The Little Prince

I reacquainted myself with "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery last week and enjoyed it very much. It's a very quick read. Here are some of my favorite quotes (which I will update as I get time to find the rest):

• "And, in fact, on the little prince's planet there were- as on all planets- good plants and bad plants. The good plants come from good seeds, and the bad plants from bad seeds. But the seeds are invisible. They sleep in the secrecy of the ground until one of them decides to wake up. ... As it happens, there were terrible seeds on the little prince's planet... baobab seeds. The planet's soil was infested with them. Now if you attend to a baobab seed too late, you can never get rid of it again. It overgrows the whole planet. Its roots pierce right through. And if the planet is too small, and if there are too many baobabs, they make it burst into pieces.'It's a question of discipline,' the little prince told me later on. 'When you've finished washing and dressing each morning, you must tend your planet. You must be sure you pull up the baobabs regularly, as soon as you can tell them apart from the rosebushes, which they closely resemble when they're very young. It's very tedious work, but very easy."
• "I need to put up with two or three caterpillars if I want to get to know the butterflies" -The Rose
• "The little prince went to look at the roses again. 'You're not at all like my rose. You're nothing at all yet," he told them. 'No one has tamed you and you haven't tamed anyone.' ... 'You're lovely, but you're empty,' he went on. 'One couldn't die for you. Of course, an ordinary passerby would think my rose looked just like you. But my rose, all on her own, is more important than all of you together, since she's the one I've watered. Since she's the one I put under glass. Since she's the one I sheltered behind a screen. Since she's the one for whom I killed the caterpillars (except the two or three for butterflies). Since she's the one I listened to when she complained, or when she boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing at all. Since she's my rose.'"
• "'One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.' ...'It's the time you spent on your rose that makes your rose important.' ... 'You become responsible forever for what you've tamed. You're responsible for your rose...'" -The Fox