The Little Prince

Antoine de Saint-Exupèry
My Drawing Number One
My Drawing Number Two
“The grown-ups' response, this time, was to
advise me to lay aside my drawings of boa
constrictors, whether from the inside or the
outside, and devote myself instead to
geography, history, arithmetic, and
grammar. That is why, at the age of six, I
gave up what might have been a
magnificent career as a painter.”
“Grown-ups never understand
anything by themselves, and
it is tiresome for children to
be always and forever
explaining things to them.”
“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.”
What is the difference
between an adult and a
child’s perspective?
Why doesn’t the little
prince answer the
pilot’s questions
directly?
Asteroid
B-612
“When you tell them that you have made a new
friend, they never ask you any questions about
essential matters. They never say to you, ‘What
does his voice sound like? What games does he
love best? Does he collect butterflies?’ Instead,
they demand: ‘How old is he? How many
brothers has he? How much does he weigh?
How much money does his father make?’ Only
from these figures do they think they have
learned anything about him.”
"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 . . ."
 "Then you shall
judge yourself,"
the king answered.
“That is the most
difficult thing of all.”
"To admire means that
you regard me as the
handsomest, the
best-dressed, the
richest, and the most
intelligent man on this
planet."
 "I am drinking.”
"Why are you drinking?”
"So that I may forget...”
"Forget what?”
"Forget that I am ashamed...”
"Ashamed of what?”
"Ashamed of drinking!”
“I am concerned with matters of
consequence: I am accurate.”
"There is nothing to understand,"
said the lamplighter. “
“Orders are orders.”
"We do not record them," said the
geographer, "because they are
ephemeral."
"The thing that matters to us is
the mountain. It does not
change."