The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupѐry : A Book Review

“Becoming an adult is probably the dumbest thing you could ever do!”

As a child, you cannot wait to grow up and be like “them adults”.  Growing up seems to mean, to be independent, be able to make decisions on your own and do everything on your own.  It is to be important and happy and free.  How is that working out for you?

Children always have a simpler if not better understanding of things.  They see beauty and get fascinated by everything they see around them.  They have deep imaginations.  The matters of consequence are different to a child.  But as they grow, they lose this sense.  Priorities change, and though you think you know everything, you most often don't have a clue of where you are headed and what you want.

The Little Prince is a dedication to all grown-ups who were once children, who cannot seem to remember how it is to be a child any more.  It is a nostalgia for childhood.  They find a child’s ideas to be silly.  They do not see things as children do.

The little prince is a little boy from a strange planet tells you what is important. What are the real matters of consequence?  He tells us the little secrets of life in simple terms.  Children always understand easily.  Grown-ups are a little slow in grasping things, so you need to go down to their level of understanding.

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

What we hold and see and think are important are not really important.  But what is actually important can only be felt and not seen.

So he tells us about the different kinds of people there are and how they are all wasting time either thinking about themselves or about the things that are not important.  He makes several observations about life, nature and people.  He feels that grown-ups are extraordinarily strange.

“It is the time you have lost that makes your rose so important.”  You spend time over something or with someone, and the more time you spend, the more important it becomes to you.

“You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.”

I dedicate this book to all the grown-ups I know.

-Nivedita