Paulo Coelho

We often think that the ideal attitude is to give our life for a dream, but there is nothing more mistaken than this.
In order to make a dream come true, we need to conserve our life, and so we have to know how to avoid whatever is threatening us.
The more we premeditate on our steps, the more we stand to be wrong, because we are not taking others into consideration, or life’s teachings, or passion and calm.
The more we feel we are in control, the farther we are from controlling anything at all. A threat gives no warning, and a quick reaction cannot be programmed like a walk on Sunday afternoon.

So if you want to be in harmony with your love or with your fight, learn to react fast.
Using polite observation, do not let your supposed experience of life turn you into a machine, but rather use this experience always to listen to “the voice of the heart.”
Even if you disagree with what this voice is saying, respect it and follow its advice, for it knows the best moment to act and the right moment to avoid action.

This also holds true for both love and war.

in “The Treatise of Tahlan”, an ancient treatise for samurais