Ever since ancient times, people have tried to make firm connections between the spiritual and the material.
This is the ancient world of alchemy, presented to you through a collection of alchemy quotes. These concise expressions hold the wisdom of ages, revealing the secrets of transformation and discovery.
Below, you will find some general quotes about alchemy, together with quotes from the famous book “The Alchemist”, written by Paulo Coelho.
Enjoy this beautiful and inspiring collection of alchemy quotes!
Best Alchemy Quotes Of All Times
1. “The true alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words.” ― William H. Gass, A Temple of Texts
2. “My happiness cannot be tampered with, I fuel it from spirit within.” ― Nikki Rowe
3. “Mother Nature is the ultimate alchemist for merging our ancient skills with our modern intuition.” ― Kris Franken
4. “Not everything that makes sense works, and not everything that works makes sense.” ― Rory Sutherland
5. “I deny morality as I deny alchemy.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche, Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality
6. “Some of us are able to alchemize our hurt into kindness and trust. Others repeat the cycle, weilding their wounds as a weapon.” ― Cedar McCloud, The Thread That Binds
7. “The days of darkness weren’t wasted years, I learnt how to walk with the stars.” ― Nikki rowe
8. “Magic, magic,
make it round,
smaller than the one
I found” ― Suzy Davies, The Snow Queen
9. “The secrets of alchemy exist to transform mortals from a state of suffering and ignorance to a state of enlightenment and bliss.” ― Deepak Chopra
10. “Breaking bread mindfully is everyday alchemy.” ― Heidi Barr, 12 Tiny Things: Simple Ways to Live a More Intentional Life
Quotes On Alchemy That Will Change Your Perspective
1. “Whoever would rise, must first descend, for only then can the bottommost rise to the top.” ― Gustav Meyrink, Angel of the West Window
2. “You are searching for a crown which is already on your head. But searching is necessary. You will look at yourself only after you have looked everywhere else.” ― Shunya
3. “It’s said that the shuffling of the cards is the earth, and the patterning of the cards is the rain, and the beating of the cards is the wind, and the pointing of the cards is the fire. That’s four suits. But the Greater Trumps, it’s said, are the meaning of all processes and the measure of the everlasting dance.” ― Charles Williams
4. “Master Li, how are we going to murder a man who laughs at axes?” I asked.
We are going to experiment, dear boy. Our first order of business will be to find a deranged alchemist, which should not be very difficult. China,” said Master Li, “is overstocked with deranged alchemists.” ― Barry Hughart, Bridge of Birds
5. “The medicine is in the mind,
The healing is in the body.
And the soul connects them both.” ― Nikki Rowe
6. “Nothingness is the source of everything. It is the magical pot from which you can get never ending supply of anything. But everytime you want something from it, you have to lose yourself into it. Then a new version of you will come out of it along with the thing you wanted.” ― Shunya
7. “We are unraveling our navels so that we may ingest the sun.
We are not afraid of the darkness.
We trust that the moon shall guide us.
We are determining the future at this very moment.
We know that the heart is the philosopher’s stone.
Our music is our alchemy.” ― Saul Williams
8. “Water: 35 liters, Carbon: 20 kg, Ammonia: 4 liters, Lime:1.5 kg, Phosphorus: 800 g, salt: 250g, saltpeter:100g, Sulfur: 80g, Fluorine: 7.5 g, iron: 5.6 g, Silicon: 3g, and 15 other elements in small quantities…. that’s the total chemical makeup of the average adult body. Modern science knows all of this, but there has never been a single example of successful human transmutation. It’s like there’s some missing ingredient….. Scientists have been trying to find it for hundreds of years, pouring tons of money into research, and to this day they don’t have a theory. For that matter, the elements found in a human being is all junk that you can buy in any market with a child’s allowance. Humans are pretty cheaply made.” ― Hiromu Arakawa, Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 1
9. “Knowing that whatever is in front of us, we are able to turn into clay in our hands and impress upon it with substances from our own inner worlds, is the knowledge of magick. The creation of joy from raw soul-substance, is magick” ― C. JoyBell C.
