Manuscript Found in Accra

"Just as someone puts on new clothes, discarding the old, so the soul accepts new material bodies, abandoning the old and the useless. Knowing this, you must not suffer because of the body. ”"

"Do not make yourself vulnerable to those weak spirits who cannot bear to encounter a strong spirit."

"Roman Catholic Crusaders have surrounded Jerusalem. Attack is imminent. Many of the residents of Jerusalem will flee before the battle, yet others will stay to fight, knowing that they will likely die. Before this historic battle takes place, the Copt asks all the people to come to the city square. He asks the leaders of the three Abrahamic religions to join him... The people proceed to ask... twenty questions. Each chapter... details the Copt’s answer to their questions. The questions and answers deal with matters close to the heart of all of us: love, fear, loss, death, beauty, courage, friendship, and dreams. ...[It] is a treasure-trove of wisdom... a book that can be read over and over, with each reading giving new insight... I am an atheist...yet I found the book affirming many of the humanistic values I hold dear. Yes, Coelho is a religious man, a practicing Catholic, but can we not all learn from people who are different from us, people who, despite our differences, hold a common humanity with us?... The strict materialist will find little to like... But for those who dream of a better tomorrow, who still have hope and seek a world of peace, Paulo Coelho’s latest book will inspire and provoke us to be better human beings."

"We will all have to face many adversaries in our lives, but the most difficult to defeat will be the ones we fear. We will always meet rivals in everything we do, but the most dangerous are those we believe to be our friends."

"The world does not divide up into enemies and friends, but into the weak and the strong. The strong are generous in victory. The weak gang up on the losers, unaware that defeat is only a transitory thing, and from among the losers, they choose those who seem most vulnerable."

"Never repay hatred with hatred, but with justice."

"If someone confronts you over ideas or ideals, step up and accept the fight, because conflict is present in every moment of our lives and sometimes it needs to show itself in the broad light of day. But do not fight in order to prove that you are right or to impose your ideas or ideals on someone else. Only accept the fight as a way of keeping your spirit clean and your will spotless. When the fight is over, both sides will emerge as winners, because they tested their limitations and their abilities."

"Blessed are those who hear these words or read this manuscript, because the veil will be rent from top to bottom, and there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed to you."

"The most important of wars is not waged with a lofty spirit and with your soul accepting its fate. It is the war that is going on now as we are speaking and whose battlefield is the Spirit, where Good and Evil, Courage and Cowardice, Love and Fear face each other."

"Loyal men and women do not bother to show what they are like, because other loyal spirits understand their qualities and defects."

"Beware of anyone who tries to please you all the time."

"Only fight with a worthy opponent, and not with someone who uses trickery to prolong a war that is already over, as happens with all wars. Such cruelty does not come from the warriors who meet on the battlefield and know what they are doing there, but from those who manipulate victory and defeat for their own ends."

"Your enemies are not the adversaries who were put there to test your courage. They are the cowards who were put there to test your weakness."

"Do not think that I am come to spread peace upon the Earth. No, from this night on, we will travel the world bearing an invisible sword, so that we can fight the demons of intolerance and lack of understanding. Try to carry that sword as far as your legs will take you. And when your legs can take you no further, pass on the word or the manuscript, always choosing people worthy of wielding that sword."

"None of us can avoid meeting those who will betray and slander us, but we can drive away the evil before it shows its true face, because any excessively kind behaviour could betray a knife hidden behind the back and ready to be used."

"Does a man who spent years preparing to climb the highest mountain in the world feel defeated when, on reaching that mountain, he discovers that nature has cloaked the summit in storm clouds? The man says... "...the weather will change and, one day, I will make it to the top. Meanwhile, you’ll still be here waiting for me.”"

"Does a leaf, when it falls from the tree in winter, feel defeated by the cold? The tree says to the leaf: “That’s the cycle of life. You may think you’re going to die, but you live on in me. It’s thanks to you that I’m alive, because I can breathe. It’s also thanks to you that I have felt loved, because I was able to give shade to the weary traveler. Your sap is in my sap; we are one thing.”"

"A week ago, our commanders held a meeting. The French soldiers are infinitely superior and far better equipped than ours. We were given a choice: to abandon the city or fight to the death, because we will certainly be defeated. Most of us decided to stay."

"You will ask me questions and I will answer them. That is what the teachers of Ancient Greece did; their disciples would ask them questions about problems they had not considered before and the teachers would answer them... We will speak, therefore, about our daily lives, about the difficulties we have had to face. That is all the future will be interested in, because I do not believe very much will change in the next thousand years.’"

"It isn’t the absolute truth about life and death, but the thing that helps us to live and confront the challenges of day-to-day life. It isn’t what we learn from books, which serves only to fuel futile arguments about what happened or will happen; it is the knowledge that lives in the hearts of men and women of good will..."

"Now that I am at the end of my life, I leave for those who come after me everything that I learned while I walked the face of this Earth. May they make good use of it... tomorrow, life will undertake to separate us, and we must each set must each set off in search of our own path, our own destiny or our own way of facing death."

"In 1974, the English archaeologist Sir Walter Wilkinson discovered another manuscript, this time written in three languages: Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin. Conscious of the laws protecting such finds in the region, he sent the text to the Department of Antiquities in the Museum of Cairo. Shortly afterward, back came a response: there were at least 155 copies of the document circulating in the world (three of which belonged to the museum), and they were all practically identical."

"The defeated are those who never fail... Defeat means that we lose a particular battle or war. Failure does not allow us to go on fighting... Defeat comes when we fail to get something we very much want. Failure does not allow us to dream. Its motto is: ‘Expect nothing and you won’t be disappointed.’"

