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Simone de Beauvoir Quotes | Quotes said by Simone de Beauvoir

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #1

    ...counselling man to treat her as a slave while persuading her that she is a queen.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #2

    ...her wings are cut and then she is blamed for not knowing how to fly.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #3

    ?A day in which I don't write leaves a taste of ashes.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #4

    [From a New York Times biography from May 27, 2010 entitled Introduction to Simone de Beauvoir's 'The Second Sex']

    Beauvoir herself was as devout an atheist as she had once been a Catholic, and she dismisses religions — even when they worship a goddess — as the inventions of men to perpetuate their dominion.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #5

    A freedom which is interested only in denying freedom must be denied. And it is not true that the recognition of the freedom of others limits my own freedom: to be free is not to have the power to do anything you like; it is to be able to surpass the given toward an open future; the existence of others as a freedom defines my situation and is even the condition of my own freedom. I am oppressed if I am thrown into prison, but not if I am kept from throwing my neighbor into prison.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #6

    A man never begins by presenting himself as an individual of a certain sex; it goes without saying that he is a man.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #7

    A woman's situation, i.e those meanings derived from the total context in which she comes to maturity, disposes her to apprehend her body not as instrument of her transcendence, but an object destined for another.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #8

    All oppression creates a state of war.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #9

    All she had to do was make the simplest of gestures - open her hands and let go her hold. She lifted one hand and moved the fingers of it; they responded, in surprise and obedience, and this obedience of a thousand little unsuspected muscles was in itself a miracle. Why ask for more?

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #10

    Art reveals the transitory as an absolute; & as the transitory existence is perpetuated through the centuries, art too, through the centuries, must perpetuate this never-to-be-finished revelation. Thus, the constructive activities of man tale a valid meaning only when they are assumed as a movement toward freedom; & reciprocally, one sees that such a movement is concrete: discoveries, inventions, industries, culture, painting, & books people the world concretely & open possibilities to men.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #11

    Art, literature, and philosophy are attempts to found the world anew on a human freedom: that of the creator; to foster such an aim, one must first unequivocally posit oneself as a freedom. The restrictions that education and custom impose on a woman limit her grasp of the universe...Indeed, for one to become a creator, it is not enough to be cultivated, that is, to make going to shows and meeting people part of one's life; culture must be apprehended through the free movement of a transcendence; the spirit with all its riches must project itself in an empty sky that is its to fill; but if a thousand fine bonds tie it to the earth, its surge is broken. The girl today can certainly go out alone, stroll in the Tuileries; but I have already said how hostile the street is: eyes everywhere, hands waiting: if she wanders absentmindedly, her thoughts elsewhere, if she lights a cigarette in a cafe, if she goes to the cinema alone, an unpleasant incident can quickly occur; she must inspire respect by the way she dresses and behaves: this concern rivets her to the ground and self. Her wings are clipped. At eighteen, T.E. Lawrence went on a grand tour through France by bicycle; a young girl would never be permitted to take on such an adventure...Yet such experiences have an inestimable impact: this is how an individual in the headiness of freedom and discovery learns to look at the entire world as his fief...[The girl] may feel alone within the world: she never stands up in front of it, unique and sovereign.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #12

    As far as I am concerned sexuality no longer exists. I used to call this indifference serenity: all at once I have come to see it in another light—it is a mutilation; it is the loss of a sense. The lack of it makes me blind to the needs, the pains, and the joys of those who do possess it.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #13

    As long as there have been men and they have lived, they have all felt this tragic ambiguity of their condition, but as long as there have been philosophers and they have thought, most of them have tried to mask it.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #14

    Be loved, be admired, be necessary; be somebody.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #15

    Being on the fringes of the world is not the best place for someone who intends to re-create it: here again, to go beyond the given, one must be deeply rooted in it. Personal accomplishments are almost impossible in human categories collectively kept in an inferior situation.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #16

    But an action which wants to serve man ought to be careful not to forget him on the way, if it chooses to fulfill itself blindly, it will lose its meaning or will take on an unforeseen meaning; for the goal is not fixed once & for all; it is defined all along the road which leads up to it.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #17

    But this element of failure is a very condition of his life; one can never dream of eliminating it without immediately dreaming of death. This does not mean that one should consent to failure, but rather one must consent to struggle against it without respite.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #18

    Capabilities are clearly manifested only when they have been realized.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #19

    Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #20

    Constituye una paradoja criminal rehusar a la mujer toda actividad pública, cerrarle las carreras masculinas, proclamar en todos los dominios su incapacidad y confiarle, al mismo tiempo, la empresa más delicada y más grave de cuantas existen...la formación de un ser humano.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #21

    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 Quote #22

    Dès l'origine de l'humanité, leur privilège biologique a permis aux mâles de s'affirmer seuls comme sujets souverains; ils n'ont jamais abdiqué ce privilège (...) Condamnée à jouer le rôle de l'Autre, la femme était aussi condamnée à ne posséder qu'une puissance précaire: esclave ou idole ce n'est jamais elle qui a choisi son lot.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #23

    Du jour où il nait, l'homme commence à mourir; c'est la vérité qu'incarne la Mère.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #24

    É completamente estúpido escrever cartas de amor, não pode ser transcrito através de uma simples carta, mas o que fazer quando este horrível oceano nos separa do homem que amamos?

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #25

    En tant qu'il existe pour soi l'enfant ne saurait se saisir comme sexuellement différencié. (...) C'est à travers les yeux, les mains, non par les paties sexuelles qu'ils appréhendent l'univers.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #26

    Ethics is the triumph of freedom over facticity.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #27

    Every war, every revolution, demands the sacrifice of a generation, of a collectivity, by those who undertake it.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #28

    Fathers never have exactly the daughters they want because they invent a notion a them that the daughters have to conform to.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #29

    Girls are weighed down by restrictions, boys with demands - two equally harmful disciplines.

  • Simone de Beauvoir Quote #30

    He reflected. 'I know a lot of different kids of people; what I want is to show each of them how the others really are. You hear so many lies!

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