Zahir Paulo Coelho Quotes

When someone leaves, it's because someone else is about to arrive.

Our true friends are those who are with us when the good things happen. They cheer us on and are pleased by our triumphs. False friends only appear at difficult times, with their sad, supportive faces, when, in fact, our suffering is serving to console them for their miserable lives.

Ester asked why people are sad. "That’s simple," says the old man. "They are the prisoners of their personal history. Everyone believes that the main aim in life is to follow a plan. They never ask if that plan is theirs or if it was created by another person. They accumulate experiences, memories, things, other people's ideas, and it is more than they can possibly cope with. And that is why they forget their dreams.

All you have to do is to pay attention; lessons always arrive when you are ready, and if you can read the signs, you will learn everything you need to know in order to take the next step

No one should ever ask themselves that: why am I unhappy? The question carries within it the virus that will destroy everything. If we ask that question, it means we want to find out what makes us happy. If what makes us happy is different from what we have now, then we must either change once and for all or stay as we are, feeling even more unhappy.

It is always important to know when something has reached its end. Closing circles, shutting doors, finishing chapters, it doesn't matter what we call it; what matters is to leave in the past those moments in life that are over.

My heart might be bruised, but it will recover and become capable of seeing beauty of life once more. It's happened before, it will happen again, I'm sure. When someone leaves, it's because someone else is about to arrive--I'll find love again.

Freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose - and commit myself to - what is best for me.

When someone leaves, its because someone else is about to arrive- I'll find love again.

The wise are wise only because they love. And the foolish are foolish only because they think they can understand love.

The most important thing in all human relationships is conversation, but people don’t talk anymore, they don’t sit down to talk and listen. They go to the theater, the cinema, watch television, listen to the radio, read books, but they almost never talk. If we want to change the world, we have to go back to a time when warriors would gather around a fire and tell stories.

It's not my story anymore: whenever I speak about the past now, I feel as if I were talking about something that has nothing to do with me. All that remains in the present are the voice, the presence, and the importance of fulfilling my mission. I don't regret difficulties I experienced; I think they helped me to become the person I am today, I feel the way a warrior must feel after years of training; he doesn't remember the details of everything he learned, but he knows how to strike when the time is right.

Love is a disease no one wants to get rid of. Those who catch it never try to get better, and those who suffer do not wish to be cured.

what the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over

That is why it is so important to let certain things go. To release them. To cut loose. People need to understand that no one is playing with marked cards; sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. Don't expect to get anything back, don't expect recognition for your efforts, don't expect your genius to be discovered or your love to be understood. Complete the circle. Not out of pride, inability or arrogance, but simply because whatever it is no longer fits in your life. Close the door, change the record, clean the house, get rid of the dust. Stop being who you were and become who you are.

Free again, but it's just a feeling; freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose - and commit yourself to what is best for you.

Writing is one of the most solitary activities in the world.

The energy of hatred won't get you anywhere; but the energy of forgiveness, which reveals itself through love, will transform your life in a positive way.

if a book isn't self-explanatory, then it isn't worth reading.

The taste of things recovered is the sweetest honey we will ever know.

Esther, however, was the only woman who understood one very simple thing: in order to be able to find her, I first had to find myself.

I believe in signs....what we need to learn is always there before us, we just have to look around us with respect & attention to discover where God is leading us and which step we should take. When we are on the right path, we follow the signs, and if we occasionally stumble, the Divine comes to our aid, preventing us from making mistakes.

Some people appear to be happy, but they simply don't give the matter much thought. Others make plans: I'm going to have a husband, a home, two children, a house in the country. As long as they're busy doing that, they're like bulls looking for the bullfighter: they react instinctively, they blunder on, with no idea where the target is. They get their car, sometimes they even get a Ferrari, and they think that's the meaning of life, and they never question it. Yet their eyes betray the sadness that even they don't know they carry in their soul. Are you happy?

