Manuscript Found in Accra by Paulo Coelho, Margaret Jull Costa Read Free Book Online

life requires them to. They explore new paths, recount their adventures, and thus enrich both city and village.
    If they once took a wrong and dangerous path, they will never come to you and say: “Don’t ever do that.”
    They will merely say: “I once took a wrong and dangerous path.”
    This is because they respect your freedom, just as you respect theirs.
    Avoid at all costs those who are only by your side in moments of sadness to offer consoling words. What they are actually saying to themselves is: “I am stronger. I am wiser. I would not have taken that step.”
    Stay close to those who are by your side in happy times, because they do not harbor jealousy or envy in their hearts, only joy to see you happy.
    Avoid those who believe they are stronger than you, because they are actually concealing their own fragility.
    Stay close to those who are not afraid to be vulnerable, because they have confidence in themselves and know that, at some point in our lives, we all stumble; they do not interpret this as a sign of weakness, but of humanity.
    Avoid those who talk a great deal before acting, those who never take a step without being quite sure that it will bring them respect.
    Stay close to those who, when you made a mistake, never said: “I would have done it differently.” They did not make that particular mistake and so are in no position to judge.
    Avoid those who seek friends in order to maintain a certain social status or to open doors they would not otherwise be able to approach.
    Stay close to those who are interested in opening only one important door: the door to your heart. They will never invade your soul without your consent or shoot a deadly arrow through that open door.
    Friendship is like a river; it flows around rocks, adapts itself to valleys and mountains, occasionally turns into a pool until the hollow in the ground is full and it can continue on its way.
    Just as the river never forgets that its goal is the sea, so friendship never forgets that its only reason for existing is to love other people.
    Avoid those who say: “That’s it, I’ll go no further.” What they have failed to grasp is that neither life nor death has an end; they are merely stages of eternity.
    Stay close to those who say: “Everything’s fine as it is, but we still need to move on.” They understand the need to keep going beyond the known horizon.
    Avoid those who meet up to discuss, seriously and pretentiously, any decisions that the community needs to take. They understand politics, they impress others and try to show how wise they are. What they don’t understand is that it is impossible to control so much as the fall of a single hair on your head. Discipline is important, but it needs to leave doors and windows open to intuition and the unexpected.
    Stay close to those who sing, tell stories, and enjoy life, and whose eyes sparkle with happiness. Because happiness is contagious and will always manage to finda solution, whereas logic can find only an explanation for the mistake made.
    Stay close to those who allow the light of Love to shine forth without restrictions, judgments, or rewards, without letting it be blocked by the fear of being misunderstood.
    No matter how you are feeling, get up every morning and prepare to let your light shine forth.
    Those with eyes to see will see your light and be enchanted by it.

 
    A young woman, who rarely left her house because she thought no one was interested in her, said:
    “Teach us about elegance.”
    Everyone in the courtyard muttered:
    “What kind of question is that to ask when we are about to be invaded, when blood will soon be running down every street in the city?”
    However, the Copt smiled, and his smile was not a mocking one, but filled with respect for the young woman’s courage
.

 
    And he answered:
    Elegance tends to be mistaken for superficiality and mere appearance. Nothing could be further from the truth; some words are elegant, some can wound and