Hippie
by Paulo Coelho
(New York, Alfred D. Knopf, 2018)
Young people from all corners of the globe who had managed at least one priceless good known as a “passport” met up on the so-called hippie trails. No one knew exactly what the word “hippie” meant, and it didn’t much matter. Perhaps it meant “a large tribe without a leader” or “delinquents who don’t steal.”
Page 6.
Those who wish to learn magic ought to begin by looking around them. All that God wished to reveal to man He placed right in front of him.
Page 24.
There’s nothing worse than the feeling of being punished for something you haven’t done.
Page 39.
We don’t choose the things that happen to us, but we can choose how we react to them.
Page 49.
Bad vibrations only attract more bad vibrations, so he tried to calm himself down.
Page 51.
The worst killing is that which kills the joy we get from life.
Page 56.
She wasn’t sure what she was waiting for, but signs are always like that, surprising and disguised as routine events.
Page 61.
Those who trust in themselves trust others.
Page 87.
She kissed him on the lips - an innocent kiss that promised much but surrendered little.
Page 96.
His dream was to become a writer, and he had paid a high price for this: stints in psychiatric hospitals, prison and torture, the prohibition from the mother of his teenage girlfriend that she get anywhere near him, the scorn of his classmates when they saw he had begun to dress differently.
Page 98.
Paradise - as conceived by Westerners - was a trivial, monotonous, and dull place.
Page 118.
The true spiritual journey is stronger than the reasons that lead us to it.
Page 120.
God’s love is stronger than the reasons that lead us to him.
Page 120.
God’s power is with us at every moment, and courage is required to let it into our minds, our feelings, our breath - courage is required to change our minds when we realize that we are merely instruments of His will, and it is His will we ought to fulfill.
Page 120.
Life is all about figuring it out.
Page 122.
Any hippie pack always included a tiny hand towel, a toothbrush, and bars of soap, since they always ended up camping rather than staying in hotels. Page 134.
Sensuality, by the way, wasn’t a means of attracting men but a way of being proud of your own body and making sure everyone noticed.
Pages 134-135.
A bath was capable of curing many sorrows that refuse to budge from our minds.
Page 138.
If she thought I was deserving of her company, it would make me more secure, more confident in myself.
Page 146.
Just one day was worth more than all the kingdoms in the world.
Page 161.
Everyone there saw dance and music as means to free themselves from their bodies.
Page 169.
Dancing is not the mere repetition of certain movements, it’s a conversation with a being greater and more powerful than everyone and everything. To dance is to use a language beyond selfishness and fear.
Page 170.
She wanted everything to change, but was incapable of changing herself.
Page 184.
She wished they could see her for her beauty, but all anyone ever saw was the hurricane.
Page 185.
Karla never traveled anywhere depending on the men who every now and then decided to keep her company.
Page 190.
Books bring us opinions and studies, analyses and comparisons, while the sacred flame of madness brings us to the truth.
Page 194.
Knowledge is an illusion, ecstasy is the true reality. Knowledge fills us with guilt, ecstasy allows us to be one wit he who is the Universe before it existed and after it has been destroyed. The search for knowledge is an attempt to wash oneself with sand when a well of clean water can be found right next to us.
Pages 194-195.
Do not be mislead by meanings and explanations. People hear only what they want to hear, never seek to persuade anyone.
Page 196.
Favorable delusions were always welcome.
Page 233.
Seek the Truth. Seek always to be on its side, even when it brings you pain.
Page 237.
There’s no need to join a religion on account of its rituals alone.
Page 237.
The more we allow the world in, the more we receive - be it love, be it hate.
Page 239.
The world would always be kinder to those who love; evil would be transformed into good, lies into truth, violence into peace.
Page 253.
Once you love someone, don’t you begin to love everyone?
Page 255.
She understood why the drug had been outlawed: the world could only work without it. If it were legal, people would only retreat deeper into themselves, as though they were billions of monks meditating all at the same time n their interior caves, indifferent to the agony and glory of others.
Page 268.
The wisdom of men and women is madness before God.
Page 275.