“The Little Prince” — Life Lessons From the Book for the Child Within Us
“The Little Prince”, written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, was first released in 1943. Since then, the story about the little boy from asteroid B 612 has triumphed and gained quite a following. This timeless tale touches on childhood and growing up. It is a tale of how the point of view of an innocent child can serve as a lesson for souls of all ages.
I first read “The Little Prince” many years ago, when I was still just a kid sitting through the endless hours of middle school. I’ve always enjoyed the book, but after rereading “The Little Prince” as an adult, I can’t help but appreciate the book more. There is something about “The Little Prince” that resonates with the child within us. On the surface, “The Little Prince” may look the part of a children’s book but take a closer look and you may find yourself taking away more messages each time you reread the book.
Below, I would like to share some of the quotes from the book that I find most fascinating along with my interpretations.
Grown-ups are very fond of numbers. When you tell them about a new friend, they never ask you the kind of questions that should be asked, such as: “What kind of voice does he have?” “What are his favourite games?” “Does he collect butterflies?” Instead they ask: “How old is he? How much money does his father earn?” They really do imagine this is the best way to discover what sort of person he is!
— The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
How many times do we, as adults, find ourselves guilty of judging others by their financial worth? Too many times, I assure you. When did we start putting so much importance on how much money someone makes instead of other qualities that make a human… well, human?
Perhaps sometimes we need a little boy, the little prince, to remind us that not everything has a dollar equivalent in value. Perhaps, from time to time, we should allow the child within us to remind us that what makes a person unique and interesting are things like their voice, their hobbies, their relationship with their pet dog, or well… their childhood. Perhaps, most importantly, we need the child within us to remind ourselves that we are not defined by how much money we make.
“[My rose] filled me with her fragrance, she had brought joy to my life. I should never leave her. I should have recognised what a sensitive sweet soul there was under all her rather silly games.”
— The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Roses, for all the beauty that they exude, have thorns. People have thorns too, they just come in different shapes and forms. Sometimes we judge and treat others differently because we have allowed ourselves to only focus on their “thorns”. We should remind ourselves that everyone has “thorns” and we should attempt to recognize the sensitive sweet soul that is beneath all those “thorns”.
Once the little prince fell asleep, I picked him up in my arms and set off on my way again. I was so moved as I walked. It seemed to me that I was carrying in my arms the most delicate of treasures, that there could be nothing more fragile on the whole Earth. In the light of the moon I looked down at this pale forehead, those closed eyes, those locks of his that trembled in the wind: “What I am seeing,” I thought, “is no more than the shell. What is truly important I cannot see.”
— The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
We take shortcuts in our minds and associate the shells we see with often biased qualities for the sake of convenience. However, there is always, as the saying goes, more than meets the eye.
The next time we are talking to our son, daughter, niece, or nephew, we should try listening more intently. We should maybe do the same when we talk to anyone who we may have made a biased view of just because of their appearance. Perhaps then we can start to see with our hearts and not only with our eyes.
I lifted the bucket to his lips. He drank, his eyes closed. Then I drank. It was like a feast of water. This was not ordinary food of course, but it might just as well have been. The sweetness of this water was born from the long walk under the stars, from the song of the pulley, and for the effort of pulling up that bucket. It made me feel good, made me happy, as a present does.
— The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Happiness is a curious thing. All of us are in some way or another engaged in the pursuit of happiness, but if you ask anyone what is the meaning of happiness, they are likely to overcomplicate the answer.
We tell ourselves lies like “if I don’t have the newest phone, I am not happy”, “if I am not the highest earner among my friends, I am not happy”, or “if my son does not grow up to be a doctor or lawyer, I am not happy”.
It is time we start letting the child within us remind ourselves that happiness is simple if we let it be simple. To truly live in the present and to be more receptive to the things around us that are attempting to make us feel good.
If you are struggling to do so, perhaps you can try to remember the things that make you happy as a child. Are they as complicated as the things that you think will make you happy now?
“Stars mean different things to different people. For travellers, stars tell them where they are, where they are going. For others, they are just little lights in the sky. For scholars, they are the world of the unknown, yet to be discovered and understood. For my businessman, they are gold. But all stars stay silent. And you? No one else in the world will see the stars as you do…”
— The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The stars are silent, they always had been. It is up to us to explore and discover what they meant for us. What it meant for others does not need to be what it meant for us. This doesn’t mean others are wrong and we are right, and vice versa.
This means some things are open to interpretation. This means people can have different opinions. This means we don’t dismiss the opinion of others and we, surely, don’t dismiss our own thoughts and interpretations. At least not without good reasons.
“Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.”
— The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
We live in a society that is so used to instant gratification. It sounds good in theory, however, in reality, it has made us impatient and irritable when things don’t fall into our laps. There is beauty in the process if we let ourselves see things with the curiosity and innocence of the child within us. As the saying goes, good things take time.
