The Little Prince Quotes

What is essential is invisible to the eye.

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly.

Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.

All grown-ups were once children… but only few of them remember it.

One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I want to become acquainted with the butterflies.

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

It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others.

You’re beautiful, but you’re empty… One couldn’t die for you. Of course, an ordinary passerby would think my rose looked just like you. But my rose, all on her own, is more important than all of you together, since she’s the one I’ve watered. Since she’s the one I put under glass, since she’s the one I sheltered behind the screen. Since she’s the one for whom I killed the caterpillars (except the two or three butterflies). Since’s she the one I listened to when she complained, or when she boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing at all. Since she’s my rose.

People have forgotten this truth, the fox said. But you mustn’t forget it. You become responsible forever for what you’ve tamed. You’re responsible for your rose.

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

But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world.

All men have stars, but they are not the same things for different people.

You’re going to weep, said the fox. Don’t say that! said the prince. I shall weep, said the fox. You’re going to rain… said the prince. Don’t say that! said the fox. I shall rain… said the fox.

If you love a flower that lives on a star, it is sweet to look at the sky at night. All the stars are a-bloom with flowers.

I believe that for his escape he took advantage of the migration of a flock of wild birds.

I should not have listened to her. One never ought to listen to the flowers. One should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance.

You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose.”

All grown-ups were children first. (But few of them remember it.)

When you’ve finished getting yourself ready in the morning, you must go get the planet ready.

You’re beautiful, but you’re empty. No one could die for you.

You’re not at all like my rose. You’re nothing at all yet. No one has tamed you and you haven’t tamed anyone. You’re the way my fox was. He was just a fox like a hundred thousand others. But I’ve made him my own and now he’s unique in the world.

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.

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 never done anything except 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!’

Oh, little prince! Bit by bit I came to understand the secrets of your sad little life . . . For a long time you had found your only entertainment in the quiet pleasure of looking at the sunset.

The men where you live, said the little prince, raise five thousand roses in the same garden–and they do not find in it what they are looking for.

You know—it’s very curious, when you cast a spell, to cast it a little at a time. You’re always sure, then, to get it just right.

It is such a secret place, the land of tears.

When someone is in love, they begin to have conversations with stars.

It is a question of discipline, the little prince told me later on. When you’ve finished washing and dressing each morning, you must tend your planet.

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

For taming means to establish ties. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I will be unique in all the world.

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.

People have forgotten this truth, the fox said. But you mustn’t forget it. You become responsible forever for what you’ve tamed. You’re responsible for your rose.

You know—when a mystery is too overpowering, one dare not disobey.

Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.

You must be very patient, replied the fox. First you will sit down at a little distance from me—like that—in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me, every day…

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

All men have stars, but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, 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 these stars are silent. You-You alone will have stars as no one else has them. In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night…You-only you-will have stars that can laugh!

Come and play with me, proposed the little prince. I am so unhappy. I cannot play with you, the fox said. I am not tamed.

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 come and buy when you want to buy. And you come to see if I’m rich. But if you come to see me at any time, I shall always be at home, for one loves to make oneself comfortable where one is appreciated.

Look up at the sky. Ask yourselves: is it yes or no? Has the sheep eaten the flower? And you will see how everything changes… And no grown-up will ever understand that this is a matter of so much importance!

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

My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant.

All grown-ups were once children… but only few of them remember it.

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.

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