Antoine Saint-Exupéry has been my favourite author ever since I have read his Le Petit Prince. I also read "Terre Des Hommes" for a French Project during my Diplôme. Had noted down some of the quotes from the book in some scraps of paper which I accidently found while unpacking recently which Iwish to save for posterity here. The quote talks about Water and how the author realises its beauty and importance while stranded in a desert deprived of this precious resource.
L'eau! Eau, tu n'as ni goût ni couleur, ni arôme, on ne peut pas te définir, on te goûte, sans te connaître. Tu n'es pas nécessaire à la vie: TU ES LA VIE. Tu nous pénètres d'un plaisir qui ne s'explique point par les sens. Avec toi rentrent en nous tous les pouvoirs auquels nous avions renoncé. Par ta grâce, s'ouvrent en nous toutes les sources taries de notre coeur.
Tu es la plus grande richesse qui soit au monde, et tu es aussi la plus délicate, toi si pure au ventre de la terre. On peut mourir sur une source d'eau magnésienne. On peut mourir à deux pas d'un lac d'eau salée. on peut mourir malgré deux litres de rosée qui retiennent en suspense quelques sels. Tu n'acceptes point de mélange. Tu ne supportes point d'alteration, tu es une ombrageuse divinité...
Mais tu répands en nous un bonheur infiniment simple.
Here is the English translation though nothing comes close to sentiments expressed with the original French expressions.
Water!
Water, you have neither taste, nor colour, nor scent. you cannot be defined. You are savoured, but you remain unknown. You are not a necessisity of life: YOU ARE LIFE. You fill us with a joy that is not of the senses. You restore to us all powers we had surrendered. Through your grace, all the desiccated springs of our hearts flow forth once more.
Of all the riches in the world you are the greatest, and the most delicate, you who lie so pure in the womb of the earth. A man can die by a magnesian spring. He can die a yard from a salt lake. He can die in spite of a quart of dew with chemicals suspended in it. You can accept no mixing, bear no adulteration, you are a sensitive divinity.
But you spread within us an infinitely simple happiness.
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Aimer - ce n'est point nous regarder l'un l'autre mais regarder ensemble dans la même direction.
To be in love doesn't mean looking into each other but, looking together in the same direction!
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- Terre Des Hommes by Antoine Saint-Exupéry