Le Petit Prince

While organizing my bedroom this afternoon, I came across my copy of one of my favorite books - The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. My godmother gave it to me on my high school graduation, along with a copy of the Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. She told me I would learn life's essential lessons from the stories in these two books. I loved the Prophet, and regularly read some of the poetic essays on love, marriage, friendship, and home for some beautiful reminders of keeping perspective, but I have especially come to treasure The Little Prince.


It is perhaps most famously known for the line, "On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux," or "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye," but each time I read the book, a different line strikes my heart. The scenes and the characters and the imagery are all so beautiful, and the tenderness of each story draws me in every time.

While deceivingly a children's book, it is much more understood and appreciated by adults. Antoine de Saint-Exupery intended this and I especially love his dedication:

"I ask children to forgive me for dedicating this book to a grown-up. I have a serious excuse: this grown-up is the best friend I have in the world. I have another excuse: this grown-up can understand anything, even books for children. I have a third excuse: he lives in France where he is hungry and cold. He needs to be comforted. If all these excuses are not enough, then I want to dedicate this book to the child whom this grown-up once was. All grown-ups were children first. (But few of them remember it.) So I correct my dedication: To Leon Werth, when he was a little boy."

Children don't need to remember to see with the heart instead of the eyes, they already know.