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Quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

“The greatness of a profession lies, perhaps, first of all, in the bond it creates between men: there is only one true luxury, and that is human relationships. By working only for material goods, we build our own prison. We lock ourselves up, solitary, with our ash money that provides nothing that is worth living.”

Quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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Wind, Sand and Stars

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Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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“Oh you whom I have loved, farewell. It is not my fault that the human body cannot survive three days without drinking. I did not believe I was so imprisoned by the sources. I did not suspect such a short autonomy. It is believed that man can march straight ahead. It is believed that man is free... One does not see the rope that binds him to the well, that binds him like an umbilical cord to the belly of the earth. If he takes one more step, he dies.”

“As for you who save us, Bedouin of Libya, you will nevertheless be erased forever from my memory. I will never remember your face. You are the Man, and you appear to me with the face of all men together. You have not even looked at us in the face and you have already recognized us. You are the beloved brother. And, in turn, I will recognize you in all men. You appear to me illuminated with nobility and benevolence, a great lord who has the power to give drink. In you, all my friends and my enemies walk toward me, and I no longer have a single enemy in the world.”

“It can be seen not just as part of the human condition, but central to what it is to be human. We recognize in others what we see in ourselves. We understand what it is to be human by putting ourselves in their shoes. We develop a sense of sympathy, compassion and tenderness towards people we meet in everyday life, even strangers. There is a sense of sameness. It is not a coincidence that we describe people who embody the same habitus, who are sympathetic and caring, who are kind and helpful, as being lovely.”

“We normalize the abnormal, and accept the unacceptable. Remember that more than 80 percent of people live under light polluted skies, and two-thirds of Europeans are immersed in noise equivalent to constant rainfall. Many people have no idea what true darkness or quiet feels like. Within that inexperience, vicious cycles begin to spin. As we desecrate sensory environments, we become accustomed to the results. As we push the animals away, we get used to their absence. As the problems of sensory pollution grow, our willingness to address it subsides. How do we solve a problem that we don’t realize exists?”