Literature Guides
The Little Prince Quotes
Quotations and Analysis
“So then the seventh planet was the Earth. The Earth is not just an ordinary planet! One can count, there 111 kings (not forgetting, to be sure, the Negro kings among them), 7000 geographers, 900,000 businessmen, 7,500,000 tipplers, 311,000,000 conceited men– thatis to say, about 2,000,000,000 grown-ups.”
This sets the tone for Saint-Exupery’s satire of society. As the prince goes on he meets a power hungry king who seeks to be obeyed, a geographer that has explored nowhere, a materialistic utilitarian businessman, an irrational drunk and a man who desires to be admired. All those strange grownups are indeed what make up planet Earth.
It brings the strangest grownups all together with their bad habits. It may be inferred that those inhabitants weren’t so dangerous when there was only one of each, but Earth and the society within it is doomed to be destructed due to the growing number of bad habits that sucks the planet’s energy as a baobab would have done to The Little Prince’s small planet.
“To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world…”
This quote has the same meaning as that of the famous “ you are no one until someone really loves you” quote. In essence, all creatures in the world resemble their own kind and are not unique at all. That is until seen with the heart rather than with the eyes which is only possible when one establishes ties with another. When two creatures tame each other and engage in a relationship or friendship, they become irreplaceable to one another. That is the lesson to be taken from the friendships throughout the novel.
“an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you– the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies);because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose.”
Any other person who would see the bed of roses and The Little Prince’s rose would say that they all looked the same. However, that is because it is only The Little Prince who sees the rose with his heart because they have a relationship together and they need and benefit from each other. The lesson the fox taught the little prince is to see with his heart and not with his eyes.
