Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

“¡Me duele tanto contar estos recuerdos!”

“A los mayores les encantan las cifras. Si les hablas de un nuevo amigo tuyo, nunca te preguntarán por lo esencial. Nunca te dirán: "¿Cuál es el timbre de su voz? ¿Cuáles son los juegos que más le gustan? ¿Colecciona mariposas?" Te preguntarán: "¿Qué edad tiene? ¿Cuántos hermanos tiene? ¿Cuánto pesa? ¿Cuánto gana su padre?" Sólo entonces creerán conocerlo. Si dices a los mayores: "He visto una bonita casa de ladrillos color rosa, con geranios en las ventanas y palomas en el tejado...", no conseguirán imaginarse esa casa. Hay que decirles: "He visto una casa de cien mil francos". Entonces exclaman: "¡Qué fabuloso!”

“Por aquella época había hecho una gran demostración de su descubrimiento en un Congreso Internacional de Astronomía. Pero debido a su indumentaria, nadie le había hecho caso. Los mayores son así.Afortunadamente, para la reputación del asteroide B 612 un dictador turco impuso a su pueblo, bajo la pena de muerte, la obligación de vestirse a la europea. El astrónomo volvió a hacer su demostración, en 1920, con un traje muy elegante. Y esta vez sí, todos fueron de su parecer”

“Deseo que se tomen en serio mis desgracias”

“Los mayores me aconsejaron que dejara a un lado los dibujos de serpientes boas abiertas o cerradas y que me preocupara más bien de la geografía, la historia, el cálculo y la gramática. De esta forma abandoné a los seis años una magnífica carrera de pintor. Me había desanimado el fracaso de mi dibujo número 1 y de mi dibujo número 2. Los mayores no entienden nada por sí mismos y es fastidioso para los niños tener que andar dando más y más explicaciones”

“Si vienes, por ejemplo, a las cuatro de la tarde; desde las tres yo empezaría a ser dichoso”

“Me pregunto si las estrellas se iluminan con el fin de que algún día, cada uno pueda encontrar la suya”

“Y cuando te hayas consolado (uno siempre termina por consolarse) te alegrarás de haberme conocido”

“Aucune circonstance ne réveille en nous un étranger dont nous n'aurions rien soupçonné. Vivre, c'est naître lentement. Il serait un peu trop aisé d'emprunter des âmes toutes faites !”

“I showed the grown ups my masterpiece, and I asked them if my drawing scared them. They answered:"why be scared of a hat?" My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant.”

“Quand on veut un mouton, c'est la preuve qu'on existe.”

“What torments me is not the humps nor hollows nor the ugliness. It is the sight, a little bit in all these men, of Mozart murdered.”

“Tout objectif sans plan n'est qu'un souhait. [A goal without a plan is just a wish.]”

“Children should show great understanding towards grown-ups”

“I know but one freedom, and that is the freedom of the mind.”

“Au-dessus de mes mots maladroits, au-dessus des raisonnements qui me peuvent tromper, tu considères en moi simplement l'Homme. Tu honores en moi l'ambassadeur de croyances, de coutumes, d'amours particulières. Si je diffère de toi, loin de te léser, je t'augmente. Tu m'interroges comme l'on interroge le voyageur.”

“Il faut longtemps cultiver un ami avant qu'il réclame son dû d'amitié. Il faut s'être ruiné durant des générations à réparer le vieux château qui croule, pour apprende à l'aimer.”

“Que l'on soit absent dans la pièce voisine, ou sur l'autre versant de la planète, la différence n'est pas essentielle. La présence de l'ami qui en apparence s'est éloigné, peut se faire plus dense qu'une présence réelle.”

“Tell me who admires and loves you, and I will tell you who you are.”

“Só se vê bem com o coração. O essencial é invisível aos olhos.”

“Quando o mistério é impressionante demais, a gente não ousa desobedecer.”

“As for the military advantage of such a bombardment, I simply cannot grasp it. I have seen housewives disemboweled, children mutilated; I have seen the old itinerant market crone sponge from her treasure the brains with which they were spattered. I have seen a janitor's wife come out of her cellar and douse the sullied pavement with a bucket of water, and I am still unable to understand what part these humble slaughterhouse accidents play in warfare.”

