Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“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.”

“Of what worth are convictions that bring not suffering?”

“What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.”

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

“Once men are caught up in an event, they cease to be afraid. Only the unknown frightens men.”

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

“I have no right, by anything I do or say, to demean a human being in his own eyes. What matters is not what I think of him; it is what he thinks of himself. To undermine a man's self-respect...”

“Only the unknown frightens men. But once a man has faced the unknown, that terror becomes the known.”

“Only he can understand what a farm is, what a country is, who shall have sacrificed part of himself to his farm or country, fought to save it, struggled to make it beautiful. Only then will...”

“The notion of looking on at life has always been hateful to me. What am I if I am not a participant? In order to be, I must participate.”

“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.”

“The machine does not isolate man from the great problems of nature but plunges him more deeply into them.”

“The time for action is now. It's never too late to do something.”

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

“You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.”

“It is such a secret place, the land of tears.”

“The one thing that matters is the effort.”

“True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new.”

“The aeroplane has unveiled for us the true face of the earth.”