Currently reading Paulo Coelho’s Eleven Minutes. A very compelling and inspiring read. Coelho’s books never fails to make me think about life, fan the desire to dream and most importantly, think of what I want and achieve out of my limited time on earth.
Only halfway through the book but the following struck me deeply while I was reading it on the train this morning:
“Dreaming is very pleasant as long as you are not forced to put your dreams into practice. That way, we avoid all the risks, frustrations and difficulties, and when we are old, we can always blame other people – preferably our parents, our spouses or our children – for our failure to realize our dreams.”
Well-said. Succinct. Hit the bull’s eyes.
How often have we lamented that there’s nothing more we can do? That fate brought us to who, what and where we are today? Are we so sure of that?
We are active agents of our life, with much more freedom than we think (or made ourselves believe) we have.
5 Comments
July 30, 2009 at 12:16 am
thanks for the timely reminder, Xin.
PC’s great yah
July 30, 2009 at 8:47 am
excellent quote. i’m going to steal it.
July 30, 2009 at 8:50 am
have you read veronica wants to die? that is my favorite book of his i think.
July 30, 2009 at 11:59 pm
yc, you should thank PC for the quote! he’s great, his language is simple and elegant yet they make you think, a lot.
tps, read veronica several years ago. i remember it was a blast but think i was probably too immature to appreciate it fully. time to revisit that again!
July 31, 2009 at 11:59 am
oh yes, “veronika decides to die” is my fav coelho book as well. honestly, i find his other stuff overrated and for the lack of a better word, simplistic. coffee table philo is fun for a while until you realise, this guy is making millions of dollars telling me what i already know! =(