Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Writer, Aviator

Antoine de Saint-Exupery was a French writer and aviator, best known for his novella 'The Little Prince,' which explores themes of love and human connection.

Born
June 29, 1900
Died
July 31, 1944
Quotes
358
Rank
#84

Quote collection

Antoine de Saint-Exupery quotes (page 5 of 18)

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Antoine de Saint-Exupery Writer, Aviator
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"There is a cheap literature that speaks to us of the need of escape. It is true that when we travel we are in search of distance. But distance is not to be found. It melts away. And escape has never led anywhere. The moment a man finds that he must play the races, go the Arctic, or make war in order to feel himself alive, that man has begin to spin the strands that bind him to other men and to the world. But what wretched strands! A civilization that is really strong fills man to the brim, though he never stir. What are we worth when motionless, is the question."

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"A smile is often the key thing.One is paid with a smile. One is rewarded with a smile. One is brightened by a smile. And the quality of a smile can make one die."

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"That is the hardest thing of all. It is much harder to judge yourself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself, it's because you're truly a wise man."

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"When the body sinks into death, the essence of man is revealed. Man is a knot, a web, a mesh into which relationships are tied. Only those relationships matter. The body is an old crock that nobody will miss. I have never known a man to think of himself when dying. Never."

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"Once we are bound together to our brothers by a common good that is outside us, then we can breathe. Experience teaches us that love is not to gaze at one another but to gaze in the same direction. There is no comradeship except through unity on the same rope, climbing towards the same peak."

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

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"Sitting in the flickering light of the candles on this kerchief of sand, on this village square, we waited in the night. We were waiting for the rescuing dawn - or for the Moors. Something, I know not what, lent this night a savor of Christmas. We told stories, we joked, we sang songs. In the air there was that slight fever that reigns over a gaily prepared feast. And yet we were infinitely poor. Wind, sand, and stars. The austerity of Trappists. But on this badly lighted cloth, a handful of men who possessed nothing in the world but their memories were sharing invisible riches."

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"If you are to be, you must begin by assuming responsibility. You alone are responsible for every moment of your life, for every one of your acts."

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"Confuse not love with the raptures of possession, which bring the cruellest of sufferings. For, notwithstanding the general opinion, love does not cause suffering: what causes it is the sense of ownership, which is love's opposite."

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"When you want to build a ship, then do not drum the men together in order to procure wood, to give instructions or to distribute the work, but teach them longing for the wide endless sea."

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"We live not by things, but by the meaning of things. It is needful to transmit the passwords from generation to generation."

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"Each man carries within him the soul of a poet who died young."

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"What do we mean by setting a man free? You cannot free a man who dwells in a desert and is an unfeeling brute."

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"Perfection is attained, not when no more can be added, but when no more can be removed."

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"It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important."

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"And at night I love to listen to the stars. It is like five hundred million little bells."

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"The tree is a slow, enduring force straining to win the sky."

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"It's 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 must be sure you pull up the baobabs regularly, as soon as you can tell them apart from the rosebushes, which they closely resemble when they're very young. It's very tedious work, but very easy."

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"If I were to command a general to turn into a seagull, and if the general did not obey, that would not be the general's fault. It would be mine."

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