Up until then, whenever anyone had mentioned the possibility of making a film adaptation, my answer had always been, ‘No, I’m not interested.’ I believe that each reader creates his own film inside his head, gives faces to the characters, constructs every scene, hears the voices, smells the smells. And that is why, whenever a reader goes to see a film based on a novel that he likes, he leaves feeling disappointed, saying: ‘the book is so much better than the film.

I learned something recently: our true friends are those who are with us when the good things happen. They cheer us on and are pleased by our triumphs. False friends only appear at difficult times, with their sad, supportive faces, when, in fact, our suffering is serving to console them for their miserable lives.

That's how love got lost ... when we started laying down rules for when love should or shouldn't appear.

The most important thing in human relationship is conversation.but people don't talk anymore,they don't sit down to talk and listen.They go to theatre,the cinema,watch television,listen to the radio,read books but they almost never talk.(pg114)

We don't always choose the best solution but we carry on regardless, trying to remain upright and decent in order to do honor not to the walls or the doors or the windows but to the empty space inside, the space where we worship and venerate what is dearest and most important to us.

I was not I, I was nothing - and that seemed to me quite marvelous.

Marie, let’s suppose that two firemen go into a forest to put out a small fire. Afterwards, when they emerge and go over to a stream, the face of one is all smeared with black, while the other man’s face is completely clean. My question is this: which of the two will wash his face? That’s a silly question. The one with the dirty face of course.’ No, the one with the dirty face will look at the other man and assume that he looks like him. And, vice versa, the man with the clean face will see his colleague covered in grime and say to himself: I must be dirty too. I’d better have a wash.’ What are you trying to say?’ I’m saying that, during the time I spent in the hospital, I came to realize that I was always looking for myself in the women I loved. I looked at their lovely, clean faces and saw myself reflected in them. They, on the other hand, looked at me and saw the dirt on my face and, however intelligent or self-confident they were, they ended up seeing themselves reflected in me thinking that they were worse than they were. Please, don’t let that happen to you.

When I had nothing more to lose, I was given everything. When I ceased to be who I am, I found myself. When I experienced humiliation and yet kept on walking, I understood that I was free to choose my destiny. Perhaps there's something wrong with me, I don't know, perhaps my marriage was a dream I couldn't understand while it lasted. All I know is that even though I can live without her, I would still like to see her again, to say what I never said when we were together: I love you more than I love myself. If I could say that, then I could go on living, at peace with myself, because that love has redeemed me.

It is always important to know when something has reached its end. Closing circles, shutting doors, finishing chapters, it doesn’t matter what we call it; what matters is to leave in the past those moments in life that are over. Slowly, I began to realize that I could not go back and force things to be as they once were: those two years, which up until then had seemed an endless inferno, were now beginning to show me their true meaning.

If you're asking me if I like your company, the answer is yes. If, on the other hand, you're asking me if I could live without you, the answer is also yes.

If there is suffering, then it's best to accept it, because it won't go away just because you pretend it's not there. If there is joy, then it's best to accept that too, even though you're afraid it might end one day.

Freedom has a high price, as high as that of slavery; the only difference is that you pay with pleasure and a smile, even when that smile is dimmed with tears.

If you're a nobody, if your work has no impact, then it deserves to be praised. If, however, you climb out of that state of mediocrity and are a success, then your defying 'the law' and deserve to be punished.

we can harness the energy of the winds, the seas, the sun . But the day man learns to harness the energy of love, that will be as important as the discovery of fire.

طوبى للذين لا يخشون الاقرار بما يجهلون

Why are we smiling when we loathe each other?’ ‘Why do we sell happiness to the readers of this magazine when we are profoundly unhappy ourselves, the slaves of fame?

Freedom continues to be the thing I prize most in the world. Of course, this has led me to drink wines I did not like, to do things I should not have done and which I will not do again; it has left scars on my body and on my soul, it has meant hurting certain people, although I have since asked their forgiveness, when I realized that I could do absolutely anything except force another person to follow me in my madness, in my lust for life. I don’t regret the painful times; I bear my scars like medals. I know that freedom has a high price, as high as that of slavery; the only difference is that you pay with pleasure and a smile, even when that smile is dimmed by tears.