10. “I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring Photo Guide
11. “For the alchemist the one primarily in need of redemption is not man, but the deity who is lost and sleeping in matter. Only as a secondary consideration does he hope that some benefit may accrue to himself from the transformed substance as the panacea, the medicina catholica, just as it may to the imperfect bodies, the base or “sick” metals, etc. His attention is not directed to his own salvation through God’s grace, but to the liberation of God from the darkness of matter.” ― C.G. Jung
12. “I take the view that we’re the sum of everything that happens to us, good and bad. It’s an alchemist’s interpretation, of course, seeing people as a compilation of ingredients combined and acted on by processes. The implication is, if you leave out one of the ingredients, even if, particularly if, it’s unstable or noxious, you get a different result.” ― K.J. Parker, Blue and Gold
13. “A photograph is a universe of dots. The grain, the halide, the little silver things clumped in the emulsion. Once you get inside a dot, you gain access to hidden information, you slide into the smallest event. This is what technology does. It peels back the shadows and redeems the dazed and rumbling past. It makes reality come true.” ― Don DeLillo, Underworld
14. “What was alchemy? It was metallurgy wrapped in mysticism. The pursuit of the spiritual by way of the material.
The great and noble effort to master the elements in order to achieve purity, perfection, and divinity.” ― Laini Taylor, Strange the Dreamer
15. “Break the spell of the Word and you break the spell of the world.” ― Sharif Khan, Brave Fortune
16. “In these times where it has seemed dark indeed
where integrity appears solely buried in legend and lore,
it is an opportunity in contrast to the shadows,
to create miracles…
by choosing first courage,
then diligence,
standing,
opening our mouth
and speaking the truth that in rare moments,
may ignite the light.” ― Tom Althouse, The Frowny Face Cow
See also: 110 Insightful Quotes About Legends That Inspire Greatness
17. “Medicine rests upon four pillars—philosophy, astronomy, alchemy, and ethics. The first pillar is the philosophical knowledge of earth and water; the second, astronomy, supplies its full understanding of that which is of fiery and airy nature; the third is an adequate explanation of the properties of all the four elements—that is to say, of the whole cosmos—and an introduction into the art of their transformations; and finally, the fourth shows the physician those virtues which must stay with him up until his death, and it should support and complete the three other pillars.” ― Paracelsus, Paracelsus: Selected Writings
18. “The golden pill was more solvent than medicine, dissolving self, reversing the tide of opposites, like only knowing the alphabet from finish to start, z to a.” ― Sarah C. Patten, The Measure of Gold
19. “Happiness was not the only virtue. After all, loneliness wrote great symphonies and could paint masterpieces. It was the imperfections and miseries that necessitated the magic.” ― Sarah C. Patten, The Measure of Gold
20. “They believed in angels and alchemy and the devil, and they believed that the universe followed precise, mathematical laws.” ― Edward Dolnick, The Clockwork Universe: Isaac Newton, the Royal Society, and the Birth of the Modern World
21. “The most common form of sacred space to the witch is the magick circle. The circle is a symbol of the infinite and finite. It is everything and nothing. It is the Ouroboros, the serpent eating its own tail, symbolic of the never-ending cycle of creation and destruction, birth and death, and a symbol of the cosmos without beginning or end.” ― Mat Auryn, Psychic Witch: A Metaphysical Guide to Meditation, Magick & Manifestation
22. “In the land of contrasts, the man who sees the similarities is king of his soul. In the land of similarities, the woman that recognizes the differences awaits her king to be crowned queen of his heart.” ― Robin Sacredfire
23. “Remember. Materialism is just another bullshit faith. Poetry is fucking alchemy.” ― R.M. Engelhardt, The Bones of Our Existence, A Journal 2046
24. “You must learn to bend to open windows, my friend. That is why artists and dancers are closest to God. They clench their chests every day to salute the Creator, while opening up portals to the universe. The artist mediates and prays as he/she creates, knowing somewhere, deep down — creativity is the highest transmission of love.” ― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem
