Excerpts from "Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

ON Friendship & Human Relationships
Excerpts from "Wind, Sand and Stars"
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Thus is the earth at once a desert and a paradise, rich in secret hidden gardens,
gardens inaccessible, but to which the craft leads us ever back, one day or another.

Life may scatter us and keep us apart; it may prevent us from thinking very often
of one another; but we know that our comrades are somewhere ‘out there’ – where,
one can hardly say – silent, forgotten, but deeply faithful.
And when our path crosses theirs, they greet us with such manifest joy, shake us
so gaily by the shoulders! Indeed we are accustomed to waiting...

We had met at last.Men travel side by side for years, each locked up in his own
silence or exchanging those words which carry no freight – till danger comes.
Then they stand shoulder to shoulder. They discover that they belong to the same
family. They wax and bloom in the recognition of fellow-beings.
They look at one another and smile. They are like the prisoners set free who
marvel at the immensity of the sea.

Happiness! It is useless to seek it elsewhere than in the warmth of human relations.
Our sordid interests imprison us within their walls.Only a comrade can grasp us
by the hand and haul us free.And these human relations must be created...

Old friends cannot be created out of hand. Nothing can match the treasure of common
memories, of rivals endured together, of quarrels and reconciliations and generous
emotions. It is idle, having planted an acorn in the morning, to expect that afternoon
to sit in the shade of the oak.