ليست الحرية غياب الالتزامات، إنما القدرة على اختيار ماهو أفضل لي، وإلزام نفسي به

العذاب يحدث عندما نرغب في أن يحبنا الآخر بالطريقة التي نتصورها , وليس بالطريقة التي يجب أن يتجلى الحب فيها , حراً بلا قيود , يرشدنا بقوته ويحول دون توقفنا

I needed to talk about my real personal history, in order to become free of it.

But why all these questions? Because I'm in love and I'm afraid of suffering. Don't be afraid, the only way to avoid that suffering would be to refuse to love.

fanaticism is the only way to put an end to the doubts that constantly trouble the human soul.

This last week has been a little hell for both of us simply because I didn't understand my own feelings. And because I can't understand them, I blame her for provoking in me feelings that make my world seem suddenly unsafe.

We must at all costs avoid saying no because people prefer those who say yes, and this allows us to survive in hostile territory.

That is the Mongolian creation myth: out of two different natures love is born. In contradiction, love grows in strength. In confrontation and transformation, love is preserved.

Age only slows down those who never had the courage to walk at their own pace..

هل تعلم ما الأمر الذي يمنح المرأة اللذة الكبرى في الزواج؟ - الجنس. - خطأ، اعداد الطعام. مشاهدة زوجها يأكل. إنها لحظة ممجدة بنظر المرأة، لأنها تقضي نهارها بأكمله تفكر في العشاء

إنا كانت المعاناة حاصلة، فمن الأفضل تقبلها، لانها لن تزول بمجرد انكارك لها. إذا كان الفرح حاضرا، فمن الأفضل تقبله أيضا حتى وان خشيت أن يزول يوماً ما

I learned something recently: our true friends are those are with us when the good things happen. They cheer us on and are pleased by our triumphs. False friends only appear at difficult times, with the sad, supportive faces, when, in fact, our suffering is serving to console them for their miserable lives. When things were bad last year, various people I had never ever seen before turned up to ‘console’ me. I hate that.

i don't regret the difficulties I experienced; I think they help helped me to become the person I am today. i feel the way a warrior must feel after years of traning; he doesn't remember the details of everything he learned, but he knows how to strike when the time is right

It's better to live cherishing a dream than face the possibilty that it might all come to nothing.

العذاب يحدث عندما نرغب في أن يحبنا الآخر بالطريقة التي نتصوّرها، وليس بالطريقة التي يجب أن يتجلى الحب فيها، حراً بلا قيود، يرشدنا بقوته ويحول دون توقفنا

عندما يمدحنا الناس ينبغي ان نراقب تصرفاتنا عن كثب

يولد الحب من طبيعتين متناقضتين. وفي التناقض ينمو الحب بقوة. وفي التصادم والتحوّل، يُحفظ الحب

I came to realize that I was always looking for myself in the women I loved. I looked at their lovely, clean faces, and saw myself reflected in them. They, on the other hand, looked at me and saw the dirt on my face and, however intelligent and self confident they were, they ended up seeing themselves reflected in me and thinking that they were worse than they were. Please don't let that happen to you.

I must try to enjoy all the graces that God has given me today. Grace cannot be hoarded. There are no banks where it can be deposited to be used when I feel more at peace with myself. If I do not make full use of these blessings, I will lose them forever. God knows that we are all artists of life. One day, he gives us a hammer with which to make sculptures, another day he gives us brushes and paints with which to make a picture, or paper and a pencil to write with. But you cannot make a painting with a hammer, or a sculpture with a paintbrush. Therefore, however difficult it may be, I must accept today's small blessings, even if they seem like curses because I am suffering and it's a beautiful day, the sun is shining, and the children are singing in the street. This is the only way I will manage to leave my pain behind and rebuild my life.