25. “All artists give birth. It’s alchemy and it’s really an amazing process.” ― Jewel, Never Broken: Songs Are Only Half the Story
26. “Alchemy 101 turning nothing into something” ― Jill Telford
27. “To work in the dark, you must be able to hold your own light, and still be intimate with the darkness.” ― Thomas Lloyd Qualls, Painted Oxen
28. “Alchemy was (and is) considerably more
than the attempt to turn base metals into gold. To an alchemist, all material things ripen toward perfection unless something gets in the way. The alchemist’s mission is to remove the obstacles that keep material things from attaining their perfection. For metals, that perfection is gold; for the human body, health; for the human spirit, union with
the divine-and all these and many more are appropriate goals for alchemical work.” ― John Michael Greer, The Occult Book: A Chronological Journey from Alchemy to Wicca
29. “But truly, the Autumn Provinces provide the most ideal situation for our program. Autumn is the very soul of metamorphosis, a time when the world is poised at the door of winter—which is the door of death—but has not yet fallen. It is a world of contradictions: a time of harvest and plenty but also of cold and hardship. Here we dwell in the midst of life, but we know most keenly that all things must pass away and shrivel. Autumn turns the world from one thing into another. The year is seasoned and wise but not yet decrepit or senile. If you wrote a letter of requisition, you could ask for no better place to practice alchemy.” ― Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
30. “As above, so below.” ― Aleister Crowley
1. “Sage’s gift maps out in a keyring” ― The Wisp Projector
2. “When anger, lust etc. knocks at your door, the fighter inside you wants to go with them, the moralist inside you wants to block them, and the alchemist inside you wants to take them in and transform them into higher energy.” ― Shunya
3. “The substances released both during a female & male orgasm, are of the highest feeling state & vibrational frequency.
Do not send them to the garbage. Alchemize them.” ― Drasen
4. “Creating your own unique lane, creates a way for you to fully thrive as an individual. It shows you how to kick down the door of opportunity without waiting for it to be given to you. You already have the tools you need to alchemize this. But you will have to travel within to see what they are.
Here’s a hint: These are the gifts you’ve been in denial about for most of your life.” ― Robin S. Baker
5. “What I write about comes to me – before or after my writing. What is this? Is it some kind of alchemy?” ― Suzy Davies
6. “We are not on earth to choose blue iPhones rather than red iPhones. We are here to undergo the supreme alchemy … changing from base metal into gold. We are a golden species, if we did but realize it.” ― Mark Romel, Social Capitalism: Against Mammonism
7. “If and when they change, I will change my opinion about them.”
No. If you want them to change, first you have to soften your opinions about them.” ― Shunya
8. “We can’t eat grass; Cow converts grass into milk. We can’t eat soil; Earth converts soil into grains. Recognize this magic happening all around you to awaken your magical powers.” ― Shunya
9. “Alchemy was the science before science. Chemistry and Physics developed out of alchemy, but alchemy differed from modern science in that it included not only the physical but the metaphysical, not only the objective but the subjective. Modern science strives to keep the observer’s point of view from influencing observation; alchemy worked to bridge the gap between subject and object, between psyche – spirit – and matter.” ― Howard Hendrix, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
10. “When you open the floodgates to love, you gently, compassionately, and powerfully transmute everything based in fear into love.” ― Kris Franken, The Call of Intuition: How to Recognize & Honor Your Intuition, Instinct & Insight
See also: Complete List Of 150 Inspiring Quotes About Compassion
11. “The deeper the awakening of man, the easier it is for one to value the meaning of moments. The authenticity of being your soul essence, in human form.” ― Nikki Rowe
12. “Air is the element most needed by fire. This is why you need open spaces, the wind, and to fly. Because you have fire in you. This is why you look into the sky, why you make wishes, why you tread lightly. You, too, are the air, because inside you there is fire. Why do you think we breathe? Because we are kindling our fires.” ― C. JoyBell C.
