Quotes by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Night, the beloved. Night, when words fade and things come alive. When the destructive analysis of day is done, and all that is truly important becomes whole and sound again. When man reassembles his fragmentary self and grows with the calm of a tree.

A single radio post still heard him. The only link between him and the world was a wave of music, a minor modulation. Not a lament, no cry, yet purest of sounds that ever spoke despair.

You know-- one loves the sunset, when one is so sad...Were you so sad, then? I asked, on the day of the forty-four sunsets?But the little prince made no reply.

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.

Experiences teaches us that to love is not to gaze at one another but to gaze together in the same direction.

My life is very monotonous, the fox said. I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored.

But the conceited man did not hear him. Conceited people never hear anything but praise.

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.

He who is different from me does not impoverish me - he enriches me. Our unity is constituted in something higher than ourselves - in Man... For no man seeks to hear his own echo, or to find his reflection in the glass.

Why are you drinking? - the little prince asked.- In order to forget - replied the drunkard.- To forget what? - inquired the little prince, who was already feeling sorry for him.- To forget that I am ashamed - the drunkard confessed, hanging his head.- Ashamed of what? - asked the little prince who wanted to help him.- Ashamed of drinking! - concluded the drunkard, withdrawing into total silence.And the little prince went away, puzzled.Grown-ups really are very, very odd, he said to himself as he continued his journey.

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

“Et moi, la nuit, lorsque je suis vainqueur, je remets à demain ma victoire.”

“But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you.”

“Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy ready-made things in the shops. But since there are no shops where you can buy friends, men no longer have any friends.”

“And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me.”

“Vivi muito tempo no mundo das pessoas grandes. Vi-as de bem perto.Não fiquei com muito melhor opinião delas.”

“You are beautiful, but you are empty. One could not die for you. To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you --- the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars; because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or bloated, or even sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose.”

“Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.”

“I am beginning to understand, said the little prince. There is a flower... I think that she has tamed me...”

“Love consists of not looking each other in the eye, but of looking outwardly in the same direction.”