Thy will be done, my Lord. Because you know the weakness in the heart of your children, and you assign each of them only the burden they can bear. May you understand my love–because it is the only thing I have that is really mine, the only thing that I will be able to take with me into the next life. Please allow it to be courageous and pure; please make it capable of surviving the snares of the world.

With every farewell comes a hidden hope.

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.

It's not what enters men's mouth that is evil," said the alchemist. It's what comes out of their mouths that is.

I talk to my readers on social networking sites, but I never tell them what the book is about. Writing is lonely, so from time to time I talk to them on the Internet. It's like chatting at a bar without leaving your office. I talk with them about a lot of things other than my books.

He knows that the most important words in all languages are the small words.

Even stopped clocks are right twice a day.