Some quotes from the Zahir

"What I’ve tried to do in my life, ever since I started out on what I believe to be my path, is to honor that energy, to allow myself to be guided by the signs, to learn by doing and not by thinking about doing.”

"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 through you’re afraid it might end one day."

"No one should ever ask themselves, why am I unhappy? If we ask that question, it means that it 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.”

"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.”

"We all want commitment, we all want someone to be beside us to enjoy the beauties of Geneva, to discuss books, interviews, films or even to share a sandwich with because there isn’t enough money to buy one each. Better to eat half a sandwich than a whole one. Better to be interrupted by the man who wants to get straight back home because there’s a big game on TV tonight or by the woman who stops outside a shop window and interrupts what we were saying about the cathedral tower, far better that than to have the whole of Geneva to yourself with all the time and quiet in the world to visit it."

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