In my later years I have looked in the mirror each day and found a happy person staring back.Occasionally I wonder why I can be so happy. The answer is that every day of my life I’ve worked only for myself and for the joy that comes from writing and creating. The image in my mirror is not optimistic, but the result of optimal behavior.
Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.
I know you’ve heard it a thousand times before. But it’s true – hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don’t love something, then don’t do it.
If we listened to our intellect, we’d never have a love affair. We’d never have a friendship. We’d never go into business, because we’d be cynical. Well, that’s nonsense. You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.
If you dream the proper dreams, and share the myths with people, they will want to grow up to be like you.
If you enjoy living, it is not difficult to keep the sense of wonder.
Jump, and you will find out how to unfold your wings as you fall.
Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down.
Love is easy, and I love writing. You can’t resist love. You get an idea, someone says something, and you’re in love.
Love is the answer to everything. It’s the only reason to do anything. If you don’t write stories you love, you’ll never make it. If you don’t write stories that other people love, you’ll never make it.
Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The key word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for.
Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.
The best scientist is open to experience and begins with romance – the idea that anything is possible.
Touch a scientist and you touch a child.
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Muito bom, APLAUSO
If I am not wrong this also represents what you are able to write these days Paulo…..
so looking forward to your new thoughts on life through your writing. U r an epic teacher of life with love & enthusiasm, with no fake drama but spice it with reality……
i have been reading the biography by fernando morais and reread your letter to him of 24 august 2007 i am wondering how you are today nearly five years later, i hope all is well with you and chris.i will be sixty on june 30 i have visited lourdes and say ongoing novena to our lady,and thank her for my life my family and my friends.for all your fame and wealth,your humanity is what appeals to me we are all so individual yet we share the insecurities of how the rest of our lives unfold and on looking back how we got through the trials of pain and loss mixed with the moments of happiness joy and hope.best wishes. x
Not at all familiar with Ray Bradbury but LOVE his style.. thanks !!!
I dig this writer, although he hasn’t touched the core of my soul as your writing has..
May he R.I.P.
Ray Bradbury’s Quotes are really worth remembering!
Particularly I was amazed by the simple, but powerful way of conveying the messages like what he did in the following Quotes:
” The best scientist is open to experience and begins with romance – the idea that anything is possible.
Touch a scientist and you touch a child.”
Thanks Paulo for bringing them together and presenting them to us even as the World mourns the death of this great science fiction writer.
-
What wonderful quotes, dear Paulo. Thanks for sharing, thanks for everything you do, thanks for everything you write, thanks for having compelled me to act. No matter long ago we have gotten out of touch and I resent it you’ll always be your touching, inspiring words in my mind, the voice within me telling me to believe in magic, the man who wrote the most beautiful books I ‘ve ever read. May you be blessed for ever.
Much love
It is just awesome.THANK YOU .
Much respect and love ,
Chrissa
“Wow!!” First time I read this, that’s all I really had to put out there was one or two words.
meeting the reflection (aks) or seeing the reflection.. what could I say, listening is pleasure….. happy to be here..:)
Thank You paulo dear!!
Love Avantika :)
THANK YOU
With Love
Inspirational..
Thanks
I always fall and rise again for a dream and hope.
While I like to see a glimmer of hope and a sign was real, but the end result is often disappointing.
In times like this I feel very desperate.
Until finally I stopped my activiy, and surely there will be something else that makes my spirit again to continue the activity.
But disappointed again …
Sometimes I think a lot of factors that hinder my activities so I give up …
What should i do…
I’ve shed a tear or two over Ray’s passing and thanked God for such a wonderful example of one who dared to dream, to risk, to create and to go with what “gave him enthusiasm.” The book that I have my students read toward the end of the school year is Ray Bradbury’s DANDELION WINE. The writing assignment, when the students finish the book, is to write their own “Dandelion Wine style” summer experience. Ray is the king of metaphor! There have been some wonderful stories that have come across my desk through the years….and I know that more will brush through this woman’s hands and touch her heart through the years to come.
God bless you, Ray. May you sail to Mars and drink lots of Dandelion Wine on your journey.
Lainee
Thank you. I am new to twitter and found you “by accident”. I am sure a Power Greater than Me had something to do with it. It gives me hope and courage to keep writing and dreaming.
Reminds me of the joy I felt when reading The Alchemist – only quicker :-p
I loved reading that 10 times over! Wonderful!!
gist of the post is ” Write only what you love, and love what you write”
Love the every bit of article :)
Sir,
You are right .Whenever I write some thing it makes me happy . It takes me in another world . I did not write from few days because I was reading Aleph it is a very interesting book I did post a comment in Aleph comment box,when I read upto Tunusia..It was a experience to me.To day I had also no intention to write anything in the comment box ,But when i recollect that If i post something over here it takes mr in a divine world.Sir you are like my teacher ,I get many answers of my quests from your books and your writting . Thank you very much, Good night .
