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Each man must look to himself to teach him the meaning of life. It is not something discovered: it is something molded. These prison walls that this age of trade has built up round us, we can break down. We can still run free, call to our comrades, and marvel to hear once more, in response to our call, the impassioned chant of the human voice.

— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Terre des Hommes (1939)

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Notes from Wikiquote

1939 translation | We can still run free, call to our comrades, and marvel to hear once more, in response to our call, the pathetic chant of the human voice.

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Life

More quotes by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.

Pilote de Guerre (1942)

Your task is not to foresee the future, but to enable it.

Citadelle or The Wisdom of the Sands (1948)

Transport of the mails, transport of the human voice, transport of flickering pictures — in this century, as in others, our highest accomplishments still have the single aim of bringing men together.

Terre des Hommes (1939)

Human drama does not show itself on the surface of life. It is not played out in the visible world, but in the hearts of men.

Terre des Hommes (1939)

It seems to me that those who complain of man's progress confuse ends with means.

Terre des Hommes (1939)

All Antoine de Saint-Exupéry quotes →

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.