Page 15 - The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

he was actually two hours closer to his treasure...the fact that the two hours had stretched
into an entire year didn’t matter.

I know why I want to get back to my flock, he thought. I understand sheep; they’re no
longer a problem, and they can be good friends. On the other hand, I don’t know if the
desert can be a friend, and it’s in the desert that I have to search for my treasure. If I don’t
find it, I can always go home. I finally have enough money, and all the time I need. Why
not! He suddenly felt tremendously happy.

He could always go back to being a shepherd. He could always become a crystal
salesman again. Maybe the world had other hidden treasures, but he had a dream, and he
had met with a king. That doesn’t happen to just anyone!

“I am always nearby, when someone wants to realize their Personal Legend,” the old
king had told him.

...making a decision was only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision,
he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never
dreamed of when he first made the decision.

“Everything in life is an omen,” said the Englishman, now closing the journal he was
reading. “There is a universal language, understood by everybody, but already forgotten,
I am in search of that universal language, among other things. That’s why I’m here. I
have to find a man who knows that universal language. An alchemist.”

“That’s a good luck omen,” the Englishman said, after the fat Arab had gone out. “If I
could, I’d write a huge encyclopedia just about the words luck and coincidence. It’s with
those words that the universal language is written.”

“I’m looking for a treasure,” said the boy, and he immediately regretted having said it.
But the Englishman appeared not to attach any importance to it.

“In a way, so am I,” he said.

The closer one gets to realizing his Personal Legend, the more that Personal Legend
becomes his true reason for being, thought the boy.

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.