13. “Read Nietzsche. Reject all mainstream religions. Your objective is not to worship God, but to become God. Only God has all the answers to the mysteries of life. Therefore if you truly seek those answers then you are seeking the ultimate secret: how to transform yourself into God. It is precisely with this quest that the Philosopher’s Stone and the Holy Grail are intimately involved. That is why they have supreme spiritual power, why they command such enduring fascination.” ― Michael Faust, Eastern Religion For Western Gnostics
14. “It’s time to depart on the long, hard road to find our Higher Selves. It’s time to separate ourselves from the ordinary world that has ensnared us with its trivial concerns and easy, disposable pleasures that reach their sell-by date almost as soon as they are touched. It’s time to cross the threshold that separates the world of Common Day from the extraordinary world. The hero’s path is right there in front of us, all marked out for us, yet it’s a path that few will be taking. You want an extraordinary life? Then what are you going to do that is extraordinary? You want to be a hero? Then do something heroic. Take that first step into the Unknown Country and begin the process of transforming yourself from base metal into gold. The hero monomyth is the supreme act of alchemy that takes the prima materia (the primary material) – ourselves – and purifies and perfects it until it shines, glints and gleams like the gold of God.” ― Michael Faust, How to Become a Hero
15. “Whatever awakens you to your alchemist is the elixir you need.” ― Iva Kenaz, Alchemist Awakening
See also: 130 Buddhist Quotes To Help You Become The Awakened One
16. “The universe is a self-playing game. We are the players. The universe is a self-solving equation. We are the active nodes of that equation. We breathe fire into the equations and animate and propel them. The universe is a self-optimizing mathematical system. It’s the ultimate alchemical experiment. It turns bare, unclear monads (base metal; potential) into full, clear monads (gold; actuality). The universe exists to transform souls into Gods. The universe is an evolving divinity – a God factory – a dialectical system for producing mathematical perfection.” ― Mike Hockney, The Forbidden History of Science
17. “I wear my loneliness like a taffeta dress riding up my thigh,
and you cannot help but want me.
You think it’s cruel
how I break your heart, to write a poem.
I think it’s alchemy.” ― Warsan Shire, Our Men Do Not Belong To Us
18. “Alchemy, the masters teach, is the process of linking the spiritual to the material. The alchemist is the bridge between the worlds. It is a process of working inside a mirror, always knowing that in the end, the part will reflect the whole. As inside, so outside.” ― Thomas Lloyd Qualls, Painted Oxen
19. “Inertness is the universal sign of death. Nothing can exist without movement.” ― Drew Gerald
20. “Some mystical concepts are an alchemical experience.” ― Talismanist Giebra, Talismanist: Fragments of the Ancient Fire. Philosophy of Fragmentism Series.
Famous Quotes From The Alchemist
1. “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
2. “The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
3. “Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
4. “No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn’t know it.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
5. “The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
6. “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. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living now.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
7. “When each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
8. “Your eyes show the strength of your soul.” ― Paulo Coehlo, The Alchemist
9. “Every blessing ignored becomes a curse.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
See also: 140 Blessing Quotes To Awaken Your Gratefulness
10. “When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
11. “Intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
12. “Don’t think about what you’ve left behind” The alchemist said to the boy as they began to ride across the sands of the desert. “If what one finds is made of pure matter, it will never spoil. And one can always come back. If what you had found was only a moment of light, like the explosion of a star, you would find nothing on your return.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
13. “Maktub,” she said. “If I am really part of your dream, you’ll come back one day.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
14. “It’s one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it’s another to think that yours is the only path.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
15. “It is said that all people who are happy have God within them.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
16. “God only rarely reveals the future. When he does so, it is for one reason: it’s a future that was written so as to be altered.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
17. “Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
18. “Intense, unexpected suffering passes more quickly than suffering that is apparently bearable; the latter goes on for years and, without our noticing, eats away at our souls, until, one day, we are no longer able to free ourselves from the bitterness and it stays with us for the rest of our lives.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
19. “The alchemist picked up a book that someone in the caravan had brought. Leafing through the pages, he found a story about Narcissus.
The alchemist knew the legend of Narcissus, a youth who knelt daily beside a lake to contemplate his own beauty. He was so fascinated by himself that, one morning, he fell into the lake and drowned. At the spot where he fell, a flower was born, which was called the narcissus.
But this was not how the author of the book ended the story.
