“Grown-ups love figures... When you tell them you've made a new friend they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you "What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies? " Instead they demand "How old is he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make? " Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him.” ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

“I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn’t much improved my opinion of them.” ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

“Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them” ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

“Good morning," said the little prince.

Good morning," said the merchant.

This was a merchant who sold pills that had been invented to quench thirst. You need only swallow one pill a week, and you would feel no need for anything to drink.

Why are you selling those?" asked the little prince.

Because they save a tremendous amount of time," said the merchant. "Computations have been made by experts. With these pills, you save fifty-three minutes in every week." And what do I do with those fifty-three minutes?"

Anything you like..."

As for me," said the little prince to himself, "if I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked, I should walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water.” -https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-little-prince/symbols/water - there is no replacement for the ordinary joy of journeying towards water to take a cool drink. - this is the moment where they find water, the essential thing in nature to keep them alive. - the essential truth is on the emotional plane rather than the visual plane. - if one only uses one's eyes or superficial senses, one won't understand the essence of things. - The essential truth of the rose arises from his emotional understanding of it, and the essential truth about the world can only be understood by using one's heart rather than simply one's eyes. - Wislawa Szymbroska (the girl tablecloth)

meaningless existences that produce little benefit for others