Antoine de Saint-Exupery Quotes
-
Nothing comes of severity if there be no leanings towards a change of heart. And if there be natural leanings towards a change of heart, what need for severity?
-
To forget a friend is sad. Not every one has had a friend. And if I forget him, I may become like the grown−ups who are no longer interested in anything but figures.
-
I still fall for your everyday.
-
For instance, if you come at four in the afternoon, I'll begin to be happy by three. The closer it gets to four, the happier I'll feel. By four I'll be excited and worried; I'll discover what it costs to be happy! But if you come at any od time, I'll never know when I should prepare my heart... There must be rites.
-
I ought not to have listened to her,' he confided to me one day. 'One never ought to listen to the flowers. One should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance. Mine perfumed all my planet. But I did not know how to take pleasure in all her grace.
-
The essential things in life are seen, not with the eyes but with the heart.
-
Perfection is not when there is no more to add, but no more to take away.
-
You do not explain the tree by telling of the water it has drunk, the minerals it has absorbed, and the sunlight that strengthened it.
-
Man's progress is but a gradual discovery that his questions have no meaning.
-
He had taken seriously words which were without importance, and it made him very unhappy.
-
Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.
-
At one time I say to myself: "Surely not! The little prince shuts his flower under her glass globe every night, and he watches over his sheep very carefully . . ." Then I am happy. And there is sweetness in the laughter of all the stars.
-
The strong are strengthened by reverses; the trouble is that the true meaning of events scores next to nothing in the match we play with men. Appearances decide our gains or losses and the points are trumpery. And a mere semblance of defeat may hopelessly checkmate us.
-
To be a man is to feel that one's own stone contributes to building the edifice of the world.
-
The tree is more than first a seed, then a stem, then a living trunk, and then dead timber. The tree is a slow, enduring force straining to win the sky.
-
We say nothing essential about the cathedral when we speak of its stones. We say nothing essential about Man when we seek to define him by the qualities of men.
-
No one has tamed you and you haven't tamed anyone.Your'e the way my fox was. He was just a fox like a hundred thousand others. But I've made him my friend, and now he's the only fox in the world.
-
He fell as gently as a tree falls. There was not even any sound.
-
A chief is a man who assumes responsibility. He says 'I was beaten', he does not say 'My men were beaten.'
-
But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you.
-
Why are you drinking? demanded the little prince. "So that I may forget," replied the tippler. "Forget what?" inquired the little prince, who was already sorry for him. "Forget that I am ashamed," the tippler confessed, hanging his head. "Ashamed of what?" insisted the little prince, who wanted to help him. "Ashamed of drinking!
-
That is the hardest thing of all. It is much harder to judge yourself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself, it's because you're truly a wise man.
-
I saw the sunset forty-four times!
-
The dignity of the individual demands that he be not reduced to vassalage by the largesse of others.