He said that when Narcissus died, the goddesses of the forest appeared and found the lake, which had been fresh water, transformed into a lake of salty tears.
‘Why do you weep?’ the goddesses asked.
‘I weep for Narcissus,” the lake replied.
‘Ah, it is no surprise that you weep for Narcissus,’ they said, ‘for though we always pursued him in the forest, you alone could contemplate his beauty close at hand.’
‘But… was Narcissus beautiful?’ the lake asked.
‘Who better than you to know that?’ the goddesses asked in wonder. ‘After all, it was by your banks that he knelt each day to contemplate himself!’
The lake was silent for some time. Finally, it said:
‘I weep for Narcissus, but I never noticed that Narcissus was beautiful. I weep because, each time he knelt beside my banks, I could see, in the depths of his eyes, my own beauty reflected.’
‘What a lovely story,’ the alchemist thought.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
See also: 200 Powerful Quotes About Transformation To Inspire Change
20. “Sometimes there’s just no way to hold back the river.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
21. “It’s not what enters men’s mouth that is evil,” said the alchemist. “It’s what comes out of their mouths that is.” ― Paulo Coelho , The Alchemist
22. “I’m alive. When I’m eating, that’s all I think about. If I’m on the march, I just concentrate on marching. If I have to fight,it will be just as good a day as any to die. If you can always concentrate on the present, you’ll be a happy man. Life is the moment we are living now.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
23. “Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
24. “If good things are coming, they will be a pleasant surprise,” said the seer. “If bad things are, and you know in advance, you will suffer greatly before they even occur.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
25. “The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
26. “and the world we live in will be either better or worse, depending on whether we become better or worse. And that’s where the power of love comes in. Because when we love, we always strive to become better than we are.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
27. “to die tomorrow was no worse than dying on any other day. Every day was there to be lived or to mark one’s departure from this world.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
28. “But he was able to understand one thing: making a decision was only the beginning of things. 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.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
29. “I’m afraid that if my dream is realized, I’ll have no reason to go on living.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
30. “Everything in life has its price.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
Alchemist Quotes About Love
1. “One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
2. “When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
3. “Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
4. “Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
5. “So, I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
6. “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.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
7. “You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it’s better to listen to what it has to say.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
8. “Why do we have to listen to our hearts?” the boy asked.
“Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you will find your treasure.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
9. “It was the pure Language of the World. It required no explanation, just as the universe needs none as it travels through endless time. What the boy felt at that moment was that he was in the presence of the only woman in his life, and that, with no need for words, she recognized the same thing. He was more certain of it than of anything in the world. He had been told by his parents and grandparents that he must fall in love and really know a person before becoming committed. But maybe people who felt that way had never learned the universal language. Because, when you know that language, it’s easy to understand that someone in the world awaits you, whether it’s in the middle of the desert or in some great city. And when two such people encounter each other, and their eyes meet, the past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world. Without such love, one’s dreams would have no meaning.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
10. “Because true love never keeps a man from pursuing his destiny” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
11. “You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it’s better to listen to what it has to say. That way, you’ll never have to fear an unanticipated blow.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
12. “But if you believe yourself worthy of the thing you fought so hard to get, then you become an instrument of God, you help the Soul of the World, and you understand why you are here.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
13. “My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
14. “I have inside me the winds, the deserts, the oceans, the stars, and everything created in the universe. We were all made by the same hand, and we have the same soul.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
15. “I’m an adventurer, looking for treasure” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
16. “And when two such people encounter each other, and their eyes meet, the past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world. Without such love, one’s dreams would have no meaning.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
17. “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.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
18. “There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world. Without such love, one’s dreams would have no meaning.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
19. “Why do we have to listen to our hearts?” the boy asked, when they had made camp that day.
“Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you’ll find your treasure.”
“But my heart is agitated,” the boy said. “It has its dreams, it gets emotional, and it’s become passionate over a woman of the dessert. It asks things of me, and it keeps me from sleeping many nights when I’m thinking about her.”
