Read Simone De Beauvoir biography
One day I'll be old, dead, forgotten. And at this very moment, while I'm sitting here thinking these things, a man in a dingy hotel room is thinking, "I will always be here."
Regina to herself, p. 28 |
On ne na|"t pas femme: on le devient. One is not born a woman: one becomes a woman.
Simone De BeauvoirCe n'est gue' re que dans les asiles que les coquettes gardent avec ente" tement une foi entie' re en des regards absents; normalement, elles re clament des te moins. Women fond of dress are hardly ever entirely satisfied not to be seen, except among the insane; usually they want witnesses.
Simone De BeauvoirLa femme?sait que quand on la regarde on ne la distingue pas de son apparence: elle est juge e, respecte e, de sire e a' travers sa toilette. Woman?knows that when she is looked at she is not considered apart from her appearance: she is judged, respected, desired, by and through her toilette.
Simone De BeauvoirSi l'on vit assez longtemps, on voit que toute victoire se change un jour en de faite. If you live long enough, you'll find that every victory turns into a defeat.
Simone De BeauvoirI wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom .
Simone De BeauvoirThe power he exercises is no more dictatorial than, for example, Roosevelt 's was.
Simone De BeauvoirIn itself, homosexuality is as limiting as heterosexuality: the ideal should be to be capable of loving a woman or a man; either, a human being, without feeling fear, restraint, or obligation.
Simone De BeauvoirWe were two of a kind, and our relationship would endure as long as we did: but it could not make up entirely for the fleeting riches to be had from encounters with different people.
Simone De BeauvoirDefending the truth is not something one does out of a sense of duty or to allay guilt complexes, but is a reward in itself.
Simone De BeauvoirChange your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay.
Simone De BeauvoirInsects were scurrying about in the shade cast by the grass, and the lawn was a huge monotonous forest of thousands of little green blades, all equal, all alike, hiding the world from each other. Anguished, she thought, "I don't want to be just another blade of grass."
Simone De BeauvoirShe was beautiful, with a beauty so severe and so solitary that at first it was startling. "Ah! If only there were two of me," she thought, "one doing the talking and one listening, one living and one watching, how I would love myself. I'd envy no one."
Simone De BeauvoirDare to believe me. Dare!
Simone De BeauvoirThey were walking side by side, but each was alone.
Simone De BeauvoirYou're unique like all other women.
Simone De BeauvoirI was born in Italy on the 17th May 1279 in a castle in the city of Carmona.
Simone De BeauvoirIt is impossible to do anything for anyone.
Simone De Beauvoir[C]'est la vraie générosité:;; vous donnez tout et rien ne semble jamais vous coûter.
Simone De BeauvoirTry to stay a man amongst men ... There's no other hope for you.
Simone De BeauvoirMen of today seem to feel more acutely than ever the paradox of their condition. They know themselves to be the supreme end to which all action should be subordinated, but the exigencies of action force them to treat one another as instruments or obstacles, as means. The more widespread their mastery of the world, the more they find themselves crushed by uncontrollable forces.
Simone De BeauvoirTo will freedom and to will to disclose being are one and the same choice; hence, freedom takes a positive and constructive step which causes being to pass to existence in a movement which is constantly surpassed.
Simone De BeauvoirScience condemns itself to failure when, yielding to the infatuation of the serious, it aspires to attain being, to contain it, and to possess it; but it finds its truth if it considers itself as a free engagement of thought in the given, aiming, at each discovery, not at fusion with the thing, but at the possibility of new discoveries; what the mind then projects is the concrete accomplishment of its freedom.
Simone De BeauvoirOn ne naît pas femme: on le devient.
Simone De BeauvoirSex pleasure in woman, as I have said, is a kind of magic spell; it demands complete abandon; if words or movements oppose the magic of caresses, the spell is broken.
Simone De BeauvoirTo "catch" a husband is an art; to "hold" him is a job.
Simone De BeauvoirThe curse which lies upon marriage is that too often the individuals are joined in their weakness rather than in their strength, each asking from the other instead of finding pleasure in giving. It is even more deceptive to dream of gaining through the child a plenitude, a warmth, a value, which one is unable to create for oneself; the child brings joy only to the woman who is capable of disinterestedly desiring the happiness of another, to one who without being wrapped up in self seeks to transcend her own existence.
Simone De BeauvoirWork almost always has a double aspect: it is a bondage, a wearisome drudgery; but it is also a source of interest, a steadying element, a factor that helps to integrate the worker with society. Retirement may be looked upon either as a prolonged holiday or as a rejection, a being thrown on to the scrap-heap.
Simone De BeauvoirSince it is the Other within us who is old, it is natural that the revelation of our age should come to us from outside from others. We do not accept it willingly.
Simone De Beauvoir