--- title: "5 Defined Quotes By Simone de Beauvoir" description: "5 Defined quotes by Simone de Beauvoir. Plus more from Simone de Beauvoir and more Defined sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/adf/simone-de-beauvoir-407_defined_existence-must-be-asserted-in-the-presen_175869.jpg" --- > [Existence must be asserted in the present if one does not want all life to be defined as an escape toward nothingness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/existence-must-be-asserted-in-the-present-if-one-does-not-want-all/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/adf/simone-de-beauvoir-407_defined_existence-must-be-asserted-in-the-presen_175869.jpg) > [The individual is defined only by his relationship to the world and to other individuals; he exists only by transcending himself, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/the-individual-is-defined-only-by-his-relationship-to-the-world-and/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b3/simone-de-beauvoir-407_defined_the-individual-is-defined-only-by-his-re_810115.jpg) > [From the very beginning, existentialism defined itself as a philosophy of ambiguity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/from-the-very-beginning-existentialism-defined-itself-as-a-philosophy/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f7/simone-de-beauvoir-407_ambiguity_from-the-very-beginning-existentialism-d_1196096.jpg) > [Obviously, everything has always been defined by the dominant ideology. But the dominant ideology has been able to accept women's literature as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/obviously-everything-has-always-been-defined-by-the-dominant-ideology/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f40/simone-de-beauvoir-407_able_obviously-everything-has-always-been-def_2784990.jpg) > [ They \[Americans\] want to believe that Good and Evil can be defined in precise categories, that Good is already, or will be… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/they-americans-want-to-believe-that-good-and-evil-can-be-defined-in/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/79b/simone-de-beauvoir-407_anti-god_they-americans-want-to-believe-that-good_3182940.jpg) ## Other authors on Defined ## More by Simone de Beauvoir > [The time that one gains cannot be accumulated in a storehouse; it is contradictory to want to save up existence, which, the fact is,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/the-time-that-one-gains-cannot-be-accumulated-in-a-storehouse-it-is/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius; and the feminine situation has up to the present rendered this becoming practically impossible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/one-is-not-born-a-genius-one-becomes-a-genius-and-the-feminine/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [Many things would be changed for Americans if they would only admit that there is ill-luck in this world and that misfortune is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/many-things-would-be-changed-for-americans-if-they-would-only-admit/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [“You said something very true the other day: that for us, nudity begins with the face.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/you-said-something-very-true-the-other-day-that-for-us-nudity-begins/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [“Ženama se ne rađamo, nego postajemo”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/enama-se-ne-ra-amo-nego-postajemo/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [Life is occupied in both perpetuating itself and in surpassing itself; if all it does is maintain itself, then living is only not dying.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/life-is-occupied-in-both-perpetuating-itself-and-in-surpassing-itself/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [Fathers never have exactly the daughters they want because they invent a notion a them that the daughters have to conform to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/fathers-never-have-exactly-the-daughters-they-want-because-they/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [However gifted an individual is at the outset, if his or her talents cannot be developed because of his or her social condition, because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/however-gifted-an-individual-is-at-the-outset-if-his-or-her-talents/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [In fact, people seem to be tired of fiction now. There are so many other ways of exploring humanity - by ethnology, psychoanalysis, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/in-fact-people-seem-to-be-tired-of-fiction-now-there-are-so-many/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [Feminism is one way of attacking society as it now exists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/feminism-is-one-way-of-attacking-society-as-it-now-exists/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [“Magari mi troverai ridicola, ma mi disprezzerei se non osassi esserlo mai”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/magari-mi-troverai-ridicola-ma-mi-disprezzerei-se-non-osassi-esserlo/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [from one minute to the next the present is merely an honorary past. It must be filled unceasingly anew to dissemble the curse it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/from-one-minute-to-the-next-the-present-is-merely-an-honorary-past-it/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [I am awfully greedy; I want everything from life. I want to be a woman and to be a man, to have many friends…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/i-am-awfully-greedy-i-want-everything-from-life-i-want-to-be-a-woman/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [“I enjoyed my exhaustion, though; I liked overdoing things”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/i-enjoyed-my-exhaustion-though-i-liked-overdoing-things/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [“But I miss you to the point of anguish.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/but-i-miss-you-to-the-point-of-anguish/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defined/simone-de-beauvoir/#itemlist", "name": "5 Defined Quotes By Simone de Beauvoir", "numberOfItems": 5, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Existence must be asserted in the present if one does not want all life to be defined as an escape toward nothingness.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Simone de Beauvoir" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/existence-must-be-asserted-in-the-present-if-one-does-not-want-all/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/adf/simone-de-beauvoir-407_defined_existence-must-be-asserted-in-the-presen_175869.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/adf/simone-de-beauvoir-407_defined_existence-must-be-asserted-in-the-presen_175869.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/adf/simone-de-beauvoir-407_defined_existence-must-be-asserted-in-the-presen_175869.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Existence must be asserted in the present if one does not want all life to be defined as an escape toward…” — Simone de Beauvoir", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The individual is defined only by his relationship to the world and to other individuals; he exists only by transcending himself, and his freedom can be achieved only through the freedom of others. 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But the dominant ideology has been able to accept women's literature as well as men's literature. I would say that women have been hindered from creating for a variety of reasons, as Virginia Woolf so admirably explained in A Room of One's Own. When they have created, on the whole they have been recognized. 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