Zahir, in Arabic, means visible, present, incapable of going unnoticed. It is someone or something which, once we have come into contact with them or it, gradually occupies our every thought, until we can think of nothing else. This can be considered either a state of holiness or of madness.

According to the laws of nature, one should destroy the other, but in love neither good nor evil, there is neither construction nor destruction, there is merely movement. And love changes the laws of nature.

في مرحلة ما , ستبدأ حياتك بالانحطاط , فأنت عبرت نصف الدرب , لا كلها , أنت نصف سعيد ونصف تعس , غير محبط وغير واثق الخطوة . لست بارداً ولا حاراً , أنت فاتر

عندما يرحل أحدهم، فذلك لأن أحدا آخر على وشك الوصول

if a lie is repeated often enough, it ends up convincing everyone

..there is nothing worse than the feeling that no one cares whether we exist or not, that no one is interested in what we have to say about life, and that the world can continue turning without our awkward presence. I began to imagine how many millions of people were, at that moment, feeling utterly useless and wretched—however rich, charming, and delightful they might be—because they were alone that night, as they were yesterday, and as they might well be tomorrow.

We could go back to the time when we first met: a man in emotional tatters over someone who had left him, and a woman madly in love with her neighbor. I could repeat what I said to you once: 'I'm going to fight to the bitter end.' Well, I fought and I lost, and now I'll just have to lick my wounds and leave.

السماء دائمة الزرقة , حتى وإن كانت رمادية , لإدراكنا أن اللون لا يزال على حاله , هناك فوق الغيوم

I want to believe that it is wonderful to be free. Free again. Ready to find my one true love, who is waiting for me and who will never allow e to experience such humiliation again.

What we need to learn is always there before us, we just have to look around us with respect and attention in order to discover where God is leading us and which step we should take next.

All men and women are connected by an energy which we call love, but which is, in fact, the raw material from which the universe was built. This energy cannot be manipulated, it leads us gently forward, it contains all we have to learn in this life. If we try to make it go in the direction we want, we end up desperate, frustrated, disillusioned, because that energy is free and wild.

I hate knowing about illness. Whenever I read a medical book, I immediately start to get all the symptoms.

Being with someone else and making that person feel as if they were no importance in our life is far worse than feeling alone and miserable.

لماذا الناس حزانى؟ - هذا بسيط. إنهم سجناء تاريخهم الخاص. الكل يعتقدون ان هدف الحياة الاساسي هو اتباع مخطط ما. لا يسالون ابداً إن كان هذا المخطط مخططهم أم ان شخصا آخر قد وضعه لهم. هم يراكمون التجارب، الذكريات، الاشياء، افكار الاخرين، وهذا يفوق مايمكنهم مجاراته. ولهذا ينسون أحلامهم

As Einstein said, God does not play dice with the universe; everything is interconnected and has a meaning. That meaning may remain hidden nearly all the time, but we always know we are close to our true mission on earth when what we are doing is touched with the energy of enthusiasm.

If someone is capable of loving his partner without restrictions, unconditionally, then he is manifesting the love of God. If the love of God becomes manifest, he will love his neighbor. If he loves his neighbor, he will love himself. If he loves himself, then everything returns to its proper place.

In order for the true energy of love to penetrate your soul, your soul must be as if you had just been born

بمجرد أن يقرر الناس مواجهة مشكلة , يدركون أنهم ذوو مقدرة تفوق تصورهم

I savour the idea of my new state: single and a millionaire.

In the words of a Persian sage: love is a disease no one wants to get rid of. Those who catch it never try to get better, and those who suffer do not wish to be cured.

Knowing that doesn't make any difference. People do their best not to remember and not to accept the immense magical potential they possess, because that would upset their neat little universes.

