Best Simone De Beauvoir Quotes

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.

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.

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

To make oneself an object, to make oneself passive, is a very different thing from being a passive object.

One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Retirement may be looked upon either as a prolonged holiday or as a rejection, a being thrown on to the scrap-heap.

One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion.

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

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

The most mediocre of males feels himself a demigod as compared with women.

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.