Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint-Exupérywas a French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist, and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of several of France's highest literary awards and also won the U.S. National Book Award. He is best remembered for his novella The Little Princeand for his lyrical aviation writings, including Wind, Sand and Stars and Night Flight...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth29 June 1900
CityLyon, France
CountryFrance
Although human life is priceless, we always act as if something had an even greater price than life... but what is that something?
If it is true that wars are won by believers, it is also true that peace treaties are sometimes signed by businessmen.
The dignity of the individual demands that he be not reduced to vassalage by the largesse of others.
Tell me who admires and loves you, and I will tell you who you are.
To be a man is, precisely, to be responsible.
How is it possible for one to own the stars?" "To whom do they belong?" the businessman retorted, peevishly. "I don't know. To nobody.
The arms of love encompass you with your present, your past, your future, the arms of love gather you together.
A man has many parts, he is virtually everything, and you are free to select in him that part which pleases you.
He who never says "no" is no true man.
What do we mean by setting a man free? You cannot free a man who dwells in a desert and is an unfeeling brute. There is no liberty except the liberty of some one making his way towards something. Such a man can be set free if you will teach him the meaning of thirst, and how to trace a path to a well. Only then will he embark upon a course of action that will not be without significance. You could not liberate a stone if there were no law of gravity -- for where will the stone go, once it is quarried?
To be a man is to be responsible. It is to feel shame at the sight of what seems to be unmerited misery. It is to take pride in a victory won by one's comrades. It is to feel, when setting one's stone, that one is contributing to the building of the world.
What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step.