A Guide for Grown-ups

Essential Wisdom from the collected works of Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Copyright 2002

With a copyright year of 2002, this book isn’t actually old at all, but the writings in it are all from before 1944, when the author disappeared over the Mediterranean while in the French Air Corps.  While I only know his writing from The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery published several other notable works. This little book is a collection of quotations from his various books.  

While nothing should replace reading a book as a whole to learn what an author is wants to say, there is something to be said for placing a particularly inspirational line on a page by itself. It allows a reader to focus more closely on a single idea or moral and give it time to sink in.

Here are a few to ponder today:

From The Wisdom of the Sands:

In giving you are throwing a bridge across the chasm of your solitude.

From Wind, Sand and Stars:

If I summon up those memories that have left with me an enduring savor, if I draw up the balance sheet of the hours in my life that have truly counted, surely I find only those that no wealth could have procured me.

From The Little Prince:

One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.

Deep and wise thoughts, indeed!