“Razum velja le, če je v službi ljubezni.”

“Wer seine Zukunft formen will, muss in der Gegenwart leben...”

“The best place for discovering what a man is is the heart of the desert. Your plane has broken down, and you walk for hours, heading for the little fort at Nutchott. You wait for the mirages of thirst to gape before you. But you arrive and you find an old sergeant who has been isolated for months among the dunes, and he is so happy to be found that he weeps. And you weep, too. In the arching immensity of the night, each tells the story of his life, each offers the other the burden of memories in which the human bond is discovered. Here two men can meet, and they bestow gifts upon each other with the dignity of ambassadors.”

“n'oublie pas, dit le renard, c'est le temps que tu as perdu pour ta rose qui fait ta rose si importante. -c'est le temps que j'ai perdu pour ma rose... fit le petit prince, afin de souvenir...”

“All men have the stars," he answered, "but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travellers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems. For my businessman they were wealth. But all the stars are silent. You--you alone--will have the stars as no one else has them--”

“The house, the stars, the desert -- what gives them their beauty is something that is invisible!”

“If I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked, I should walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water.”

“No one is ever satisfied where he is.”

“It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.”

“Ephemeral" It means 'which is in danger of speedy disappearance.”

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

“One must require from each one the duty which each one can perform. Accepted authority rests first of all on reason.”

“It is in the compelling zest of high adventure and of victory, and in creative action, that man finds his supreme joys.”

“And that heart which was a wild garden was given to him who only loved trim lawns. And the imbecile carried the princess into slavery.”

“That's right' said the fox. 'To me, you are still just a little boy like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you have no need of me, either. To you, I am just a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, we shall need one another,. To me, you will be unique. And I shall be unique to you. ”

“The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.”

“Il ne savait pas encore s'il souffrait parce qu'il suivait une pente et que l'avenir venait à lui sans qu'il eût à s'en saisir. Quand on s'abandonne on ne souffre pas. Quand on s'abandonne même à la tristesse on ne souffre plus.”

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

“How is it possible for one to own the stars?""To whom do they belong?" the businessman retorted, peevishly."I don't know. To nobody.”

“When I opened my eyes I saw nothing but the pool of nocturnal sky, for I was lying on my back with out-stretched arms, face to face with that hatchery of stars. Only half awake, still unaware that those depths were sky, having no roof between those depths and me, no branches to screen them, no root to cling to, I was seized with vertigo and felt myself as if flung forth and plunging downward like a diver.”

“I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams...”

“But if you tame me, then weshall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, Ishall be unique in all the world.”

“Look up at the sky. Ask yourself, 'Has the sheep eaten the flower or not?' And you'll see how everything changes...And no grown-up will ever understand how such a thing could be so important.”

“You know...my flower...I'm responsible for her. And she's so weak! And so naive. She has four ridiculous thorns to defend her against the world...”

“I'll look as if I'm dead, and that won't be true.'I said nothing.'You understand. It's too far. I can't take this body with me. It's too heavy.'I said nothing.'But it'll be like an old abandoned shell. There's nothing sad about an old shell...'I said nothing.'It'll be nice, you know. I'll be looking at the stars, too. All the stars will be wells with a rusty pulley. All the stars will pour out water for me to drink...'I said nothing.'And it'll be fun! You'll have five-hundred million little bells; I'll have five-hundred million springs of fresh water...'And he, too, said nothing more.”

“And at night you will look up at the stars. It's too small, where I live, for me to show you where my stars is. It's better that way. My star will just be one of the stars, for you. So you'll like looking at all of them. They'll all be your friends. And, besides, I am going to make you a present...' He laughed again.'Ah, little prince, dear little prince! I love to hear that laughter!''That is my present. Just that. It will be as it was when we drank the water...''What do you mean?''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 stars like nobody else.''What do you mean?''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 he laughed again.'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 he laughed again.'And it'll be as if I had given you, instead of stars, a lot of tiny bells that know how to laugh...'And he laughed again.”

“He sat down. I sat down next to him. And after a silence, he spoke again. 'The stars are beautiful because of a flower you don't see...'I answered, 'Yes, of course.”

“What have you come to Earth for?''I'm having difficulties with a flower,' the little prince said.'Ah!' said the snake.And they were both silent.”