Quotes from the Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The little prince on matters of consequence

“And is it not a matter of consequence to try and understand why the flowers go to so much trouble to grow thorns which are never of any use to them?”

The rose to the little prince

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

The little prince on his rose

“I ought to have judged by deeds not by words.”

The businessman to the little prince

“Kings do not own, they reign over. It is a very different matter”

The little prince on the tippler

“. . .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.”

The snake to the little prince

“It is a little lonely in the desert . . . “

“It is also lonely among men,”

An Earth rose on men

“They have no roots, and that makes their life very difficult”

The fox on saying nothing

“Words are the source of misunderstandings”

The fox to the little prince

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

The railway switchman on the travellers

“No one is ever satisfied where he is,” – railway switchman

The little prince to the pilot

“What makes the desert beautiful... is that somewhere it hides a well"


If you're now interested in reading the book, here's a link to my non-spoiler review. Do find time to read The Little Prince, it's not text-heavy, it's not lengthy, but it's laden with metaphors you are bound to relate to.