How we cite our quotes: (Part.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"And dreams are the language of God. When he speaks our language, I can interpret what he has said. But if he speaks in the language of the soul, it is only you who can understand." (1.48)
According to the Gypsy woman, our dreams are a form of communication with the divine. She divides dreams into "our language" and "the language of the soul." It seems that everyone has their own individual language of the soul, which God uses to tell them a secret, but that it's also possible to dream in a collective language that others can understand. So … wonder what she'd make about our dream that all of our books suddenly developed thick pelts of fur?
Quote #2
When he had gone only a short distance, he realized that, while they were erecting the stall, one of them had spoken Arabic and the other Spanish.
And they had understood each other perfectly well. (1.244-45)
This little scene reminds us of the Christian concept of Pentecost, when Jesus' disciples were able to speak to crowds of people who spoke various languages, and everyone somehow understood what they were saying. The Alchemist is full of echoes of Christianity like this one. (Either echoes of Christianity, or echoes of Star Trek. Your pick.)
Quote #3
In less than a year, he would have doubled his flock, and he would be able to do business with the Arabs, because he was now able to speak their strange language. (2.30)
In The Alchemist, language isn't all soul- and God-talk. There are also known, concrete languages like Spanish and Arabic, languages that people have to learn to get by in their day-to-day lives. Santiago realizes the economic benefits of being able to speak as second language after his time in Tangier. Moral: you can't just wait around for the Soul of the World to drop a pile of money on your lap. You just might have to have to invest in some Rosetta Stone software, too.