True words were spoken by Paulo Coelho

An old man and a boy are sitting on a bench. The boy is reading a book that the old man wants to see. The boy is fluttering between feelings of annoyance and hesitation. He is afraid the man is either going to bother him or be illiterate and embarrassed. The boy is not prepared for either situation. He reluctantly shows the man the book and is quite surprised at the old man's response.

"Hmm.." said the old man, looking at all sides of the book, as if it were some strange object. "This is an important book, but it's really irritating."

The boy was shocked. The old man knew how to read, and had already read the book. And if the book was irritating, as the old man had said, the boy still had time to change it for another.

"It's a book that says the same thing almost all other books in the world say," continued the old man. "It describes people's inability to choose their own destinies. And it ends up saying that everyone believes the world's greatest lie."

"What's the world's greatest lie?" the boy asked, completely surprised.

"It's this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie."