- If I've told you these details about Asteroid B-612 and if I've give you its number, it is on account of the grown-ups. Grown-ups like numbers. When you tell them about a new friend, they never ask questions about what really matters. They never ask: "What does his voice sound like?" "What games does he like best?" "Does he collect butterflies?" They ask: "How old is he?" "How many brothers does he have?" "How much does he weigh?" "How much money does his father make?" Only then do they think they know him. If you tell grown-ups, "I saw a beautiful red brick house, with geraniums at the windows and doves on the roof...," they won't be able to imagine such a house. You have to tell them, "I saw a house worth a hundred thousand francs!" Then they exclaim, "What a pretty house!" So if you tell them: "The proof of the little prince's existence is that he was delightful, that he laughed, and that he wanted a sheep. When someone wants a sheep, that proves he exists," they shrug their shoulders and treat you like a child! But if you tell them, "The planet he came from is Asteroid B-612," then they'll be convinced, and they won't bother you with their questions. That's the way they are. You must not hold it against them. Children should be very understanding of grown-ups.
- But of course, those of us who understand life couldn't care less about numbers!
- It's sad to forget a friend. Not everyone has had a friend. And I might become like the grown-ups who are no longer interested in anything but numbers.
- It's so mysterious, the land of tears.
- In order to make his escape, I believe he took advantage of the migration of wild birds.
- I need to put up with two or three caterpillars if I want to get to know the butterflies.
- That is the hardest thing of all. It is much harder to judge yourself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself, then you are truly a wise man.
- Vain men never hear anything but praise.
- For millions of years flowers have been producing thorns. For millions of years sheep have been eating them all the same. And it's not serious, trying to understand why flowers go to such trouble to produce thorns that are good for nothing? It's not important, the war between the sheep and the flowers? It's no more serious and more important than the numbers that fat red gentleman is adding up? Suppose I happen to know a unique flower, one that exists nowhere in the world except on my planet, one that a little sheep can wipe out in a single bite one morning, just like that, without evening realizing what he's doing--that isn't important? If someone loves a flower of which just one example exists among all the millions and millions of stars, that's enough to make him happy when he looks at the stars. He tells himself, 'My flower's up there somewhere...' But if the sheep eats the flower, then for him it's as if, suddenly, all the stars went out. isn't that important?
- You confuse everything...You've got it all mixed up! I know a planet inhabited by a red-faced gentleman. He's never smelled a flower. He's never looked at a star. He's never loved anyone. He's ever done anything exept add up numbers. And all day long he says over and over, just like you, "I'm a serious man! I'm a serious man!" And that puffs him up with pride. But he's not a man at all-he's a mushroom!
- People? There are six or seven of them, I believe, in existence. I caught sight of them years ago. But you never know where to find them. The wind blows them away. They have no roots, which hampers them a good deal.
- Nothing;s perfect. My life is monotonous. I hunt chickens; people hunt me. All chickens are just alike, and all men are just alike. So I'm rather bored. But if you tame me, my life will be filled with sunshine. I'll know the sound of footsteps that will be different from all the rest. Other footsteps send me back underground. Yours will call me out of my burrow like music. And then, look! You see the wheat fields over there? I don't eat bread. For me wheat is of no use whatever. Wheat fields say nothing to me. Which is sad. But you have hair the color of gold. So it will be wonderful, once you've tamed me! The wheat, which is golden, will remind me of you. And I'll love the sound of the wind in the wheat...
- The only things you learn are the things you tame. People haven't time to learn anything. They buy things ready-made in stores. But since there are no stores where you can buy friends, people no longer have friends. If you want a friend, tame me!
- Here is my secret. It's quite simple: One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.
- Only the children know what they're looking for. They spend their time on a rag doll and it becomes very important, and if it's taken away from them, they cry... They're lucky.
- I've always loved the desert. You sit down on a sand dune. You see nothing. You hear nothing. And yet something shines, something sings in that silence...
- What makes the desert beautiful, is that it hides a well somewhere...
- People start out in express trains, but they no longer know what they're looking for. Then they get all excited and rush around in circles. It's not worth the trouble...
- People where you live grow five thousand roses in one garden... yet they don't find what they're looking for...
- But eyes are blind. You have to look with the heart.
- You risk tears if you let yourself be tamed.
- If you love a flower that lives on a star, then it's good, at night, to look up at the sky. All the stars are blossoming.
- People have stars, but they aren't the same. For travelers, the stars are guides. For other people, they're nothing but tiny lights. And for still others, for scholars, they're problems. For my businessman, they were gold. But all those stars are silent stars. You, though, you'll have the stars like nobody else. When you look up at the sky at night, since I'll be living on one of them, since I'll be laughing on one of them, for you it'll be as if all the stars are laughing. You'll have stars that can laugh! And when you're consoled (everyone eventually is consoled), you'll be glad you've known me. You'll always be my friend. You'll feel like laughing with me. And you'll open your window sometimes just for the fun of it... And your friends will be amazed to see you laughing while you're looking up at the sky. Then you'll tell them, 'Yes, it's the stars; they always make me laugh!' And they'll think you're crazy. it'll be a nasty trick I played on you... And it'll be as if I had given you, instead of stars, a lot of tiny bells that know how to laugh.
- You understand. It's too far. I can't take this body with me. It's too heavy. But it'll be like an old abandoned shell. There's nothing sad about an old shell...
dec 19 2008 ∞
dec 19 2008 +
dec 19 2008 +