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

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince, 1943

LiteratureMind

The story behind the card

The line comes from The Little Prince, the illustrated tale that the French pilot and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry published in New York in 1943, while in exile during the Second World War. A fox teaches it to the prince while explaining what it means to 'tame' someone: to build a bond through time, attention and care. The prince then understands that his rose matters to him not because she is unlike other roses, but because of the time he has given her.

Türkçe oku
İnsan ancak yüreğiyle bakınca doğru görür. Asıl önemli olan, gözle görülmez.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Küçük Prens, 1943

Söz, Fransız pilot ve yazar Antoine de Saint-Exupéry'nin İkinci Dünya Savaşı yıllarında sürgündeyken 1943'te New York'ta yayımladığı resimli masal Küçük Prens'ten. Tilki bu sırrı, prense birini “evcilleştirmenin” ne demek olduğunu anlatırken verir: Zaman, ilgi ve özenle bir bağ kurmak. Prens de o zaman anlar: Gülü onun için değerlidir, ama başka güllerden farklı olduğu için değil, ona verdiği zaman yüzünden.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Next card in the archiveIn 1090 Hasan-i Sabbah, an Ismaili Muslim missionary, took the mountain fortress of Alamut in northern Iran without a battle, after his followers had quietly settled in and around it. By his own account, he paid the departing lord with a draft for 3,000 gold dinars.Read next →