Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

‘The eyes do not see that which is most important,’ the little prince repeated, so that he would remember.

‘It is the time you have spent with your rose that makes your rose so important.’

‘It is the time I have spent with my rose …’ repeated the little prince, so that he wouldn’t forget

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

When you tell them that you have made a new friend, they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you, "What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies?" Instead, they demand: "How old is he? How many brothers has he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make?" Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him.

"One never ought to listen to the flowers. One should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance. Mine perfumed all my planet. But I did not know how to take pleasure in all her grace. This tale of claws, which disturbed me so much, should only have filled my heart with tenderness and pity."

"The fact is that I did not know how to understand anything! I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words. She cast her fragrance and her radiance over me. I ought never to have run away from her... I ought to have guessed all the affection that lay behind her poor little stratagems. Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her

, he realized that he was very close to tears.

Accepted authority rests first of all on reason. If you ordered your people to go and throw themselves into the sea, they would rise up in revolution. I have the right to require obedience because my orders are reasonable."

Your Majesty wishes to be promptly obeyed," he said, "he should be able to give me a reasonable order. He should be able, for example, to order me to be gone by the end of one minute. It seems to me that conditions are favorable..."

The grown-ups are very strange," the little prince said to himself, as he continued on his journey.

Conceited people never hear anything but praise.