18 Philosophical Quotes from “The Little Prince”
Among the great works of fiction, The Little Prince shines the brightest.
Written and dedicated by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry to the children of the world, it nonetheless manages to teach lessons that appeal to people of all ages. Read it at any point in your life, and you will find new interpretations and meanings within the material.
The short book covers a stranded pilot’s encounter with a little boy, who tells him stories of strange people and creatures he has met on his journey. Through his interactions with the boy prince, the man comes to appreciate the philosophical ponderings and truths embedded in the child’s mind.
These are the most important ones, relayed in chronological order.
All grown-ups were children once (but most of them have forgotten).
The imagination and curiosity of childhood are often abandoned upon adulthood in favor of narrow-minded sensibility. This supposed maturation leads many adults to settle for unnuanced lives and forget the importance of wonder, exploration, learning, and creativity.
‘If you follow your nose you can’t go very far.’
If you limit yourself to a single perspective, you will fail to navigate the complexities of life. Oftentimes, you have to look up from your own path to see whether you are walking in the right direction at all.
If you say to grown-ups: ‘I saw a beautiful pink brick house with geraniums on the window sills and doves on the roof,’ they can’t picture it. You have to say: ‘I saw a house worth a million.’ Then they’ll marvel: ‘What a lovely house!’
Far too many people connect the value of something or someone to a number — like dollars, followers, or years of age. However, people and experiences are multifaceted in nature, and their importance should not be reduced to some statistical measure of significance.
‘I’m going to have to cope with a few caterpillars if I want to see butterflies.’
In order to achieve something good, you must often put up with something temporarily bad. Most long-term comfort is reached through short-term discomfort — and pushing through these difficult stages of life is necessary if you want to grow and evolve.
‘One must only ask of a person what he can give.’
It would be unreasonable to expect something of another person if you cannot hold that promise yourself. Before you force everyone else to be a better friend, partner, or colleague, you should take a look at yourself and see whether you are doing what you can to be a better person too.
‘It is much harder to judge oneself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself well, then you are truly a wise man.’
You are responsible for (most of) your actions. By actually taking accountability and working toward betterment, you will be wiser and more mature than those who claim goodness as part of their inherent nature.
Show-offs only hear praise.
Those who flaunt their accomplishments accomplish nothing but an unawareness of their own shortcomings. Ironically, it is the people who recognize their flaws and consistently work to improve that deserve the very praise they do not seek.
Strangely enough, a person can be both faithful to their job and lazy at the same time.
Productivity is not measured in hours. Work is significant when it follows a grander mission. Similarly, laziness is not measured in someone’s absence from work. The lazy person is someone who continuously strives toward a goal that is, at its core, unimportant or unfulfilling to them.
‘Where are all the people?’ said the little prince at last. ‘It’s a bit lonely in the desert.’
‘It’s lonely among people too,’ said the snake.
You can be lonely even when you are not alone. In today’s overpopulated world, cities are central sources of isolation, wherein people participate in hurried and aimless interactions to avoid the potential overwhelmingness of close connection.
‘But, if you tame me, we will need each other. To me, you’ll be absolutely unique, and to you, I’ll be absolutely unique.’
Instead of seeking superficial fulfillment from materialistic and cheap social transactions, you can find true happiness by connecting with things and people that have meaning. Without this bond, a close friend would just be another person among thousands of strangers.
‘Language is a source of misunderstanding.’
Despite its purpose to clarify things, language is the greatest source of misunderstanding if used in a dishonest or incomplete way. No two people think or feel the same, nor will anyone talk the same — and therefore, no one can understand another fully through a mere exchange of words.
‘You only see clearly with your heart. The most important things are invisible to the eyes.’
The things that have meaning are the ones that are important to the heart and soul. These are your values, dreams, discoveries, and bonds: the things in your life that are irreplaceable, yet also fundamentally unbreakable.
‘It’s the time you spent on the rose that makes your rose so important.’
A produced piece of art or work holds no importance — no significance — without the consistent effort and meaning tied to its pursuit. It is because you tend to something closely and carefully that it binds itself to you.
‘People are never happy where they are.’
Humans are explorers by nature — and consequently, they are dissatisfied in whatever place they settle. Curiosity should be nourished, but with care. Without finding what is meaningful to you (and tying yourself to this), you will never reach the feelings of happiness and fulfillment that you associate with constant change.
‘What makes the desert more beautiful,’ said the little prince, ‘is that it’s hiding a well somewhere.’
Even the loneliest and most hopeless of circumstances can provide the brightest of hope — because in it lies the potential for discovery, growth, and a better future.
‘People,’ said the little prince. ‘They dive into express trains, but they don’t know what they’re looking for. Then they get restless and go round in circles.’
People hurry around chasing urgent goals and tasks, but they do not see where they are truly headed. Those who know where they want to be also know their end destination. They will live with true purpose and direction.
‘But eyes are blind. You have to seek with the heart.’
Your deepest yearnings cannot be found in superficial symbols of status. These sources of meaning can only be found in yourself, with your values and dreams as your guide.
Once you have allowed yourself to be tamed, you run the risk of feeling sadness…
In creating a bond with another person, or committing to an important task, you become vulnerable to loss and hurt. But this is precisely why you must allow yourself to “be tamed” — because without such connections, nothing will ever hold true meaning to you.
Even now, The Little Prince is an invaluable source of philosophical thought, and it is one of the greatest assets for the thinking and feeling human.
