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A rose by any other name...
By Rebecca Jane Stokes — Written on Feb 27, 2021
In April of 1942, Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) was first published. The now-beloved novella by men and women alike was the work of the aviator and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
The book is, ostensibly, a tale meant for children. It tells the story of (you guessed it) a little prince who lives on an asteroid. His only companion on the asteroid is a rose, who he dearly loves.
When he learns the rose has lied to him, he decides to set out and explore new worlds in the hopes of making new friends. He does, and he learns an exceptional amount, and in the process makes amends with his beloved rose.
That's the story in a nutshell, but a quick precis like that just doesn't do the tale justice.
However, The Little Prince quotes still resonate with us, even though it's been over half a century since its debut.
What is the moral of the Little Prince?
You see, while it's a "kid's book," the tale of the little prince is full of morals that you don't have to be a child to understand. In fact, the book is so jam-packed with impactful and inspirational quotes that it's hard to turn a page without spotting one that is particularly inspiring.
It is said that The Little Prince's moral is to learn that love is all-important and allows us to see to the heart and beauty of everything. How sweet?
What does the little prince say about life?
The Little Prince gives numerous life lessons on his journey throughout the children's book. Some include: to look after our planet, not to be too focused on numbers, judge people by their actions and not their words, what you spend your time on matters, and that relationships are what make life worth living.
The Little Prince is a metaphor for innocence, ignorance, and purity.
Whether you're new to the book, a fan of the movie, or a longtime reader, these 35The Little Prince quotes will speak to your inner child just as well as they will to your grown-up side!
Why was the little prince banned?
The Little Prince was actually banned from Saint-Exupéry's home country by the Vichy Regime during World War II due to his earlier works that contained negative mentions of Hitler and praises of Jewish aviators he worked with.
The French version of the childhood novella titled, Le Petit Prince was only published after the liberation of France. Unfortunately, Saint-Exupéry didn't live to see that day.
1. “I am who I am and I have the need to be.”
2. "What matters most are the simple pleasures so abundant that we can all enjoy them... Happiness doesn't lie in the objects we gather around us. To find it, all we need to do is open our eyes.”
3. “A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.”
4. “Words are the source of misunderstandings.”
5. "But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart.”
6. “'Of course, I love you,' the flower said to him. 'If you were not aware of it, it was my fault.'”
7. “It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.”
8. “'I wonder,' he said, 'whether the stars are set alight in heaven so that one day each one of us may find his own again...'”
9. “But the conceited man did not hear him. Conceited people never hear anything but praise.”
10. “To forget a friend is sad. Not everyone has had a friend.”
11.“But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you.”
12. “I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn’t much improved my opinion of them.”
13. “'What makes the desert beautiful,' said the little prince, 'is that somewhere it hides a well...'”
14. “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.”
15. “Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.”
16. “You're beautiful, but you're empty. No one could die for you.”
17. “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... But all these stars are silent. You — you alone will have stars as no one else has them."
18. "Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her...”
19. “'Where are the people?' resumed the little prince at last. 'It’s a little lonely in the desert…' 'It is lonely when you’re among people, too,' said the snake.”
20. “All grown-ups were once children... but only few of them remember it.”
21. “No one is ever satisfied where he is.”
22. “'People where you live,' the little prince said, 'grow five thousand roses in one garden... Yet they don't find what they're looking for... And yet what they're looking for could be found in a single rose.'”
23. “You see, one loves the sunset when one is so sad.”
24. “You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.”
25. "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 she's 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.”
26. “The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.”
27. “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."
28. "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.”
29. “One day, I watched the sun setting forty-four times... You know... when one is so terribly sad, one loves sunsets.”
30. “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.”
31. “'What makes the desert beautiful,' said the little prince, 'is that somewhere it hides a well...'”
32. “It is such a mysterious place, the land of tears.”
33. “Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.”
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Rebecca Jane Stokes is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York with her cat, Batman. Her work focuses on relationships, pop culture, and news. For more of her work, check out her Tumblr.