Paulo Coelho

Before and after you became an author, you continue to travel around the world. Which travel was most influential to you? Would you please describe when, where, and what was most shocking and devastating to you?

Today. All wanderings are important since you can extract from anything in life a teaching, something that will make sense to you.

You have to look at life itself is a pilgrimage. Every day is different, every day can have a magic moment, but we don’t see the opportunity, because we think: “Oh this is boring I’m just commuting to work.” But we are all on a pilgrimage whether we like it or not and the target, or goal, the real Santiago, if you like, is death. You must get as much as you can from the journey, because – in the end – the journey is all you have. It doesn’t matter what you accumulate in terms of material wealth, because you are going to die anyway, so why not live? When you realize that you can be brave and that is the first tenant of any spiritual quest – to take risks.