Monday, August 11, 2008

Wait for a moment directly beneath the star

I should probably have the words BOOK ADDICT branded onto my forehead.

Recently, I bought the Chinese illustrated version of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince and read it. After a few days, I was in Kinokuniya and couldn't resist buying the English illustrated copy, which was being sold in the children's section for only S$16.

I was touched when I read the story in Chinese, and equally moved when I read it in English.

The story's like a matryoshka doll, which keeps revealing more and more every time you read it.

There are some excerpts which I liked a lot:

"In those days I understood nothing! I should have judged by her deeds and not her words. She cast her fragrance around me and brightened my life. I should never have run away! I should have guessed the tenderness behind her poor little strategems. Flowers are so contradictory. And I was too young to know how to love her."

"Now here is my secret, very simply: you can only see things clearly with your heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye."

"The stars men follow have different meanings. For some people - travellers - the stars are guides. For others they are mere lights in the sky. For others still - the scientists - they are problems to be solved. For my businessman they meant gold. But for all these people, the stars are silent. For you, the stars will be as they are for no one else."



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