Take care.
luv, especially the idea of jump and the wings will come,jump in the river and u’ll learn how to swim
Sir, thank you sooooo much for writing it. Sir you always inspire me to face life with courage and always give me the impression to just keep follow my dreams. Thank You sir for being here and sharing these inspiring words.
Your thoughts are your strength and will take you too where ever you will imagine and as you do so you will touch somebody’s soul and they will do the same for others, he is right love is everything…but start by loving yourself first and then you will start the wave of loving and everything that belongs to it…
Thanks for so wonderful advice. At this moment in my life I have to make such decisions that I feel trembling for what wait after it. Now I will fall down the cliff and let my wings grow again with the power of love.
now its time to start practicing folks!!
i really need more of such great advice.
Beautiful inspiring words…. Thank you! With ‘love’ , Cee
Thank you. I heard the call to write my story but I am not convinced I can write it down. Your blog is another message from the universe. thank you for your books. They helped me through a period that I fought sickness. Veronica decides to die was what made me fight cancer.
LOve.. That’s all what we need…. :-)
I think this quotes are quite self-centered, and egocentric and lots of people with personalty disorders could use them to justify their insane behavior!
Just take this one: “Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity.”
Seriously? Thinkers of the world, are the real creatives! Just the sheep’s jump into actions before thinking!
Hans, you are missing the picture here. You can “plan” something to it’s death. If you “think” and talk, nothing gets done. Bradbury is just stating Jump, dive in, go! That’s how I have lived for most of my life. When I have stopped to think and fret and worry about it all, I have gone backward. When I have dived in full throttle, I have been quite successful.
Ray Bradbury has said that when he gets out of bed in the morning he jumps on a bomb which goes off and then he spends the rest of the day picking up the pieces. ….. I love this idea. That way, life is exciting.
Hola!
Es muy importante mirarse al espejo y sentirse orgulloso de la imagen que el espejo nos ofrece. Eso es muy importante.
Cuando yo me miro en un espejo, veo lo que soy: a veces soy yo con ojeras y cansada, a veces soy yo feliz, a veces soy yo triste. Pero siempre soy yo. Todas las personas tenemos nuestros propios reflejos de ser. Un día estás triste, otro día contento, otro día cansada…y los demás también tienen sus formas. Yo me siento orgullosa de lo que veo, aunque no todos los días veo a una persona completa y feliz. Pero el espejo en el que siempre me miro y siempre me veo como alguien especial y maravillosa es un espejo mágico que tengo desde hace casi 10 años: ese espejo son los ojos de mi hija, siempre que me veo reflejada en los ojos de mi hija veo en ellos la imagen de una mujer estupenda, querida, importante. Ese es el mejor espejo que tengo y de ése espejo sale una magia grande que me empuja y me anima a seguir adelante cada día.
Un saludo a todos.
Toñi.
Ves lo que eres… no, eres infinitamente más. En cualquier caso lo de estar orgulloso de uno mismo, eso sí es importante.
La imagen que yo tengo de mi, es la imagen de mi yo interior, el pequeño que no se cansa de luchar para crecer, la esencia, lo demás siempre está cambiando, pero la persona que lucha de manera honesta, esa siempre es la misma, y estoy orgulloso de ser ese.
A veces leo comentarios de hace años, y veo a alguien que aunque no es el que soy, lucha con nobleza con lo que tiene, y me siento orgulloso. Recuerdo cuando estaba al principio de mi enfermedad, parecía un niño grande con mi barriguita y la boca llena de chocolate, ropa desacorde con la moda y actitud de niño a pesar de tener ventitatos, o treintaitantos años, fuera del mundo, pero cuando me veo, veo al guerrero que pasó por aquello y no se rindió, aquel lucho para traerme a mi al mundo, yo lucharé por quien seré, pero en el fondo siempre hay un guerrero luchando con nobleza hasta el límite para volver a su hogar, eso no ha cambiado, y siempre estaré orgulloso independientemente de como me vista en cada momento.
Un saludo.
Dar un salto y ver como te buscas la vida por el camino, me gusta.
Lo de hacer y no intentar hacer también me gusta, sobre todo porque debe de haber un momento en el que simplemente haces, si piensas en hacer el momento no ha llegado todavía.
Un saludo.
