Overview
A pilot stranded in the desert meets a young prince from a tiny asteroid, who shares his encounters with strange adults on various planets.
Saint-Exupery, a French aristocrat and pioneer aviator, wrote The Little Prince in 1942 while living in exile in New York. The book, published in 1943, is ostensibly for children but has become one of the most beloved books for adults ever written. Saint-Exupery disappeared on a reconnaissance flight in 1944, a year after publication. The book has been translated into more than three hundred languages.
Key Ideas
What is essential is invisible to the eye
The deepest truths about love, friendship, and meaning cannot be measured or seen.
Adults forget what matters
Grown-ups are preoccupied with numbers and status, forgetting the wonder that children naturally possess.
You become responsible for what you tame
True connection creates obligation and gives life meaning.
Who should read this
Readers of any age, particularly those encountering the book later in life when its central line — that what is essential is invisible to the eye — lands differently than it does in childhood. Adults often find that the book they thought was for children is in fact a book about loss, responsibility, and the difficulty of seeing clearly.
Who might skip it
Skip only if you dislike sentimental philosophical writing; some readers find the book too pure to take seriously. Skip also if you've read it once and found it not to your taste — re-reading rarely converts first-time sceptics.
The verdict
A book I return to every few years and never quite finish without being surprised by it. Saint-Exupery's prose, translated or in the original, is deceptively simple. The fox chapter alone has given more people comfort in grief than most of the formal literature on grief I've read. A small, perfect book.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
— Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince
If you liked this
Wind, Sand and Stars for Saint-Exupery's aviation memoir. The Night Flight for his adventure novella.