The Alchemist Santiago Quotes

Santiago has a hard time leaving his "I love you because…" dangling in the air, so he has to give Fatima a reason even though she doesn't need one. He quotes the old king Melchizedek, who says that when someone wants something with all their heart the universe helps them get it. Interesting. Up until now, we didn't know that Santiago wanted Fatima with all of his heart. Think the universe is psychic?

Aw, how romantic. By tapping into the soul of the universe and falling in love with Fatima, Santiago has found a way to communicate with everything in the universe, including the desert, wind, and sun. He doesn't have to know how it works, just trust that it does work, which is pretty much what the book has been telling us all along. Someone call Hallmark; we could make a killing with this card.

Talk about putting things in perspective. Santiago realizes that sometimes the worst inconveniences and dangers, like stubbing your toe or getting caught up in a foreign war, can have pretty spectacular consequences—like missing the bus that would have crashed, or meeting the woman of your dreams.

By defying his parents, Santiago is showing that he is not one of the sheep-like people who just do what people expect of him. He's already taken a first step toward taking control of his own life, by following his dream to travel. (Also, Brain Snack: Jesus is often symbolically referred to as a shepherd, and priests have "flocks," so … good job escaping your destiny, Santiago. Not.)

Santiago realizes that his heart is a little bit of a waffler. Half of the time it tells him it wants the treasure, but the other half of the time it's all boohoo and sob story. He learns that the more he listens to his heart and notices its changing emotions, the better prepared he'll be for sudden desires—because they won't be sudden.

Here, Santiago personifies the desert, talking about it as though it's a sentient being with the power to observe and also to react to what it observes, taking a part in writing history. Um, creepy much? We don't really want our deserts to be sentient; they're deadly enough as it is.

Gee, Santiago, why do you ask the sun stuff it knows? Even the sun, the natural force that supposedly has the most wisdom, has never tried to do something so durn unnatural. But Santiago has learned enough to tap into the soul of the universe, so he ultimately succeeds. Yay Santiago!

The Englishman's books on alchemy are super difficult to understand, which is super frustrating for Santiago. But the Englishman has a better attitude: he figures that anything worth doing is going to take some effort, and the secrets of alchemy must be hidden in complicated texts so that only people smart and determined enough to figure them out will gain the special knowledge. (Does that mean calculus is going to turn out to be useful after all?)

Santiago is frustrated with the alchemy books, but the alchemist shows him that they're not the only way to learn the wisdom of the world. In fact, all of nature is like a giant text book, complete with built-in tests and quizzes and extra problem sets.

Hmm. Love isn't static or roaming. So what is it? Something in between? Something like electrons, which behave like both waves and particles. Love is stable and sturdy, because it can't be broken by separation, but it also moves around, allowing for the lovers to follow their dreams and come back to one another. Okay, maybe not so much like electrons as like a ball of fire ants.

Lolwut? No, hear us out. See, the Englishman never had to use his revolver in the desert, but he still has to take it out and give it up when he reaches the safety of the oasis. This statement suggests that he's not naturally trusting. He has to bolster his own strength in order to trust that he could protect himself from other people. Someone like the alchemist, though, only needs himself.