I won’t jump if I am sure I don’t have wings for something, but If I know I have wings, even not that strong yet, I will jump. :)
Chinese version:
雷•布萊伯利的话（1920年8月22日—2012年6月5日）
随着年岁渐长，每天我站在镜前看到的是一个喜在眉宇的自己。有时我会想，为什么自己能如此心情愉快。答案是：生命中的每一天，我都在为自己工作，享受着书写和创作的乐趣。我在镜中的形象不算最佳，但绝对是理想行为的产物。
不要多虑。多虑是创造力的敌人。多虑了会不自在，任何不自在的事都让人不好受。你不能老尝试着做这做那，而应该干脆地放手去干。
我知道是老调重弹，但这点是千真万确的——功夫不负有心人。你若想变得优秀，就得练习、练习、再练习。如果你不喜欢一件事，就不要去做。
如果我们只听从专家的意见，那么我们永远不会恋爱，永远不会有友谊，永远不会去从商。因为我们将变得杞人忧天。好吧，我有些夸张了。可人像鸟儿，必须多次跳下悬崖才能练就展翅高飞的技巧。
如果你能脚踏实地地梦想，能与人分享秘诀，他们会想要以你为榜样。
如果你能享受生活，保留对事物的新奇感也不会难。
去跳吧，你会在下落的过程中学会如何伸展羽翼。
生活中的冒险就如同在跳落悬崖中坚实翅膀。
去爱很容易，我爱写作。爱是无法抵抗的。当你有了个主意，旁人又恰好说了什么，你就爱上了。
爱是一切的答案，是从事一切的理由。如果你写的故事不是你的所爱，你将无法成功。如果你写的故事不是读者所爱，你也将无法成功。
去爱吧！去坠入情网，沐浴爱河。写你所爱，爱你所写。这里的关键就是爱。你得在清早起床就写些心爱的东西，让你为之生存的东西。
让你的眼中充满奇迹，仿佛你只剩十秒的生命。观察世界吧，它比量产的梦想或被收买的梦想要来得妙趣横生。
最好的科学家始于开放与浪漫——他们坚信“一切皆有可能”。
接触一个科学家，你就像在接触一个孩子。
It does not work like that, sorry!
Watch Troy.
There is a scene there, right at the beginning, when a young boy tells Achilles that he will be afraid to fight the big man Achilles had to fight.
The answer was.
-This is why nobody will remember your name.
If you think you can cheat, … think twice whom you try to cheat.
En francais
Blog de Paulo Coelho
Ray Bradbury (22 aout 1920-5 Juin 2012)
Plus tard dans mes annees, j’ai regarde dans le mirroir tous les jours et j’ai trouve une personne heureuse qui me regardait. Occasionnellement, je me demande comment je peux etre aussi heureux. La reponse est que tous les jours de ma vie j’ai travaille seulement pour moi et pour le plaisir que me procure l’ecriture et la creation. L’image dans mon mirroir, n’est pas optimistique, mais le resultat d’un comportement optimal.
Ne pensez pas. Penser est l’ennemi de la creativite. C’est etre mal a l’aise et quelque chose qui intimide est nul. Vous ne pouvez pas essayer de faire des choses. Vous devez les faire.
Je sais, vous l’avez entendu 1,000 fois avant, mais c’est vrai. Beaucoup travailler porte ses fruits. Si vous voulez devenir tres bon, vous devez pratiquer, pratiquer, pratiquer, Si vous n’aimez pas quelque chose, alors ne le faites pas.
Si nous ecoutions notre intellect, nous n’aurions jamais de liaisons. Nous n’aurions jamais d’amitie, Nous ne ferions jamais d’affaires parceque nous serions cynique. Eh bien, c’est de la betise. Vous devez vous jeter des falaises tout le temps et construire vos ailes en descendant.
Si vous attirez les bons reves et partagez les mythes avec les gens , il voudront devenir comme vous.,
Si vous aimez la vie, cela n’est pas difficile de garder votre raison d’emerveillement.
Prendre des risques se jeter de la falaise et accumuler des ailes en descendant.
L’amour est facile et j’aime ecrire. Vous ne pouvez pas resister a l’amour. Vous avez une idee, quelqu’un dit quelque chose et vous etes amoureux.
L”amour est la reponse pour tout. C’est la seule raison pour faire quelque chose. Si vous n’ecrivez pas des histoires que vous aimez, vous n’y arriverez jamais. Si vous n’ecrivez pas des histoires que les autres aiment, vous n’y arriverez jamais.
