Antoine de Saint Exupéry

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It is another of the miraculous things about mankind that there is no pain nor passion that does not radiate to the ends of the earth. Let a man in a garret but burn with enough intensity and he will set fire to the world.

Antoine de Saint Exupéry (29 June 1900 -31 July 1944) was a French writer, poet and aviator.

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Even our misfortunes are a part of our belongings
- Vol de Nuit (1931) (translated into English as Night Flight)

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.
- Pilote de Guerre (1942) (translated into English as Flight to Arras)

As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it.

If it is true that wars are won by believers, it is also true that peace treaties are sometimes signed by businessmen.
- "Letter to an American" (1944)

As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it.
- Citadelle (1948) (translated into English as The Wisdom of the Sands)

[edit] Terre des Hommes (1939)

Translated into English as Wind, Sand and Stars (1939)

It is another of the miraculous things about mankind that there is no pain nor passion that does not radiate to the ends of the earth. Let a man in a garret but burn with enough intensity and he will set fire to the world.

Aimer, ce n'est pas se regarder l'un l'autre, c'est regarder ensemble dans la même direction.
- Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction.

Each man must look to himself to teach him the meaning of life. It is not something discovered; it is something molded.

Nobody grasped you by the shoulder while there was still time. Now the clay of which you were shaped has dried and hardened, and naught in you will ever awaken the sleeping musician, the poet, the astronomer that possibly inhabited you in the beginning.

Transport of the mails, transport of the human voice, transport of flickering pictures — in this century, as in others, our highest accomplishments still have the single aim of bringing men together.

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

Être homme, c'est précisément être responsable. C'est connaître la honte en face d'une misère qui ne semblait pas dépendre de soi. C'est être fier d'une victoire que les camarades ont remportée. C'est sentir, en posant sa pierre, que l'on contribue à bâtir le monde.
- To be man, it is precisely to be responsible. It is to know shame opposite a misery which does not resemble depending on oneself. It is to be proud of a victory that your comrades gained ...It is to feel, when setting one's stone, that one is contributing to the building of the world.
  - Livre de Poche n°68, p.59

Il semble que la perfection soit atteinte non quand il n'y a plus rien à ajouter, mais quand il n'y a plus rien à retrancher.
- Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
- Ch. III: L'Avion, p. 60

[edit] Le Petit Prince (1943)

These are just a few selections, for more quotes from this work see The Little Prince

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.

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

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

[edit] Unsourced

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.