Antoine de Saint-Exupery Quotes
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To be a man is, precisely, to be responsible. It is to feel shame at the sight of what seems to be unmerited misery. It is to take pride in a victory won by one's comrades. It is to feel, when setting one's stone, that one is contributing to the building of the world.
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I believe that for his escape he took advantage of the migration of a flock of wild birds.
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Look at the sky. Ask yourselves: Has the sheep eaten the flower, yes or no? And you will see how everything changes.
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Living is being born slowly. It would be a little too easy if we could borrow ready-made souls.
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Where are the people?” resumed the little prince at last. “It’s a little lonely in the desert…” “It is lonely when you’re among people, too,” said the snake.
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But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world.
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One's suffering disappears when one lets oneself go, when one yields - even to sadness.
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The important thing is to strive toward a goal which is not immediately visible. That goal is not the concern of the mind, but of the spirit.
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The wind in the grain is the caress to the spouse; it is the hand of peace stroking her hair.
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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.)
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Even though human life may be the most precious thing on earth, we always behave as if there were something of higher value than human life.
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To become a man is to be responsible; to be ashamed of miseries that you did not cause.
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How is it possible for one to own the stars?" "To whom do they belong?" the businessman retorted, peevishly. "I don't know. To nobody.
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Sorrow is one of the vibrations that prove the fact of living.
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You become responsible for a long time for what you've tamed.
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One must require from each one the duty which each one can perform. Accepted authority rests first of all on reason.
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You - you alone will have the stars as no one else has them...In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night...You - only you - will have stars that can laugh.
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There is a cheap literature that speaks to us of the need of escape. It is true that when we travel we are in search of distance. But distance is not to be found. It melts away. And escape has never led anywhere. The moment a man finds that he must play the races, go the Arctic, or make war in order to feel himself alive, that man has begin to spin the strands that bind him to other men and to the world. But what wretched strands! A civilization that is really strong fills man to the brim, though he never stir. What are we worth when motionless, is the question.
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Life always bursts the boundaries of formulas. Defeat may prove to have been the only path to resurrection, despite its ugliness. I take it for granted that to create a tree I condemn a seed to rot. If the first act of resistance comes too late it is doomed to defeat. But it is, nevertheless, the awakening of resistance. Life may grow from it as from a seed.
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When we think that the machine will harm man, then it is perhaps because we are not yet capable of judging the rapid changes it has brought about. We hardly feel at home in this landscape of mines and power stations. We have just moved into this new home that we have not even finished yet. Everything around us has changed so fast - personal relations, working conditions, habits. Even our state of mind is in turmoil.
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Freedom and constraint are two aspects of the same necessity, the necessity of being the man you are and not another. You are free to be that man, but not another.
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How desperately difficult it is to be honest with oneself. It is much easier to be honest with other people.What is true is invisible to the eye. It is only with the heart that one can see clearly.
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You give birth to that on which you fix your mind.
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All grown-ups were once children... but only few of them remember it.