Simone De Beauvoir Quotes
1906 - 1986
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On ne na|"t pas femme: on le devient. One is not born a woman: one becomes a woman.
Simone De Beauvoir— 1949 Le Deuxie' m e Sexe (The Second Sex), bk.2, pt.1, ch.1.
La 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 Beauvoir— 1949 Le Deuxie' m e Sexe (The Second Sex), bk.2, pt.7, ch.25 (translated by H M Parshley,1952).
Si 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 Beauvoir— 1955 Tous les hommes sont mortels (All Men Are Mortal).
I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom .
Simone De Beauvoir— The Blood of Others [Le sang des autres] (1946)
The power he exercises is no more dictatorial than, for example, Roosevelt 's was.
Simone De Beauvoir— On Mao Zedong, in The Long March (1957), as quoted in "Mao and the Australian Maoists" by Keith Windschuttle, in Quadrant (October 2005)
In 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 Beauvoir— As quoted in Bisexual Characters in Film: From Anaïs to Zee (1997) by Wayne M. Bryant, p. 143
We 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 Beauvoir— On her relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre, as quoted in "Did Simone de Beauvoir's open 'marriage' make her happy?" by Lisa Appignanesi, in The Guardian (9 June 2005)
Defending 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 Beauvoir— As quoted in The Book of Positive Quotations (2007) by John Cook, Steve Deger and Leslie Ann Gibson, p. 525
Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay.
Simone De Beauvoir— As quoted in The Book of Positive Quotations (2007) by John Cook, p. 548
She 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 Beauvoir— p. 5 (All Men are Mortal (1946))
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."
Simone De Beauvoir— Regina to herself, p. 28
He had not applauded, he had remained seated, but he had looked at her steadily. From the depths of eternity he had looked at her and Rosalind became immortal. If I could believe him, she thought, if only I could believe him!
Simone De Beauvoir— P. 30 (All Men are Mortal (1946))
Dare to believe me. Dare!
Simone De Beauvoir— Raimon to Regina. p. 31
They were walking side by side, but each was alone.
Simone De Beauvoir— Raimon to Regina, p. 53
You're unique like all other women.
Simone De Beauvoir— Raimon to Regina, p. 55
I was born in Italy on the 17th May 1279 in a castle in the city of Carmona.
Simone De Beauvoir— 71
Even the children of Carmona were divided into two camps, and below the ramparts, among the brushwood and rocks, we battled with stones shouting "Long live the duke!" and others, "Down with the tyrant!" We fought viciously, but I was never satisfied with this game the fallen enemy rose again, the dead came back to life. The day after a battle, victors and vanquished both found themselves unharmed.
Simone De Beauvoir— p. 72 (All Men are Mortal (1946))
It is impossible to do anything for anyone.
Simone De Beauvoir— p. 317 (All Men are Mortal (1946))
[C]'est la vraie générosité:;; vous donnez tout et rien ne semble jamais vous coûter.
Simone De Beauvoir— That's what I consider true generosity. You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.
Try to stay a man amongst men ... There's no other hope for you.
Simone De Beauvoir— Marianne to Raimon
Men 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 Beauvoir— Part I : Ambiguity and Freedom
To 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 Beauvoir— Pt. III : The Positive Aspect of Ambiguity, Ch. 3 : Freedom and Liberation]
Science 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 Beauvoir— Pt. III : The Positive Aspect of Ambiguity, Ch. 3 : Freedom and Liberation
On ne naît pas femme: on le devient.
Simone De Beauvoir— One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.Bk. 2, Pt.. 4, Ch. 1: Childhood, p. 267
Sex 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 Beauvoir— Bk. 2, Pt.. 4, Ch. 3: Sexual Initiation. p. 396
To "catch" a husband is an art; to "hold" him is a job.
Simone De Beauvoir— Bk. 2, part 5, Ch. 1: The Married Woman, p. 468
The 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 Beauvoir— Bk. 2, Pt.. 5, Ch. 2: The Mother, p. 522
Work 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 Beauvoir— Pt I, Ch. 4: Old age in present-day society, p. 263
Since 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— Pt. 2, Ch. 1: The discovery and assumption of old age: the body's experience, p. 288
