The Little Prince

From Wikiquote

Here is my secret. It is very simple. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; What is essential is invisible to the eye.

Le Petit Prince (1943) is a novel by Antoine de Saint Exupéry, translated into English as The Little Prince.

• Les grandes personnes ne comprennent jamais rien toutes seules, et c'est fatigant, pour les enfants, de toujours et toujours leur donner des explications.
  • Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to have to explain things to them always and forever.
    • Chapter I

• Dessine-moi un mouton!
  • Draw me a sheep!
    • Chapter II

• Quand on veut un mouton, c'est la preuve qu'on existe
  • If anybody wants a sheep, that is a proof that he exists.
    • Chapter IV

• Quand on a terminé sa toilette du matin, il faut faire soigneusement la toilette de la planète.
  • When you've finished getting yourself ready in the morning, you must go get the planet ready.
    • Chapter V

• J'aime bien les couchers de soleil. Allons voir un coucher de soleil...
  • I am very fond of sunsets. Come, let us go look at a sunset...
    • Chapter VI

• J'aurais dû ne pas l'écouter, me confia-t-il un jour, il ne faut jamais écouter les fleurs. Il faut les regarder et les respirer.
  • "I should never have listened to her," he confided to me one day, "One should never listen to the flowers. One should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance."
    • Chapter VIII

• On ne sait jamais!
  • One never knows!
    • Chapter IX

• C'est véritablement utile puisque c'est joli.
  • It is truly useful since it is beautiful.
    • Chapter XIV

• Le langage est source de malentendus.
  • Language is the source of misunderstandings.
    • Chapter XXI

• Voici mon secret. Il est très simple: on ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.
  • Here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.
  • Variant translations: Here is my secret. It is very simple: one sees well only with the heart. The essential is invisible to the eyes.
    The essential things in life are seen not with the eyes, but with the heart.
    • Chapter XXI

• Vous êtes belles, mais vous êtes vides.... On ne peut pas mourir pour vous.
  • You're beautiful, but you're empty.... No one could die for you.
  • You are beautiful, but you are empty. One could not die for you...**
    • Chapter XXI

• Les hommes ont oublié cette vérité, dit le renard. Mais tu ne dois pas l’oublier. Tu deviens responsable pour toujours de ce que tu as apprivoisé.
  • "Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed."
    • Chapter XXI

• Les enfants seuls savent ce qu'ils cherchent
  • Only children know what they are looking for
    • Chapter XXII

• Ce qui embellit le désert, dit le petit prince, c'est qu'il cache un puits quelque part...
  • "What makes the desert beautiful," says the little prince, "is that somewhere it hides a well."
    • Chapter XXIV

• Mais les yeux sont aveugles. Il faut chercher avec le cœur.
  • But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart...
    • Chapter XXV

• "Were you so sad, then?" I asked, "on the day of the forty-four sunsets?"
  But the little prince made no reply.

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The Little Prince

The Little Prince