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Wisdom and Knowledge
Socrates said that the only true wisdom was knowing you know nothing. Personally, we like Coelho's take: that true wisdom means knowing how to turn lead into gold. Okay, okay, so it's supposed to be a metaphor: in The Alchemist, wisdom is all about purifying the soul, community with the universe, and finding hidden treasure. And you can't get more ancient or hidden than the knowledge of alchemy.
In The Alchemist, books and schools are superfluous; everything that a person needs to know is available in the natural world.
The Alchemist shows that wisdom has nothing to do with age: even a young person can be wise, and an old person can definitely be foolish.
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