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Time & Perspective Quote by Paulo Coelho

"Life was always a matter of waiting for the right moment to act"

About this Quote

Coelho’s line flatters one of our favorite self-myths: that our hesitations are actually wisdom in disguise. “Waiting for the right moment” turns indecision into narrative craft. It gives the reader a clean, cinematic structure for messy lives: the world sets the stage, you enter when the lighting is perfect, and action becomes destiny rather than risk. That’s the seduction. The phrase “always a matter” makes it feel like a law of nature, not a choice, and that absolves you from the uglier truth that many moments only become “right” because someone forces them to be.

The subtext is pure Coelho: spiritualized agency. You’re meant to believe the universe is legible if you’re patient enough, that timing isn’t just logistics but a kind of moral alignment. It’s a soothing theology for people living amid too many options and not enough certainty. It also smuggles in a warning: act too early and you’re reckless; act too late and you’ve missed the calling. The quote plants you in that tense middle space where meaning is supposedly waiting to be recognized.

Context matters: Coelho’s novels trade in omens, thresholds, and the romance of the “sign.” In that worldview, the right moment is less about external clocks than internal readiness - courage catching up to desire. Read generously, it’s a push against impulsive self-sabotage. Read skeptically, it’s a permission slip for perpetual rehearsal, a way to keep longing intact by never testing it against reality.

Quote Details

TopicLife
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Paulo Coelho on Timing and Action
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About the Author

Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho (born August 24, 1947) is a Novelist from Brazil.

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