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All grown-ups were children once—although few of them remember it. And so I correct my dedication: To Léon Werth when he was a little boy
at the age of six, a magnificent career as a painter. I had been discouraged by the failure on my drawing No 1 and my drawing No 2.
The grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and, for children, it’s tiresome always giving them explanations.
Then, I did not talk to that person about boa snakes, neither virgin forests, nor stars. I put myself on the same level. I talked about bridge, golf, politics, and neckties. And the grown-up was glad to know another rational man…
It is not my fault. I had been discouraged
Asteroid B 612.
nobody believed him because of his Turkish attire. The grown-ups are like that.
a Turkish dictator imposed on his people, on pain of death, to dress like the Europeans. The astronomer repeated his demonstration in 1920, in a very elegant garment. And this time, everybody accepted his opinion.
Grown-ups like digits. When you talk to them about a new friend, they never ask you the essential. They never tell you: “What does his voice sound like? What games does he prefers? Does he collect butterflies?” They ask you: “How old is he? How many brothers does he have? How much does he weight? How much money does his father earn?” Only then, they believe they know him.
of course, we, who understand life, we make fun of numbers!
“Once upon a time there was a little prince who lived on a planet not much bigger than him, and who had need of a friend…” For those who understand life, it would have seemed closer to the truth.
“You know… when one is so sad, one loves the sunsets…”
“I know a planet where there is a red-faced gentleman. He has never smelled a flower. He has never looked at a star. He has never loved anybody. He has spent all his time adding up figures. And all day long he repeats like you: ‘I’m a serious man! I’m a serious man!’ And he swells up with pride. But that is not a man, that’s a mushroom!”
Isn’t the war among sheep and flowers important?
“And I was born at the same time as the sun…”
“The tigers, they can come with their claws!”
“I must support two or three caterpillars if I want to know the butterflies. It seems to be so beautiful. Otherwise,
We have to ask from everyone what everyone can give,” resumed the king. Authority is based on reason. If you order your people to throw themselves into the sea, they will make the revolution. I have the right to require obedience because my orders are reasonable.”
“It is the most difficult. It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself well, it is because you are a true sage.”
“No. Golden little things that make lazy people daydream. But I’m serious! I don’t have time to daydream.”
But you are not useful to the stars…”
It is a very beautiful occupation. It is truly useful since it is beautiful.”
Because we can be faithful and lazy at the same time.
“Planet Earth,” replied the geographer. “It has a good reputation…”
:D
“It is entirely dry, entirely peaked, and entirely salty. And people have no imagination.
But if you tame me, we will need each other. You will be unique in the world for me. I will be unique in the world for you…”
“There is a flower… I think that it has tamed me…”
“Men do not have more time to know anything. They buy things all made at merchants. But as there is no point of merchants of friends, men do not have friends anymore. If you want a friend, tame me!”
Language is source of misunderstandings.
we see well only with the heart. The essential is invisible to the eyes.”
“It is the time you have spent for your rose that makes your rose so important.”
“The stars are beautiful, because of a flower that we cannot see…”
“Men in your planet,” said the little prince, “cultivate five thousand roses in the same garden… and they do not find what they are looking for.” “They do not find it,” I replied… “And yet, what they are looking for could be found in a single rose or in a little bit of water…”
“But the eyes are blind. They must look for it with the heart.”
“It is like the flower. If you love a flower that is in a star, it’s sweet to look at the sky at night. All stars are flourished.”
“People have stars that are not the same. For some, who travel, stars are guides. For others, they are nothing but small lights. For others, who are scientists, they are problems. For my businessman, they were gold. But all those stars are silent. You will have stars like nobody has…”
‘Yes, stars always make me laugh!’