عندمــا لــم يبـق لي ما أخسره ، أعطيت كل شئ . عندما كففت عن كوني نفسي ، وجدتها . وعندما خبرت الذلّ وبقيت أمضي ، أدركت أنني حُـرّ في اختيار قدري . لعل بى خطبا ., لا ادرى , لعل زواجى لم افهمه عندما عشته . ما اعرفه هو ان بامكانى العيش من دونها , لا ازال اود رؤيتها مجددا , لاقول لها ما لم اتفوه به عندما كنا معا : احبك اكثر من حبى لنفسى ولو امكننى قول ذلك , لتمكنت عندها من المضى فى حياتى , بسلام مع روحى , لان ذلك الحب افتدانى

Cred ca am gresit, ca am pierdut, intr-un anumit moment, legatura cu femeia pe care o iubeam. Iar acum nu am nevoie decat de-o harta, vreau sa ma duc la ea

instead of accepting love's strength, we are trying to diminish it so that it fits the world in which we imagine we live.

الاقتراب من الموت يساعدنا دوماً على أن نعيش حياتنا بشكل أفضل.

لكي تنفذ طاقة الحب الحقيقية إلى روحك، ينبغي لروحك أن تكون كما لو أنها وُلدت للتو.

Fear exists before and after, but not while the shots are being fired, because, at that moment, you see men at their very limit, capable of the most heroic of actions and the most inhumane.

No one is alone in their troubles; there is always someone else thinking, rejoicing, or suffering in the same way, and that gives us the stregnth to confront the challenge before us. Does that include suffering for love? It includes everything. If there is suffering, then it is best to accept it, because it won't go away because you pretend it is not there. If there is joy, then it is best to accept that too, even though you are afraid it might end some day. Some people can only relate to life through sacrifice and renunciation. Some people only feel part of humanity when they think they are happy. I'm in love and I'm afraid of suffering. Dont be afraid. The only way to avoid that suffereing is to refuse love.

One day, I am going to write a travel guide containing only maps and addresses of hotels, and with the rest of the pages blank. That way, people will have to make their own initery, to discover themselves restaurants, monuments and all the magnificent things that every city has, but which are never mentioned because ' the history we have been taught' does not include them in the list of things you must see.

For a while, I'll think obsessively about her, I'll become embittered, I'll bore my friend because all I ever talk about is my wife leaving me. I'll try to justify what happened, spend days and nights reviewing every moment spent by her side, I'll conclude that she was too hard on me, even though I always tried to do my best. I'll find other women. When I walk down the street, I'll keep seeing women who could be her. I'll suffer day and night, night and day. This could take weeks, months, possibly a year or more... Until one morning, I'll wake up and find I'm thinking about something else, and then I'll know the worst is over. My heart might be bruised, but it will recover and became capable of seeing the beauty of life once more. It's happened before, it will happen again, I'm sure. When someone leaves, it's because someone else is about to arrive--I'll find love again.

Finally, he explained to me that suffering occurs when we want other people to love us in the way we imagine we want to be loved, and not in the way that love should manifest itself-free and untrammeled , guiding us with its force and driving us on.

مات وهو لا يزال حياً. قد تبدو هذه الألفاظ متناقضة، لكنني عرفت العديد من الناس الذين كفّوا عن العيش، مع انهم واصلوا العمل والأكل والانخراط في نشاطاتهم الاجتماعية المعتادة. فعلوا كل شيء تلقائياً، غافلين عن اللحظة السحرية التي يحملها كل يوم معه. لم يتوقفوا يوماً للتفكير في معجزة الحياة، لم يفهموا يوماً أن اللحظة التالية قد تكون الأخيرة على وجه الأرض

The acomodador or giving-up point: there is always an event in our lives that is responsible for us failing to progress: a trauma, a particularly bitter defeat, a disappointment in love, even a victory that we did not quite understand, can make cowards of us and prevent us from moving on. As part of the process of increasing his hidden powers, the shaman must first free himself from that giving-up point and, to do so, he must review his while life and find out where it occured.