"Defeat ends when we launch into another battle. Failure has no end: it is a lifetime choice. Defeat is for those who, despite their fears, live with enthusiasm and faith. Defeat is for the valiant. Only they will know the honour of losing and the joy of winning."

"I am not here to tell you that defeat is part of life: we all know that. Only the defeated know Love. Because it is in the realm of love that we fight our first battles and generally lose. I am here to tell you that there are people who have never been defeated. They are the ones who never fought... They managed to avoid scars, humiliations, a sense of helplessness, as well as those moments when even warriors doubt the existence of God."

"Such people can say with pride: I never lost a battle. On the other hand, they will never be able to say: I won a battle."

"Not that they care. They live in a universe in which they believe they are invulnerable; they close their eyes to injustices and to suffering; they feel safe because they do not have to deal with the daily challenges faced by those who risk stepping out beyond their own boundaries."

"Those who were never defeated seem happy and superior, masters of a truth they never had to lift a finger to achieve. They are always on the side of the strong. They’re like hyenas, who only eat the leavings of lions."

"They teach their children: ‘Don’t get involved in conflicts, you’ll only lose."

"Woe to those who were never beaten! They will never be winners in this life."

"The important thing is to get back on your feet. Only he who gives up is defeated. Everyone else is victorious."

"If victory is not theirs this time, it will be the next time. And if not the next time, then the time after that."

"As from tomorrow, harmony will become discord. Joy will be replaced by grief. Peace will give way to a war that will last into an unimaginably distant future... They can destroy the city, but they cannot destroy everything the city has taught us, which is why it is vital that this knowledge does not suffer the same fate as our walls, houses and streets."

"Others, even though they were defeated and feel humiliated by the things the winners are saying about them, will allow themselves to shed a few tears but will never succumb to self-pity. They know that this is a merely a pause in the fighting and that, for the moment, they are at a disadvantage. They try to work out what they did wrong and what they did right. They take advantage of this moment of defeat to rest, heal their wounds, devise new strategies and equip themselves better. Then the day dawns when a new battle knocks on their door. They are still afraid, but they have to act, either that or remain for ever lying on the ground. They get up and face their opponent, remembering the suffering they have endured and which they no longer wish to endure..."

"Ever since he fell in love for the first time and was rejected, he has known that this did not put an end to his ability to love. What is true in love is also true in war. Losing a battle or losing everything we thought we possessed will bring us moments of sadness. But when those moments pass, we will discover the hidden strength that exists in each of us, a strength that will surprise us and increase our self-respect... Only those who fail to recognize that inner strength will say, “I lost,” and be sad."

"Many centuries ago, a man was judged and condemned in this square... On the road to the right, while he was walking towards his death, he passed a group of women. When he saw them weeping, he said: “Weep not for me, weep for Jerusalem.” He prophesied what is happening now."

"I met Sir Walter’s son in 1982, at Christmas...We maintained a cordial relationship over the years and...On 30 November 2011, I received a copy of the text that he had mentioned at that first meeting. I transcribe it here."

"In solitude, they will discover the love that might otherwise arrive unnoticed. In solitude, they will understand and respect the love that left them... In solitude, they will be able to decide whether it is worth asking that lost love to come back or if they should simply let it go and set off along a new path... In solitude, they will learn that saying ‘No’ does not always show a lack of generosity and that saying ‘Yes’ is not always a virtue..."

"The Divine Energy is listening to us when we speak to other people, but also when we are still and silent and able to accept solitude as a blessing."

"Just as Love is the divine condition, so solitude is the human condition. And for those who understand the miracle of life, those two states peacefully coexist."

"There are those who wake each morning with a heavy heart. They are not seekers after love, recognition or work. They say to themselves: ‘I’m useless. I live because I have to survive, but no one, absolutely no one, is interested in what I’m doing.’"

"The poet writes a few lines, then throws them away, thinking: ‘Nobody’s going to be interested in that.’ .. The employee arrives for work and merely repeats the same tasks he did yesterday. He believes that, if he was ever dismissed, no one would even notice his absence... That feeling of uselessness is no respecter of age and never asks permission, but corrodes people’s souls, repeating over and over: ‘No one is interested in you, you’re nothing, the world doesn’t need your presence.’"

"In a desperate attempt to give meaning to life, many turn to religion, because a struggle in the name of a faith is always a justification for some grand action, which could transform the world. ‘We are doing God’s work,’ they tell themselves. And they become devout followers, then evangelists, and finally, fanatics. They don’t understand that religion was created in order to share the mystery and to worship, not to oppress or convert others."

"Ask a flower in the field: ‘Do you feel useful? After all, you do nothing but produce the same flowers over and over?’ And the flower will answer: ‘I am beautiful, and beauty is my reason for living.’ ... Ask the river: ‘Do you feel useful, given that all you do is to keep flowing in the same direction?’ And the river will answer: ‘I’m not trying to be useful, I’m trying to be a river.’"

"Nothing in this world is useless in the eyes of God. Not a leaf from a tree falls, not a hair from your head, not even an insect dies because it was of no use. Everything has a reason to exist."

"Don’t try to be useful. Try to be yourself: that is enough, and that makes all the difference... A life is never useless. Each soul that came down to Earth is here for a reason."

"The people who really help others are not trying to be useful, but are simply leading a useful life. They rarely give advice, but serve as an example."

"Do one thing: live the life you always wanted to live. Avoid criticising others and concentrate on fulfilling your dreams. This may not seem very important to you, but God, who sees all, knows that the example you give is helping Him to improve the world. And each day, He will bestow more blessings upon it."

"We are afraid to change because we think that, after much effort and sacrifice, we know our present world. And even though that world might not be the best of all worlds... When necessary, we will make a few minor adjustments so that everything continues the same."

"For those who are not frightened by the solitude that reveals all mysteries, everything will have a different taste."