“Well, that’s good. Your heart is alive. Keep listening to what it has to say.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
20. “People need not fear the unknown if they are capable of achieving what they need and want.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
21. “You must understand that love never keeps a man from pursuing his Personal Legend. If he abandons that pursuit, it’s because it wasn’t a true love.. the love that speaks the language of the world.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
22. “I learned that the world has a soul, and that whoever understands that soul can also understand the language of things.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
23. “From then on, the boy understood his heart. He asked, please, never to stop speaking to him. He asked that, when he wandered far from his dreams, his heart pressed him and sounded the alarm. The boy swore that, every time he heard the alarm, he would heed its message.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
24. “At that moment it seemed to him that time stood still and the soul of the world surged within him. When he looked into her dark eyes and saw that her lips were poised between a laugh and silence, he learned the most important part of the language that all the world spoke. The language that everyone on earth was capable of understanding in their heart. It was love. Something older than humanity, more ancient than the desert. Something that exerted the same force whenever two pairs of eyes met, as had theirs here at the well. She smiled, and that was certainly an omen. The omen he had been awaiting without even knowing he was for all his life. The omen he sought to find in his sheep and in his books. In the crystals and in the silence of the desert… It was the pure language of the world. It required no explanation, just as the universe needs none as it travels through endless time. What the boy felt at that moment was that he was in the presence of the only woman in his life. And that, with no need for words she recognized the same thing. He was more certain of it, than of anything in the world. He had been told by his parents and grandparents that he must fall in love and really know a person before becoming committed. But maybe people who felt that way never learned the universal language. Because when you know that language, its easy to understand that someone in the world awaits you. Whether its in the middle of the desert or in some great city. And when two such people encounter each other, and their eyes meet, the past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love and makes a twin soul for every person in the world. Without such love, one’s dreams would have no meaning. Maktub..” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
25. “Well, then, why should I listen to my heart?”
“Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
26. “We are afraid of losing what we have.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
27. “There must be a language that doesn’t depend on words.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
28. “So we contemplate each other, and we want each other, and I give it life and warmth, and it gives me my reason for living.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
29. “You must understand that love never keeps a man from pursuing his destiny. If he abandons that pursuit, it’s because it wasn’t true love… the love that speaks the Language of the World.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
30. “When you are in love, things make even more sense, he thought.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
See also: 380 Positive Thought Of The Day Quotes To Empower You
Inspirational Quotes From The Alchemist
1. “It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
2. “Don’t give in to your fears. If you do, you won’t be able to talk to your heart.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
3. “People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
4. “We are travelers on a cosmic journey,stardust,swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share.This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
5. “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
6. “Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
7. “If someone isn’t what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
8. “If you start by promising what you don’t even have yet, you’ll lose your desire to work towards getting it.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
9. “To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only obligation.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
10. “And, when you can’t go back, you have to worry only about the best way of moving forward.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
11. “There is only one way to learn. It’s through action. Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
12. “When someone sees the same people every day, as had happened with him at the seminary, they wind up becoming a part of that person’s life. And then they want the person to change. If someone isn’t what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
13. “Making a decision was only the beginning of things. 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.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
14. “At a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That’s the world’s greatest lie.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
15. “People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don’t deserve them, or that they’ll be unable to achieve them.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
16. “Before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream. That’s the point at which most people give up. It’s the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one ‘dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
17. “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.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
18. “When you possess great treasures within you and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
19. “My Heart Is Afraid that it will have to suffer,” the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky.