In the world of my imagination, Esther was still my companion, and her love gave me the strength to go forward and explore all my frontiers. In the real world, she was pure obsession, sapping my energy, taking up all the available space, and obliging me to make an enormous effort just to continue with my life. How was it possible that, even after two years, I had still not managed to forget her? I could not bear having to think about it anymore, analyzing all the possibilities, and trying various ways out: deciding simply to accept the situation, writing a book, practicing yoga, doing some charity work, seeing friends, seducing women, going out to supper, to the cinema (always avoiding adaptations of books, of course, and seeking out films that had been specially written for the screen), to the theater, the ballet, to soccer games. The Zahir always won, though; it was always there, making me think, "I wish she was here with me.

icen que a lo largo de nuestra vida tenemos dos grandes amores; uno con el que te casas o vives para siempre, puede que el padre o la madre de tus hijos, esa persona con la que consigues la compenetración máxima para estar el resto de tu vida junto a ella. Y dicen que hay un segundo gran amor, una persona que perderás siempre. Alguien con quien naciste conectado, tan conectado que las fuerzas de la química escapan a la razón y te impedirá, siempre, alcanzar un final feliz. Hasta que cierto día dejarás de intentarlo. Te rendirás y buscarás a esa otra persona que acabarás encontrando. Pero te aseguro que no pasarás una sola noche sin necesitar otro beso suyo, o tan siquiera discutir una vez más. Todos sabéis de qué estoy hablando, porque mientras estabais leyendo esto os ha venido su nombre a la cabeza. Te librarás de él o de ella, dejarás de sufrir, conseguirás encontrar la paz (le sustituirás por la calma), pero te aseguro que no pasará un día en que desees que estuviera aquí para perturbarte… Porque, a veces, se desprende más energía discutiendo con alguien a quien amas que haciendo el amor con alguien a quien aprecias.

Becoming conscious of three important things: First, as soon as people decide to confront a problem, they realize that they are far more capable than they thought they were. Second, all energy and all knowledge come from the same unknown source, which we usually call God. What I've tried to do in my life, ever since I first started out on what I believe to be my path, is to honour that energy, to connect up with it every day, to allow myself to be guided by the signs, to learn by doing and not by thinking about doing. Third, that no one is alone in their troubles; there is always someone else thinking, rejoicing, or suffering in the same way, and that gives us the strength to confront the challenge before us.

الآن يمكنني التمتع بالحرية التي طالما حلمت في امتلاكها". هذا كذب! لا أحد يرغب في هذا النوع من الحرية; كلنا راغبون في الارتباط، راغبون في شخص إلى جانبنا للتمتع بجمالات جنيف، لمناقشة كتب ومقالات وأفلام، أو حتى لمشاركته شطيرة لأننا نفتقر مايكفي من المال لشراء اثنتين. من الافضل تناول نصف شطيرة مع أحدهم عوضا عن تناول شطيرة كاملة وحدنا. من الأفضل أن يعمد رجل الى مقاطعة امرأته، لانه يوّد العودة توّا الى المنزل لمشاهدة مباراة كبرى على التلفاز، أو أن تتوقف المرأة أمام واجهة متجر، وتقاطع زوجها وهو يتحدث عن الكاتدرائية. كلّ هذا أفضل كثيرا من أن يمتلك المرء جنيف بأسرها، أن يمتلك كل ما في العالم من وقت وهدوء لزيارتها. من الأفضل أن تجوع على أن تكون وحيداً. فعندما تكون وحيدا -وأنا اتحدث عن وحدة قسرية وليست اختيارية- يبدو الأمر كما لو أنك لم تعد جزءا من الجنس البشري

I heard other people speaking in the name of freedom, and the more they defended this unique right, the more enslaved they seemed to be to their parents' wishes, to a marriage in which they had promised to stay with the other person "for the rest of their lives", to the bathroom scales, to their diet, to half-finished projects, to lovers to whom they were incapable of saying "no" or "it's over", to weekends when they were obliged to have lunch with people they didn't even like. Slaves to luxury, to the appearance of luxury, to the appearance of the appearance of luxury. Slaves to a life they had not chosen, but which they had decided to live because someone had managed to convince them that it was all for the best. And so their identical days and nights passed, days and nights in which adventure was just a word in a book or an image o the television that was always on, and whenever a door opened, they would say “I’m not interested. I’m not in the mood.” How could they possibly know if they were in the mood or not if they had never tried? But there was no point in asking; the truth was they were afraid of any change that would upset the world they had grown used to.

