 |
Acceptance
|
|
To make oneself an object, to make oneself passive, is a very different thing from being a passive object.
-Simone de Beauvoir
|
|
Age
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
It is old age, rather than death, that is to be contrasted with life. Old age is life's 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.
-Simone de Beauvoir
|
|
Art
|
|
|
In order for the artist to have a world to express he must first be situated in this world, oppressed or oppressing, resigned or rebellious, a man among men.
-Simone de Beauvoir
|
|
Change
|
|
|
Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay.
-Simone de Beauvoir
|
|
Equality
|
|
|
The most mediocre of males feels himself a demigod as compared with women.
-Simone de Beauvoir
|
|
Genius
|
|
|
One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius.
-Simone de Beauvoir
|
|
Guilt
|
|
|
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
|
|
Home
|
|
|
The ideal of happiness has always taken material form in the house, whether cottage or castle; it stands for permanence and separation from the world.
-Simone de Beauvoir
|
|
Marriage
|
|
|
To catch a husband is an art; to hold him is a job.
-Simone de Beauvoir
|
|
|
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.
-Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, bk. 2, pt. 5, ch. 2 (1949)
|
|
Maturity
|
|
|
What is an adult? A child blown up by age.
-Simone de Beauvoir
|
|
Men & Women
|
|
|
Let women be provided with living strength of their own. Let them have the means to attack the world and wrest from it their own subsistence, and their dependence will be abolished -- that of man also.
-Simone de Beauvoir
|
|
|
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...
-Simone de Beauvoir
|
|
Oppression
|
|
|
All oppression creates a state of war.
-Simone de Beauvoir
|
|
Parenting
|
|
|
It's frightening to think that you mark your children merely by being yourself. It seems unfair. You can't assume the responsibility for everything you do --or don't do.
-Simone de Beauvoir
|
|
Retirement
|
|
|
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
|
|
Service
|
|
|
One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion.
-Simone de Beauvoir
|
|
Sex
|
|
|
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.
-Simone de Beauvoir
|
|
Shopping
|
|
|
Buying is a profound pleasure.
-Simone de Beauvoir
|
|
Society
|
|
|
Society cares for the individual only so far as he is profitable.
-Simone de Beauvoir
|
|
Stubbornness
|
|
|
In the face of an obstacle which is impossible to overcome, stubbornness is stupid.
-Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity, 1948
|
|
Truth
|
|
|
I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for the truth; and truth rewarded me.
-Simone de Beauvoir
|
|
War
|
|
|
If you live long enough, you'll see that every victory turns into a defeat.
-Simone de Beauvoir, All Men are Mortal, 1946
|
|
Women
|
|
|
When an individual is kept in a situation of inferiority, the fact is that he does become inferior.
-Simone de Beauvoir
|
Books by and about Simone de Beauvoir