"This is why alchemy exists," the boy said. "So that everyone will search for his treasure, find it, and then want to be better than he was in his former life. Lead will play its role until the world has no further need for lead; and then lead will have to turn itself into gold. That's what alchemists do. They show that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too."

Despising anything that was easy to achieve because if no sacrifice was involved, it obviously isn't worth having.

Absolute freedom does not exist; what does exist is the freedom to choose anything you like and then commit yourself to that decision.

I simply believe that a book has a journey to make, and should not be condemned to being stuck on a shelf… Let’s leave our books free to travel, then, to be touched by other hands, and enjoyed by other eyes.

He sometimes behaves like water, flowing around the obstacles he encounters.

When I asked you if you wanted to, I was not testing your courage. I was testing your wisdom.

Everything in life has its price.