itself.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“No one can manipulate anyone else. In any relationship, both parties know what they're doing. even if one complains later on that they were used.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“You have understood what all great painters understand: in order to forget the rules, you must know them and respect them.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

“What do you want? You can't want to be happy, because that's too easy and too boring. You can't want only to love, because that's impossible. What do you want? You want to justify your life, to live it as intensely as possible. That is at once a trap and a source of ecstasy. Try to be alert to that danger and experience the joy and the adventure of being that woman who is beyond the image reflected in the mirror.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello