Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro Brazil and found out early in his life that he wanted to be a writer. Unfortunately, his parents didn’t support him and when he rebelled against them they decided to send him to a mental asylum three times. After he got out of the asylum, he decided to go to law school but later dropped out. He went through multiple jobs before he decided to change the course of his life. He quit every job he had so that he could become a full time writer. Later on, he wrote a book called “The Alchemist” which sold about 35 million copies and has become the most widely translated book in the world.

 

           Paulo Coelho is known for quoting “The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion”. The quote means that you can talk about your opinion all day long and people will just write you off. However, if you lead by example people will follow along and join you which could make something, like finding a diseade cure, into something very important that people will focus on. I experienced this when I was 6 years old and my dad and I were going to the mall. When we were riding in the car he told me that a man should be respectful of women and do things like hold the door for them. I understood and agreed with him but the opinion basically went in one ear and out the other. Then when we go to the mall and got up to the door, I saw my dad act very politely and hold the door for a young woman and with the example he showed me, I followed what he was doing and started holding doors for women too.