Amour. Tombez amoureux et restez amoureux. Ecrivez seulement ce que vous aimez et aimez ce que vous ecrivez. Le mot-clef est l’amour. Vous devez vous lever le matin et ecrire quelque chose que vous aimez, quelque chose pour ne vivre que pour cela,
Remplissez vos yeux de merveilles. Vivez comme si vous allez tomber raide mort dans dix secondes. Regardez le monde. Il est plus fabuleux que n’importe quel reve fait ou paye dans les usines.
Le meilleur scientifique est ouvert a l’experience et commence avec un roman – l”idee que tout est possible.
Touchez un scientifique et vous avez emu un enfant.
Smart ideas…some heard lot of times already, but some come in a new appearence. Lately I worked on translating design books, so I read about lot of methods good for creativity. Always interesting stuff.
Ah! the power of love,
Ray Bradbury You did it again how do you know that .
I am applauding as loud as I can.
Bravo.
1. Yes, yes, yes.
2, It’s quite obvious , I don’t think. :)
3. Practicing well, it’s quite practical is not it
4. I can see a shadow of a feather when I look back :)
5. Dream team
6. It’s essential, We must all keep that sense
7. Investing in a parachute might be salutary.
8. R2d2
9. That is a very good idea
10.I’ve got my answer
11. It helps with the flying
12. It’s a wonderful world in my eyes . I am taking it all in and… What a panorama this is.
13. I see an opening there
14. I just did.
Have a loving day.
HaHa…x14
Thanks for the Sunshine..
Very Light & Summery..
Quite Applausable..
LoveM:)
What a remarkable soul!
“You ’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down”
RIP Mr Bradbury
a life extraordinary
and you are so true
only Love is necessary
Love and Gratitude
Annie
Love and Gratitude
“lifts us up where we belong..”
Annie Altitu:De
O heart of sunshine
Love.. this falling song bird on..
The wings of a prayer
Sublime here…my heart
Laughing dove…a light…flying
Feather…in sunshine
That is how birds fly
Their hearts are full of sunlight
Lighter than the sky
Below and above
Left and right.. I’m surrounded
In and out.. my love
Truth so obvious..
Simple.. beautiful.. lovely..
One just laughs with joy..
Without thinking…without thinking, Paulo,
I had a conversation with a man today and was overcome with a feeling I was in one of your books.
Could this be true?
Have you even written it yet?
I sounds crazy…
when I think about it.
And yet, there is a reaching out to you.
And yes, I am in love,
the most critical point of love
where I stand at the threshold of letting go.
- G
I absolutely love this post! I echo these sentiments completely. Your words have tapped into my soul. I feel the same way and can only aspire to be where where you are in terms of my craft….to abandon all and just follow my dream. Thanks for sharing Mr. Coelho…you are truly an inspiration!
Lyn
fantastic, life is really so simple but the world we living makes it complicated,though i guess thats the challange if you really are in love with what you do nothing will stop you from trying.
Superb thoughts….loved it..:)
Wow! Just wow!
Love. Simply Love ;)
Farenheit e uma obra de genio!
I love the way you’ve write this. and you’re way so right. I mean, I’ve always been a happy person and the only thing that gets into me are the thoughts and feelings brought about by a failed love relationship. But you see, now, I could say that it wasn’t just one failure. I call it a more reason of loving thoroughly. I don’t know, I could be mad, anyone could. But I’ am just not. It only gave me an even beautiful outlook towards life. I’m deeply hurt but I’ m optimistic enough to work for myself and for the joy that comes to everything I’ m looking forward and excited to do. I could hope for second chances or I could not. I guess the mitigating factor I consider that kept me tearless just saved me, Love. The act of loving truthfully and yes! to still love. Who knows what’s best until something’s proven, achieved, and done? No one. There’s more to faith. There’s more to trust. There’s more to love. And there will surely be more of me. You’ll see. ^_^
I love the way you’ve write this. and you’re way so right. I mean, I’ve always been a happy person and the only thing that gets into me are the thoughts and feelings brought about by a failed love relationship. But you see, now, I could say that it wasn’t just one failure. I call it a more reason of loving thoroughly. I don’t know, I could be mad, anyone could. But I’ am just not. It only gave me an even beautiful outlook towards life. I’m deeply hurt but I’ m optimistic enough to work for myself and for the joy that comes to everything I’ m looking forward and excited to do. I could hope for second chances or I could not. I guess the mitigating factor I consider that kept me tearless just saved me, Love. The act of loving truthfully and yes! to still love. Who knows what’s best until something’s proven, achieved, and done? No one. There’s more to faith. There’s more to trust. There’s more to love. And the will surely be more of me. You’ll see. ^_^