Excerpts from The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho

The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil in the spoon.
---
"Because I don't live in either my past or my future. I'm interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man..."
---
"I'm going away," he said. "And I want you to know that I'm coming back. I love you because..."
"Don't say anything," Fatima interrupted. "One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving."
---
"This is why alchemy exists," the boy said. "So that everyone will search for his treasure, find it, and then want to be better than he was in his former life. Lead will play its role until the world has no further need for lead; and then lead will have to turn itself into gold.
"That's what alchemists do. They show that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too."