“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
20. “Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits them.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
21. “Whenever he saw the sea, or a fire, he fell silent, impressed by their elemental force.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
22. “Every search begins with beginner’s luck. And every search ends with the victor being severely tested.” The boy remembered an old proverb from his country. It said that the darkest hour of the night came just before dawn.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
23. “Every second of the search is an encounter with God. When I have been truly searching for my treasure, every day has been luminous…I’ve discovered things along the way that I never would have seen had I not had the courage to try things that seemed impossible for a shepherd to achieve.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
24. “The wise men understood that this natural world is only an image and a copy of paradise. The existence of this world is simply a guarantee that there exists a world that is perfect. God created the world so that, through its visible objects, men could understand his spiritual teachings and the marvels of his wisdom.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
25. “Believe that if Allah wants you to know something, someone will tell you.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
See also: 130 Islamic Quotes That Will Soothe Your Soul
26. “All things are manifestations of one thing only.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
27. “Isn’t wine prohibited here?” the boy asked. “It’s not what enters men’s mouths that’s evil,” said the alchemist. “It’s what comes out of their mouths that is.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
28. “If I could, I’d write a huge encyclopedia just about the words luck and coincidence” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
29. “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 thats where your treasure is.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
30. “Give yourself freedom to try out new things. Don’t be so set in your ways that you can’t grow.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
See also: 140 Most Inspiring Life Lessons From The 48 Laws Of Power
Deep And Philosophical Alchemy Quotes
1. “The dose makes the poison…” ― Paracelsus
2. “An old alchemist gave the following consolation to one of his disciples: “No matter how isolated you are and how lonely you feel, if you do your work truly and conscientiously, unknown friends will come and seek you.” ― Carl Jung
3. “This book will allow you the space to think, you are not paying for paper and ink.” ― The Muppet Philosopher
4. “Faith has the power to turn A into B. But there is an important step involved: First A vanishes into nothingness and then B emerges out of it. This step requires you to be free of all worldly knowledge, which is nothing but opinions of the human race.” ― Shunya
5. “Let’s not forget gold. Kings wanted it. Alchemists promised it —had been promising it for centuries–, and if they achieved purity and perfection in anything, it was the purity and perfection of their failure to produce it.” ― Laini Taylor, Strange the Dreamer
6. “Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it is simply an admission of the obvious. In fact, ‘atheism’ is a term that should not even exist. No one needs to identify himself as a ‘non-astrologer’ or a ‘non-alchemist.’ We do not have words for people who doubt that Elvis is still alive or that aliens have traversed the galaxy only to molest ranchers and cattle. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs.” ― Sam Harris, Letter to a Christian Nation
7. “There is no quarrel between science and spirituality. I often hear people of science trying to use it to prove the nonexistence of the spiritual, but I simply can’t see a chasm in between the two. What is spiritual produces what is scientific and when science is used to disprove the spiritual, it’s always done with the intent to do so; a personal contempt. As a result, scientists today only prove their inferiority to the great founding fathers of the sciences who were practitioners of alchemy. Today’s science is washed-out and scrubbed-down and robbed of everything mystical and spiritual, a knowledge born of contempt and discontent. Or perhaps, there are a few who wish to keep those secrets to themselves and serve everyone else up with a tasteless version of science and the idiots of today blindly follow their equally blind leaders.” ― C. JoyBell C.
8. “Alchemy is no mere act of nature or prearranged set of rules. It is a creature, living and breathing, devouring knowledge and generating new, previously unfathomable events. Alchemy is intelligent, creative, expansive, and dangerous beyond belief.” ― C.J. Olsen, The Immortal Cure
9. “I got into magic because I got into alchemy. Which I got into because I was into chemistry, which I was learning about because I wanted to get better with botany, which I had taken up studying in an effort to grow some killer weed” ― Drew Hayes, The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant
10. “Darkness is not forever, eventually there will be stars.” ― David Paul Kirkpatrick
See also: 160 Words To Live By That Are Truly Inspiring And Insightful
11. “The alchemy that is friendship mixed with attraction is important. The alchemy that is two hearts, two minds, two lives, two particular laughs in silly melody is important.
