Paulo Coelho

Stories & Reflections

Elegance

Author: Paulo Coelho

Elegance tends to be mistaken for superficiality and mere appearance.
Nothing could be further from the truth: some words are elegant, others can wound and destroy, but all are written with the same letters.

Flowers are elegant, even when hidden among the grasses in a meadow. The gazelle when it runs is elegant, even when it is fleeing from a lion.
Elegance is not an outer quality, but a part of the soul that is visible to others.

And even when passions run high, elegance does not allow the real ties binding two people to be broken.
Elegance lies not in the clothes we wear, but in the way we wear them.
It isn’t in the way we wield a sword, but in the dialogue we hold that could avoid a war.

Elegance is achieved when, having discarded all superfluous things, we discover simplicity and concentration; the simpler the pose, the better; the more sober, the more beautiful.

And what is simplicity? It is the coming together of the true values of life.
Snow is pretty because it has only one colour.
The sea is pretty because it appears to be a flat plane.
The desert is beautiful because it seems to consist only of sand and rocks.

The simplest things in life are the most extraordinary. Let them reveal themselves.
 
 
taken from THE MANUSCRIPT FOUND IN ACCRA

Subscribe to Blog

Join 16.4K other subscribers

Stories & Reflections

Social

Paulo Coelho Foundation

Gifts, keepsakes and other souvenirs

Souvenirs