Antoine de Saint-Exupéry — Quotes from Author's Books

I have good reason to believe that somewhere on my planet there is an old rat.
I hear him at night.
You can judge this old rat.
From time to time you will condemn him to death.
Thus his life will depend on your justice.
But you will pardon him on each occasion; for he must be treated thriftily.
He is the only one we have.

But I, alas, do not know how to see sheep through the walls of boxes. Perhaps I am a little like the grown-ups. I have had to grow old.

"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 of 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."

But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you... One must observe the proper rites...

When one wishes to play the wit, he sometimes wanders a little from the truth.

That man would be scorned by all the others. Nevertheless he is the only one of them all who does not seem to me ridiculous. Perhaps that is because he is thinking of something else besides himself.

For, to conceited men, all other men are admirers.

If you were to say to the grown-ups:
"I saw a beautiful house made of rosy brick, with geraniums in the windows and doves on the roof," they would not be able to get any idea of that house at all.
You would have to say to them:
"I saw a house that cost $20,000."
Then they would exclaim:
"Oh, what a pretty house that is!"

"You are beautiful, but you are empty," he went on."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 (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or ever sometimes when she said nothing.
Because she is my rose."

Look at it carefully so that you will be sure to recognize it in case you travel some day to the African desert.
And, if you should come upon this spot, please do not hurry on.
Wait for a time, exactly under the star.
Then, if a little man appears who laughs, who has golden hair and who refuses to answer questions, you will know who he is.
If this should happen, please comfort me.
Send me word that he has come back.

... I have listened to...when she said nothing.
Because she is my rose.

I ask your forgiveness.
Try to be happy...

I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you.

I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn't much improved my opinion of them.

"I understand you very well," said the little prince. "But why do you always speak in riddles?"
"I solve them all," said the snake.
And they were both silent.

And he too said nothing more, because he was crying...