Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Quotes

You risk tears if you let yourself be tamed.

Un jour, j'ai vu le soleil se coucher quarante-trois fois!»
Et un peu plus tard tu ajoutais:
«Tu sais... quand on est tellement triste on aime les couchers de soleil...
- Le jour des quarante-trois fois tu étais donc tellement triste?
Mais le petit prince ne répondit pas.

It is not by way of language that I shall transmit what is within me; for it is inexpressible in words. I can but signify this insofar as you may understand it through other channels than the spoken word; by love's miracle or because, born of the same God, we are akin. Else I have to drag it out, laboriously — that sunken world within me. And thus, as my clumsiness avails, I display this or that aspect alone — as in the case of my mountain, of which I may say merely that it is high. But it is far more than that, and behind those weak words I have in mind the far-flung glory of the night when one stands on the heights, alone and shivering, amongst the stars.

I believe that for his escape he took advantage of the migration of a flock of wild birds.

What torments me is not the humps nor hollows nor the ugliness. It is the sight, a little bit in all these men, of Mozart murdered.

,Grown-ups love figures. When you describe a new friend to them, they never ask you about the important things. They never say 'What's his voice like? What are his favourite games? Does he collect butterflies?' Instead they demand 'How old is he? How many brothers has he? How much does he weigh? How much does his father earn?' Only then do they feel they know him. If you say to the grown-ups: 'I've seen a lovely house made of pink brick, with geraniums in the windows and doves on the rood', they are unable to picture such a house. You must say: I saw a house that come a hundred thousand francs.' Then they cry out: 'How pretty!'
Again, you might say to them: 'The proof that the little prince existed is that he was enchanting, that he laughed, and that he was looking for a sheep. When someone wants a sheep, it is proof that they exist.' The grown-ups will merely shrug their shoulders, and treat you like a child. But if you tell them: 'The planet he came from is Asteroid B 612', then they will be convinced, and will spare you all their question. That is how they are. You must not hold it against them. Children have to be very indulgent towards grown-ups.

And I love to listen to the stars at night. It is like listening to five hundred million little bells . . .

Nobody grasped you by the shoulder while there was still time. Now the clay of which you were shaped has dried and hardened, and naught in you will ever awaken the sleeping musician, the poet, the asronomer that possibly inhabited you in the beginning.

Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.

Well, I must endure the presence of two or three caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies. It seems that they are very beautiful.
And if not the butterflies– and the caterpillars– who will call upon me? You will be far away. . . as for the large animals– I am not at all afraid of any of them. I have my claws.”
And, navely, she showed her four thorns. Then she added:
“Don’t linger like this. You have decided to go away. Now go!”
For she did not want him to see her crying. She was such a proud flower. . .

Si quelqu'un veut un mouton, c'est la preuve qu'il en existe un.
(If somebody wants a sheep, that is a proof that one exists.)

Adieu, dit le renard. Voici mon secret. Il est très simple: on ne voit bien qu’avec le cœur. L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.

Si tu aimes une fleur qui se trouve dans une étoile, c'est doux, la nuit, de regarder le ciel.

But the vain man did not hear him. Vain men never hear anything but praise.

If I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked, I should walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water.