I have impressive, intelligent friends whose favorite books are written by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Charlotte Brontë, Mark Twain, George Orwell, Flannery O’Connor, and many other distinguished writers. While I have read and enjoyed those authors’ books and short stories, my favorite book will always and forever be The Little Prince. That’s not to say that I don’t have a new list of favorites every month, but no author’s words have stuck with me quite as permanently as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s.

When I am feeling down, stressed, or under the weather, I pick up my copy of The Little Prince and read the words that I’ve already somewhat memorized. One of my closest friends knew that I was struggling with stress earlier this year when she heard me exclaim that I had read my favorite book four times that week, memorizing the words again and again, letting them clear my cluttered mind.

My mom always says that the way to raise intelligent children and cultivate a thirst for knowledge is to read to them. There are thousands of books that my mother used to read to me when I was little; surprisingly, The Little Prince is not one of those. I actually didn’t read the book until I was sixteen or seventeen. It was the first book I ever read in German. Then, I read it in English, wanting to make sure I understood every single word. While I do believe that the lessons and topics discussed in The Little Prince are what make it beautiful, I often wonder if the book means so much to me not because of what is inside the cover, but because it is what I read when I was struggling with homesickness, loneliness, and communication in a new country. Regardless of the reason, it is a book that has helped me through many different stages of my life.

I can remember struggling with loneliness in Germany and then again upon my return to the United States. I confided to my mom how difficult it was to feel like I had made connections with new friends and a second family, only to leave them an ocean away. A part of me wished that I hadn’t built those relationships because of how painful it was to leave them behind. Of course, there are some relationships that are worth all of the pain that distance or separation can create, and I know that I would not want to live in a world where I hadn’t gotten to know and love my host family.

Similarly, college is only four years of my life. I know I will meet people here and create relationships that might be brief. Friends will leave school at different times, traveling to new cities, states, and countries. Some relationships will fizzle out, some will become distant, and others will remain strong. Anticipating those relationship changes sometimes feels a bit sad or lonely, especially when I consider that the only person I will never live without is myself. My world, however, would be far more boring and far less beautiful without all of the amazingly interesting people I love. On my worst days, when I read The Little Prince, I think about how colorful and interesting loved ones make my life. When I think about it, some people come into my life and change everything, and soon enough someone who was once a random person in a room becomes the person who makes me feel sane, less lonely, and oftentimes loved. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was familiar with these thoughts. He used the word “tamed” to explain how people build ties to one another. Even the worst situations feel manageable when I remind myself that I have ties to people that will never break regardless of how far apart we are. Some friends will always be special to me because of their kindness, loyalty, or patience. And it’s comforting to know that I can bring those qualities into someone else’s life too. So, I write the words I memorized years ago, words that give me hope and keep me company: “You’re the way my fox was. He was just a fox like a hundred thousand others. But I’ve made him my friend, and now he’s the only fox in all the world.”