And, it is yet unknown, as you are, to me.” ― Waylon H. Lewis, Things I Would Like To Do With You
12. “Alchemy is the process of changing lead into gold. Inner alchemy (personal transformation) occurs when we clear our clutter—internal and external—and let go of things that no longer serve us well. This creates balance and space, a place that nurtures contentment, which I believe is true success.” ― Laurie Buchanan, PhD
13. “Alchemy is neither a premature chemistry nor a psychology in the modem sense, although both of these are to be found in alchemical writings . Alchemy is a symbolic science of natural forms based on the correspondence between different planes of reality and making use of mineral and metal symbolism to expound a spiritual science of the south For alchemy, nature is sacred, and the alchemist is the guardian of nature considered as a theophany and reflection of spiritual realities. A purely profane chemistry could come into being only when the substances of alchemy became completely emptied of their sacred quality. For this very reason, a re-discovery of the alchemical view of nature, without in any way denying the chemical sciences which deal with substances from another point of view, could reinstate the spiritual and symbolic character of the forms, colors and processes that man encounters throughout his life in the corporeal world.” ― Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis in Modern Man
14. “The wicked ones make us better persons for those that deserve our attention. Nothing is really lost and wasted in this alchemical dance of life.” ― Robin Sacredfire
See also: List Of Top 100 Self-Reflection Quotes To Help You Thrive
15. “Witnessing is the alchemy of enlightenment. It can transform mud into gold.” ― Amit Ray, Enlightenment Step by Step
16. “Every time love touches my heart, I am changed. And each time the identity I had thought to be mine and to be my last, dissolves like raindrops into the ground, ready to nourish the new I have found.” ― Atalina Wright, Alchemical Love: Poems, Thoughts and Stories for the Heart and Soul
17. “The duality and the freewill don’t exist. There’s only one choice to be made, the one that bring us upwards. Self-destruction is not a choice. And yet, every duality presents exactly that, and not really a choice.” ― Robin Sacredfire
18. “Within the earth’s womb each metal grows slowly developing and transforming into its perfection, its highest manifestation – gold. Nature and God are striving towards perfection, everything moves towards One. Just as human strive to become fully conscious, so all the metals strive to reach their purest state – gold.” ― Natasa Pantovic Nuit, A-Ma Alchemy of Love
19. “Our desires, dreams and hopes, open portals. These portals manifest in our conscience and five senses, in the form of decisions related to the material world but also opportunities. Now, at the exact same time, or maybe even slightly before in time, we get the exact opposite, the temptation, the illusion and deception. And when we are about to make a decision, as if by magic, the two things come stronger to us, as if pushing us into a duality that makes it hard to decide. Now, this brings me to another super interesting fact: Most people assume that they have freewill, and that choices are hard to be made, and that life is full of dualities. And I’ve learned that this is just a great deception related to our planet, which, as human beings, we must transcend. And what I’m really saying here is that the duality and the freewill don’t exist. There’s only one choice to be made, the one that bring us upwards. Self-destruction is not a choice. And yet, every duality presents exactly that, and not really a choice.” ― Robin Sacredfire
20. “Love’s alchemical power is nevermore clear than in the moments when we least expect it to grace our lives; for love transforms, love transcends, love awakens.” ― Atalina Wright, Alchemical Love: Poems, Thoughts and Stories for the Heart and Soul
21. “Alchemy: In times of recession it’s not wise to argue about the price of gold.” ― Robin Sacredfire
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.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
23. “The past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world. Without such love, one’s dreams would have no meaning.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
24. “I’m like everyone else—I see the world in terms of what I would like to see happen, not what actually does.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
25. “You must always know what it is that you want.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
26. “It’s what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their destiny is. At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives. But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their destiny… It’s a force that appears to be negative, but actually shows you how to realize your destiny. It prepares your spirit and you 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.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
27. “Dreams are the language of God.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
28. “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.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
29. “If there hadn’t been a sixth day, man would not exist; copper would always be copper; and lead just lead. It’s true that everything has its Personal Legend, but one day that Personal Legend will be realized. So each thing has to transform itself into something better, and to acquire a new Personal Legend, until, someday, the Soul of the World becomes one thing only.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
30. “God has a prepared path for us to follow. We just have to read the omens he has left for us.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
See also: 120 God’s Time Quotes To Teach You About Faith And Patience
Final Word
I hope that you have enjoyed this wonderful collection of alchemy quotes. I personally found them really inspiring, especially the quotes from the book named “The Alchemist”.
That book was one of our must-reads when I was in University, and I remember it being one of those that were marked as “love on the first page” books.
So reading it again, and highlighting some of the best alchemy quotes was a true pleasure. What do you think about this book? Which quote is your favorite?
Read next: 170 Wise Life Is Too Short Quotes To Help You Live Better
