Millions of couples out there practiced the art of sadomasochism every day, without even realizing it. They went to work, came back, complained about everything, insulted their wife or were insulted by her, felt wretched, but were, nonetheless, tightly bound to their own unhappiness, not realizing that all it would take was a single gesture, a final goodbye, to free them from that oppression.

All love stories are the same.

to die tomorrow was no worse than dying on any other day. Every day was there to be lived or to mark one’s departure from this world.

Everything on Earth is being continuously transformed.

In order not to suffer, you had to renounce love. It was like putting out your own eyes in order not to see the bad things in life.

The secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better." -- The Alchemist

He never falls into the trap of the word "freedom".