"My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer," the boy confides to the alchemist one night as they look up at a moonless night.

"Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself," the alchemist replies. "And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity."

Excerpted from The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream, by Paulo Coehlo.

ps - Brian: I'm almost finished with it! ;)