The all-powerful Zahir seemed to be born with every human being and to gain full strength in childhood, imposing rules that would thereafter always be respected: People who are different are dangerous; they belong to another tribe; they want our lands and our women. We must marry, have children, reproduce the species. Love is only a small thing, enough for one person, and any suggestion that the heart might be larger than this may seem perverse. When we are married we are authorised to take possession of the other person, body and soul. We must do jobs we detest because we are part of an organised society, and if everyone did what they wanted to do, the world would come to a standstill. We must buy jewelry; it identifies us with our tribe. We must be amusing at all times and sneer at those who express their real feelings; it's dangerous for a tribe to allow its members to show their feelings. We must at all costs avoid saying no because people prefer those who always say yes, and this allows us to survive in hostile territory. What other people think is more important than what we feel. Never make a fuss--it might attract the attention of an enemy tribe. If you behave differently you will be expelled from the tribe because you could infect others and destroy something that was extremely difficult to organise in the first place. We must always consider the look of our new cave, and if we don't have a clear idea of our own, then we must call a decorator who will do his best to show others what good taste we have. We must eat three meals a day, even if we're not hungry, and when we fail to fit the current ideal of beauty we must fast, even if we're starving. We must dress according to the dictates of fashion, make love whether we feel like it or not, kill in the name of our country, wish time away so that retirement comes more quickly, elect politicians, complain about the cost of living, change our hair-style, criticise anyone who is different, go to a religious service on Sunday, Saturday or Friday, depending on our religion, and there beg forgiveness for our sins and puff ourselves up with pride because we know the truth and despise he other tribe, who worship false gods. Our children must follow in our footsteps; after all we are older and know more about the world. We must have a university degree even if we never get a job in the area of knowledge we were forced to study. We must never make our parents sad, even if this means giving up everything that makes us happy. We must play music quietly, talk quietly, weep in private, because I am the all-powerful Zahir, who lays down the rules and determines the meaning of success, the best way to love, the importance of rewards.

We were approaching the Louvre, but he paused to lean on the parapet, and we both stood there contemplating the passing boats, which dazzled us with their spotlights. ‘Look at them,’ I said, because I needed to talk about something, afraid that he might get bored and go home. ‘They only see what the spotlights show them. When they go home home, they’ll say they know Paris. Tomorrow they’ll go and see the Mona Lisa and claim they’ve visited the Louvre. But they don’t know Paris and have never really been to the Louvre. All they did was go on a boat and look at a painting, one painting, instead of looking at a whole city and trying to find out what’s happening in it, visiting the bars, going down the streets that don’t appear in any of the tourist guides, and getting lost in order to find themselves again. It’s the difference between watching a porn movie and making love.

Yet they sense that something is wrong. They can’t quite put their finger on the problem. As time passes, they grow more and more dependent on each other; they are getting older; any opportunities to make a new life are vanishing fast. They try to keep busy doing reading or embroidery, watching television, seeing friends, but there is always the conversation over supper or after supper. He is easily irritated, she is more silent than usual. They can see that they are growing further and further apart, but cannot understand why. They reach the conclusion that this is what marriage is like, but won’t talk to their friends about it; they are the image of the happy couple who support each other and share the same interests. She takes a lover, so does he, but it’s never anything serious, of course. What is important, necessary, essential, is to act as if nothing is happening, because it’s too late to change.