Paulo Coelho

b. 1947 · Brazilian novelist & lyricist

Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian novelist whose 1988 fable O Alquimista — published in English as The Alchemist in 1993 — became one of the best-selling books ever written. Its recurring promise that “all the universe conspires” to help a person pursue their Personal Legend is the book’s signature idea, and it seeded a whole family of paraphrases now floating free of the novel. Several of those drifting variants have since been re-credited to older, more “quotable” names — Emerson chief among them.

Traced to source

2 quotes we’ve traced to Paulo Coelho

“May love be your guide in every moment of your life”

Disputed

“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen”

Disputed

Not actually Paulo Coelho

Often misattributed to Paulo Coelho

Famous lines widely pinned on Paulo Coelho that we’ve traced to someone else.

“Even a stopped clock is right twice a day”

actually Joseph Addison

“Everything will be OK in the end. If it's not OK, it's not the end”

actually Fernando Sabino (crediting his father, Domingos Sabino)

“God is where you let Him in”

actually Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (the Kotzker Rebbe)

“There are only four stories: the siege of a city, the return home, the quest, and the suicide of a god”

actually Jorge Luis Borges

On the research bench

Commonly pinned on Paulo Coelho — under review

1 line flagged as pinned on Paulo Coelho and queued for a full source trace — not yet verified.

“If your house was burning and you could only take one thing with you, what would it be? I would take the fire.”

Disputed

Did they really say it?

Thought Paulo Coelho said something else?

Type a quote you think Paulo Coelho said — we’ll tell you what we know, or point you to the best sources.