Quote 1
"You must understand that love never keeps a man from pursuing his Personal Legend. If he abandons that pursuit, it's because it wasn't true love . . . the love that speaks the Language of the World." (2.442)
Listen up, Santiago: let the alchemist break it down for you. See, there are true loves (like Beyoncé and Jay-Z) and false loves (like, oh, pick a Kardashian and the next man you see). True love speaks the universal language and will last even through separation and difficulty, because it's mean to be. False love has a million dollar wedding and gets divorced 72 hours later.
Quote 2
"There are powerful forces on both sides, and the war is important to both armies. It's not a battle of good against evil. It's a war between forces that are fighting for the balance of power, and, when that type of battle begins, it lasts longer than others—because Allah is on both sides." (2.284)
Huh. This is a little weird, right? Usually you got the good guys and the bad guys, and you know who to root for. In The Alchemist, we never know who is fighting or why. Instead, we're expected to see war almost as a force of nature.
Quote 3
The alchemist sounded angry: "Trust in your heart, but never forget that you're in the desert. When men are at war with one another, the Soul of the World can hear the screams of battle. No one fails to suffer the consequences of everything under the sun." (2.546)
Just in case you were starting to feel like things were going too well, the alchemist steps in to straighten things out: not everyone is in the groovy swing of their Personal Legend. In fact, the world is a dangerous place, which means Santiago—and you—can't ever let down your guard.