Quotes by Simone de Beauvoir

“One is not born a woman, one becomes one.”

“On the day when it will be possible for woman to love not in her weakness but in strength, not to escape herself but to find herself, not to abase herself but to assert herself -- on that day love will become for her, as for man, a source of life . . .”

“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.”

“The writer of originality, unless dead, is always shocking, scandalous; novelty disturbs and repels.”

“Ones life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion”

“Sex pleasure in woman is a kind of magic spell; it demands complete abandon; if words or movements oppose the magic of caresses, the spell is broken.”

“Why one man rather than another? It was odd. You find yourself involved with a fellow for life just because he was the one that you met when you were nineteen.”

“Life is occupied in both perpetuating itself and in surpassing itself; if all it does is maintain itself, then living is only not dying”

“The word love has by no means the same sense for both sexes, and this is one cause of the serious misunderstandings that divide them”

“I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth - and truth rewarded me.”

“Society cares for the individual only so far as he is profitable.”

“When an individual is kept in a situation of inferiority, the fact is that he does become inferior.”

“All oppression creates a state of war.”

“Representation of the world, like the world itself, is the work of men; they describe it from their own point of view, which they confuse with the absolute truth”

“However gifted an individual is at the outset, if his or her talents cannot be developed because of his or her social condition, because of the surrounding circumstances, these talents will be still-born”

“Its frightening to think that you mark your children merely by being yourself. It seems unfair. You cant assume the responsibility for everything you do -or dont do.”

“It is old age, rather than death, that is to be contrasted with life. Old age is lifes parody, whereas death transforms life into a destiny: in a way it preserves it by giving it the absolute dimension. Death does away with time.”

“You can explore the universe looking for somebody who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and you will not find that person anywhere.”

“Buying is a profound pleasure.”

“To catch a husband is an art; to hold him is a job.”