Buzz
Devotees of Le Petit Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's tale of a pilot stranded in the desert who meets a young boy from planet B-612, can probably recall the book's most memorable line, delivered by a fox to the boy: "What is essential is invisible to the eye." However, Saint-Exupéry, who penned the novella while exiled in New York City during World War II, struggled to perfect this phrase.
Can you picture the fox uttering "Ce qui compte est toujours invisible" ("What matters is always invisible") or "Le plus important est invisible" ("What is most important is invisible")? Saint-Exupéry tested these and numerous other variations. Nelson revealed 11 alternate phrases the author considered before settling on "l’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux."
1. Mais ce qui compte est invisible.
"Yet, the invisible holds true significance."
2. Mais l’essentiel est toujours invisible.
"Yet, the essence remains unseen."
3. Ce qui est important est toujours invisible.
"The truly important remains beyond sight."
4. Le plus important demeure invisible.
"The most significant things stay hidden from view."
5. Ce qui est important ça ne se voit pas.
"True importance lies beyond what the eyes can perceive."
6. Ce qui compte ne se voit pas.
"True significance lies beyond visibility."
7. Ce qui est tellement joli n’est pas pour les yeux.
"Such beauty is not meant for the eyes to behold."
8. Ce qui est important, ça ne se voit pas.
"Importance remains unseen by the eye."
9. Ce qui se voit ça ne compte pas.
"Visible things hold no real significance."
10. L’important est toujours ailleurs.
"True importance lies elsewhere, beyond sight."
11. Ce qui est le plus important c’est ce qui ne se voit pas.
"The most significant things are those invisible to the eye."
Saint-Exupéry completed The Little Prince in October 1942, with its publication in the United States in early 1943, coinciding with his departure to rejoin his squadron in Algiers. He entrusted the heavily revised manuscript to his friend Silvia Hamilton, whose black poodle inspired the book's sheep (Saint-Exupéry also illustrated The Little Prince).
Tragically, Saint-Exupéry never witnessed his most celebrated work published in his homeland. He vanished in July 1944 during a solo reconnaissance mission in a P-38 Lightning; his ID bracelet was recovered by a fisherman off Marseille's coast in 1998.
