The Little Prince Quotes

And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

I wonder, whether the stars are set alight in heaven so that one day each one of us may find his own again… Look at my planet. It is right there above us. But how far away it is!

But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart.

It is madness to hate all roses because you got scratched with one thorn. To give up on your dreams because one didn’t come true. To lose faith in prayers because one was not answered, to give up on our efforts because one of them failed. To condemn all your friends because one betrayed you, not to believe in love because someone was unfaithful or didn’t love you back. To throw away all your chances to be happy because you didn’t succeed on the first attempt. I hope that as you go on your way, you don’t give in nor give up!

That doesn’t matter. Where I live, everything is so small.

That is the most difficult thing of all. It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. If you succeed judging yourself rightly, then you are indeed a man of true wisdom.

You are responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.

The stars are beautiful, because of a flower that cannot be seen.

I must endure the presence of two or three caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.

If someone loves a flower, of which just one single blossom grows in all the millions and millions of stars, it is enough to make him happy just to look at the stars. He can say to himself: ‘Somewhere, my flower is there…’ But if the sheep eats the flower, in one moment all his stars will be darkened… And you think that is not important!

Where are the men?" the little prince at last took up the conversation again. "It is a little lonely in the desert...""It is also lonely among men," the snake said.

for us who understand life, figures are a matter of indifference.

You know--my flower . . . I am responsible for her. And she is so weak! She is so naïve! She has four thorns, of no use at all, to protect herself against all the world . . .

I have the right to demand obedience because my orders are reasonable ones.

One runs the risk of weeping a little, if one lets himself be tamed…….

Where are the men?" the little prince at last took up the conversation again. "It is a little lonely in the desert...""It is also lonely among men," the snake said.

Well, I must endure the presence of two or three caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies. It

It's much more difficult to make a judgment on yourself than on anyone else. If you can manage to judge yourself well, you're a truly wise person.

It is your own fault, said the little prince. "I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you . . .

That is the most difficult thing of all. It is far more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself rightly, then indeed you are very wise.

And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me. You will always be my friend. You will want to laugh with me. And you will sometimes open your window, so, for that pleasure… And your friends will be properly astonished to see you laughing as you look up at the sky! Then you will say to them, ‘Yes, the stars always make me laugh!’ And they will think you are crazy. It will be a very shabby trick that I shall have played on you…

In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence. 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.

I did not know what to say to him. I felt awkward and blundering. I did not know how I could reach him, where I could overtake him and go on hand in hand with him once more.It is such a secret place, the land of tears.

It will be as if, in place of the stars, I had given you a great number of littlebells that knew how to laugh...

It would have been better to come back at the same time of the day,'said the fox. 'For instance, if you come at four in the afternoon, when three o'clock strikes I shall begin to feel happy. The closer our time approaches, the happier I shall feel. By four o'clock I shall already be getting agitated and worried; I shall be discovering that happiness has its price! But if you show up at any old time, I'll never know when to start dressing my hearth for you... We all need rituals.

Flowers are weak. They're naïve. They reassure themselves as best they can. They think their thorns make them frightening …

For what is essential is invisible to the eye

She chose her colors carefully. She dressed slowly, she adjusted her petals one by one. She did not wish to present herself all rumpled like the poppies. She would appear in the full radiance of her beauty. Oh, yes! She was very flirtatious! And her mysterious adornment lasted for days and days. Then one morning, exactly at sunrise, she suddenly showed herself.

It is a good thing to have had a friend, even if one is about to die. I, for instance, am very glad to have had a fox as a friend . .

This is, to me, the loveliest and saddest landscape in the world. It is the same as that on the preceding page, but I have drawn it again to impress it on your memory. It is here that the little prince appeared on Earth, and disappeared.Look at it carefully so that you will be sure to recognise 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.

Men have forgotten this truth, said the fox. But you must not forget it.You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.

She would be very much annoyed," he said to himself, "if she should see that... she would cough most dreadfully, and she would pretend that she was dying, to avoid being laughed at. And I should be obliged to pretend that I was nursing her back to life-- for if I did not do that, to humble myself also, she would really allow herself to die...

In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence.

The fact is that I did not know how to understand anything! I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words. She cast her fragrance and her radiance over me. I ought never to have run away from her . . . I ought to have guessed all the affection that lay behind her poor little stratagems. Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her . . .

And were you very, very sad on the day you watched fourty-four sunsets?

Grown-ups love figures. When you talk to them about a new friend, they never ask questions about essential matters.

I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the drawing frightened them. But they answered: "Frighten? Why should any one be frightened by a hat?" My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant.

She had a beautiful perfume and lit up my life. I should never have run away from her. I should have guessed at the tenderness beneath her pathetic strategies. Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her…

Those also are actions too often neglected," said the fox. "They are what make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours. There is a rite, for example, among my hunters. Every Thursday they dance with the village girls. So Thursday is a wonderful day for me! I can take a walk as far as the vineyards. But if the hunters danced at just any time, every day would be like every other day, and I should never have any vacation at all.

I would bring myself down to his level. I would talk to him about bridge, and golf, and politics, and neckties. And the grown-up would be greatly pleased to have met such a sensible man.

He never answered questions--but when one flushes does that not mean "Yes"?

She wished to appear only in the full radiance of her beauty. Oh yes, she was quite vain! And her mysterious adornment had lasted days and days. And then one morning, precisely at sunrise, she showed herself.

And I felt him to be more fragile still. I felt the need of protecting him, as if he himself were a flame that might be extinguished by a little puff of wind.

I hunt chickens , men hunt me,All the chickens are just alike,and all the men are just alike.and in consequence, i am little bored,but if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life.I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others

When I made the drawing of the baobabs I was carried beyondmyself by the inspiring force of urgent necessity.

My flower is ephemeral," the little prince said to himself, "and she has only four thorns to defend herself against the world. And I have left her on my planet, all alone!

All the people? There are a few, I think, six or seven. I glimpsed them years ago. But you never know where to find them. The wind blows them about. They don’t have roots, which causes them a lot of problems.

But it'll be like an old abandoned shell. There's nothing sad about an old shell...

One day, I saw the sunset forty-four times! You know one loves the sunset, when one is so sad.

That doesn't matter. Draw me a sheep..." But I had never drawn a sheep. So I drew for him one of the two pictures I had drawn so often. It was that of a boa constrictor from the outside. And I was astounded to hear the little fellow greet it with, "No, no, no! I do not want an elephant inside a boa constrictor. A boa constrictor is a very dangerous creature, and an elephant is very cumbersome. Where I live, everything is very small. What I need is a sheep. Draw me a sheep.