This allegorical novel is a story of an Andalusian shepherd named Santiago who embraces the spirit of adventure in pursuing his personal legend and seeking his fortune as he travels across the desert to the pyramids of Egypt. The people he meets along the way shape his vision and his self-knowledge...This book has been sitting for a few years on my little bookcase just inside the front door. It is a tattered paperback with yellowing pages but what I love about it is that it is underlined and high-lighted. The pages are dog-eared so the reader can return again and again...so as not to forget.
I grabbed it on New Year's day thinking that I would like to weed it out of my collection and then remembered that one of my daughters suggested I read it. It is an easy read and reminded me of a similar time and place in my life. When I was in high school, it was The Little Prince by St. Exupery that inspired me. Partially, because it was the first book I read in French, but also because of the simple.elegant wisdom it imparted. I too remember underlining so that I would not forget. Wisdom words like It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. And, What is essential is invisible to the eye.
As I turned the last page of this allegory, I reflected on how books influence us in various periods of our lives. As we grow into adulthood, these books reach out to us and speak to us often at just the time we need it, providing timely inspirations as we pursue our "personal legend."
These are passages underlined by my daughter and ones that I almost high-lighted as well. I couldn't help myself as I also turned down the corner of some pages...so as not to forget.
- It's a force that appears to be negative, but actually shows you how to realize your personal legend. It prepares your spirit and your will, because there is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It's your mission on earth. (p. 22)
- There was a language in the world that everyone understood, a language the boy had used throughout the time that he was trying to improve things at the shop. It was the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, and as part of a search for something believed in and desired. (p. 62)
- When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision. (p. 68)
- There’s no such thing as coincidence … the mysterious chain that links one thing to another, the same chain that had caused him to become a shepherd, that had caused his recurring dream, that had brought him to a city near Africa, to find a king, and to be robbed in order to meet a crystal merchant, and … The closer one gets to realizing his Personal Legend, the more that Personal Legend becomes his true reason for being, thought the boy... (p. 72)
- The secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better. Forget about future, and live each day according to the teachings, confident that God loves his children. Each day, in itself brings with it an eternity. (p. 103)
- Don't give into your fears. If you do, you won't be able to talk to your heart. (p. 141)
- This is what we call love. When you are loved, you can do anything in creation. When you are loved, there’s no need at all to understand what’s happening, because everything happens within you... (p. 147)
- As he was about to climb yet another dune, his heart whispered, "Be aware of the place where you are brought to tears. That's where I am, and that's where your treasure is." (p. 159).
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