Le Petit Prince

There was an exhibition in Whitworth Art Gallery Recently on art by children and the power of a child's imagination. It was called "Neverland" I think and was highly intriguing for the different views and perspectives it presented. Somehow it reminded me of the book "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry translated from French. It is supposed to be a children's book, but I felt that it still had a lot to teach adults. In fact, children might find the lessons in the book easier to understand than grown-ups would.

"That is the hardest thing of all. It is much harder to judge yourself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself, it's because you're truly a wise man."

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

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Grown-ups like numbers. When you tell them about a new friend, they never ask questions about what really matters. They never ask: "What does his voice sound like?" "What games does he like best?" "Does he collect butterflies?". They ask: "How old is he?" "How many brothers does he have?" "How much does he weigh?" "How much money does his father make?" Only then do they think they know him.