Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Quotes

I have nothing to complain of. For three days I have tramped the desert, have known the pangs of thirst, have followed false scents in the sand, have pinned my faith on the dew. I have struggled to rejoin my kind, whose very existence on earth I had forgotten. These are the cares of men alive in every fibre, and I cannot help thinking them more important than the fretful choosing of a night-club in which to spend the evening. Compare the one life with the other, and all things considered this is luxury! I have no regrets. I have gambled and lost. It was all in the day's work. At least I have had the unforgettable taste of the sea on my lips.

I am not talking about living dangerously. Such words are meaningless to me. The toreador does not stir me to enthusiasm. It is not danger I love. I know what I love. It is life.

One feels rather lonely in the dessert.'

'It is just as lonely among men.

l'espace de l'esprit, là où il peut ouvrir ses ailes, c'est le silence.
(chapitre XXIII, dernière phrase)

The traveler who crosses a mountain in the direction of a star runs the risk of forgetting which is his guiding star if he concentrates too exclusively on the climbing problems. If he only acts for action's sake, he will get nowhere.

There is a tendency to class such men with toreadors and gamblers. People extol their contempt for death. But I would not give a fig for anybody’s contempt for death. If its roots are not sunk deep in an acceptance of responsibility, this contempt for death is the sign either of an impoverished soul or of youthful extravagance.

"Nothing is perfect," sighed the fox. "My life is very monotonous. I run after the chickens; the men run after me. All the chickens are the same; all the men are the same. Consequently, I get a little bored. But if you tame me, my days will be as if filled with sunlight. I shall know the sound of a footstep different from all the rest. ...You see the fields of corn? Well, I don't eat bread. Corn is of no use to me. Corn fields remind me of nothing. Which is sad. On the other hand, your hair is the colour of gold. So think how wonderful it will be when you have tamed me. The corn, which is golden, will remind me of you. And I will come to love the sound of the wind in the field of corn.
The fox fell silent and looked steadily at the little prince for a long time.
"Please," he said, "tame me!

اكتبي لي قبل أن أموت, فبعدها سيكون الأمر سيان تماماً بالنسبه لي وسأدعك وشأنك

Chacun s'exalte pour des religions qui lui promettent cette plénitude. Tous, sous les mots contradictoires, nous exprimons les mêmes élans. Nous nous divisons sur des méthodes qui sont les fruits de nos raisonnements, non sur les buts: ils sont les mêmes.

"So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the time for him to leave was approaching:
"Oh!", said the fox. "I am going to cry."
"It's your own fault," said the little prince. "I never wished you any harm; but you wanted me to tame you..."
"I know," said the fox.
"And now you're going to cry!" said the little prince.
"I know," said the fox.
"So you have gained nothing from it at all!"
"Yes, I have gained something," said the fox, "because of the colour of the corn.

The grandeur of a profession is...above all, uniting men: there is only one true luxury, that of human relationships.

In silence alone does a man's truth bind itself together and strike root.

Denn sie wollte nicht, dass er sie weinen saehe. Es war eine so stolze Blume.

Ako hoćeš da izgradiš brod, nemoj da okupljaš ljude da ti nabave drvo, pripreme alat ili da obavljaju raznorazne poslove i zadatke, već probudi u njima čežnju za nepreglednim dalekim morima.

الحب ليس هو أن نتبادل النظرات وانما أن ننظر معا في اتجاه واحد

You must see to it that you
pull up regularly all the baobabs, at the very first moment when they can be
distinguished from the rosebushes which they resemble so closely in their
earliest youth