Quote 16
“Yes,” I said to the little prince. “The house, the stars, the desert—what gives them their beauty is something that is invisible!” (24.25)
This isn’t about entering a new world – it’s about looking at your own world differently. The narrator is finding “beauty,” now, in what he can’t see, rather than in what he can: in “something that is invisible.” That’s something the prince taught him – and something the fox taught the prince.
Quote 17
Here, then, is a great mystery. For you who also love the little prince, and for me, nothing in the universe can be the same if somewhere, we do not know where, a sheep that we never saw has—yes or no?—eaten a rose… (27.7)
Is this the ultimate icebreaker/getting to know someone question? Even better than “Cat person or dog person?” In other words, this idea might provide a great test to show what kind of person you are: whether you can look at the “universe” the way the narrator does or not. Do you believe in the “great mystery”? Do you think the sheep has “eaten a rose,” or is that rose safe? It’s like asking whether you believe in magic, and beauty, and wonder.
Quote 18
For I do not want any one to read my book carelessly. I have suffered too much grief in setting down these memories. Six years have already passed since my friend went away from me, with his sheep. If I try to describe him here, it is to make sure that I shall not forget him. To forget a friend is sad. Not every one has had a friend. And if I forget him, I may become like the grown-ups who are no longer interested in anything but figures… (4.13)
In this paragraph, the narrator’s sadness and ideas about friendship collide. He can’t think about his friendship with the prince without being sad that the prince has left. The idea that he might “forget a friend is sad.” Do you agree? Why or why not?