Quotes from Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things.

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

The tree is more than first a seed, then a stem, then a living trunk, and then dead timber. The tree is a slow, enduring force straining to win the sky.

It is always in the midst, in the epicenter, of your troubles that you find serenity.

The arms of love encompass you with your present, your past, your future, the arms of love gather you together.

Although human life is priceless, we always act as if something had an even greater price than life…. But what is that something?

A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born.

One's suffering disappears when one lets oneself go, when one yields — even to sadness.

Life always bursts the boundaries of formulas.

One is a member of a country, a profession, a civilization, a religion. One is not just a man.

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.

The tender friendships one gives up, on parting, leave their bite on the heart, but also a curious feeling of a treasure somewhere buried.

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

Loving is not just looking at each other, it's looking in the same direction.

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

He who has gone, so we but cherish his memory, abides with us, more potent, nay, more present than the living man.

The important thing is to strive towards a goal which is not immediately visible. That goal is not the concern of the mind, but of the spirit.

We say nothing essential about the cathedral when we speak of its stones. We say nothing essential about Man when we seek to define him by the qualities of men.

For true love is inexhaustible the more you give, the more you have. And if you go to draw at the true fountainhead, the more water you draw, the more abundant is its flow.

A civilization is built on what is required of men, not on that which is provided for them.

In giving you are throwing a bridge across the chasm of your solitude.

Quand tu veux construire un bateau, ne commence pas par rassembler du bois, couper des planches et distribuer du travail, mais reveille au sein des hommes le desir de la mer grande et large. If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

The meaning of things lies not in the things themselves, but in our attitude towards them.

Tell me who admires and loves you, and I will tell you who you are.