“You came here because you saw a female face in the flames. That face is the face you see now in the mirror, so try to honor it. Don’t let yourself be weighed down by what other people think, because in a few years, in a few decades, or in a few centuries, that way of thinking will have changed. Live now what others will only live in the future.
“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.”
Excerpt, The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coehlo. Image, me.
Learn more about Compositions here, and read all the Compositions in the series here.
Well said, Jules. Well said.
I read The Alchemist this past November. I love it when an author leaves me with the feeling that I am not as smart as I thought; I have been exposed to a different way of looking within and it sounds like The Witch is another.
And anything that reminds me of Bedknobs and Broomsticks is worth looking into. (I hope you know what I am talking about!)
I do so love your compositions. Sigh.
This was a great choice and wonderful image, very evocative.
I haven’t read this book so I just added it to my list of books to read. I enjoy reading Paulo Coehlo. My favorite is “El peregrino” (I think in English it’s titled “The Pilgrimage”) and the message is similar. We go to extremes searching for something that is already within us.
I just commented on Twitter last week that Paulo Coehlo sure does stick to a theme. :)
hmmm… i may just have to add this book to my list. that quote is exactly what i needed to hear today. really loving this series, jules!
Shivers. I’ll have to add this to my list.
I am crazy about this book. It was the first Coehlo I read, and it led to a frenzy of google searches.
Oh wow, amazing quote. I really like the challenge he puts out.
I, too, really loved this book. It was anything but predictable, although I can’t really remember the plot… I just know that it was all of that deep, provocative language that got me hooked. Goooood stuff.