“...her wings are cut and then she is blamed for not knowing how to fly.” — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
The most sympathetic of men never fully comprehend woman's concrete situation. — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
“The facts of religion were convincing only to those who were already convinced.” — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
The American woman's inequality with men is proved by her defiant attitude. — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
When an individual (or a group of individuals) is kept in a situation of inferiority, the fact is that he is inferior. — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
I am not at all for a feminism which is entirely separatist, which would say, "this domain is purely for women." I… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
The emancipation of women must be the work of women themselves, independent of the class struggle. — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
Man is defined as a human being and a woman as a female - whenever she behaves as a human being she… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
Women's mutual understanding comes from the fact that they identify themselves with each other; but for the same reason each is against… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
“Girls are weighed down by restrictions, boys with demands - two equally harmful disciplines.” — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
“A man never begins by presenting himself as an individual of a certain sex; it goes without saying that he is a… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
When women act like women, they are accused of being inferior. When women act like human beings, they are accused of behaving… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
There was a time, in the nineteenth century, for example, when women spoke mostly about the house, children, birth, and so forth,… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
There are topics which are common to men and women. I think that if a woman speaks of oppression, of misery, she… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
“We will not let ourselves be intimidated by the number and violence of attacks against women; nor be fooled by the self-serving… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
Woman has always been man's dependent, if not his slave; the two sexes have never shaped the world in equality. And even… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
It's true that this is one of the problems which often arises among my radical, revolutionary feminist friends: Do you have to… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
Truthfully speaking, women are dangerous, even those who aren't feminists, because there has always been a women's revolt. Only it has usually… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
“The man most sympathetic to women never knows her concrete situation fully. So there is no good reason to believe men when… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
“Women- except in abstract gatherings such as conferences- do not use "we"; men say "women," and women adopt this word to refer… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
To emancipate woman is to refuse to confine her to the relations she bears to man, not to deny them to her;… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
Most feminists in France came to feminism after '68 as a result of the hypocrisy they experienced in leftist movements. In these… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
I believe that we must use language. If it is used in a feminist perspective, with a feminist sensibility, language will find… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
“In oppressing, one becomes oppressed. Men are enchained by reason of their very sovereignty; it is because they alone earn money that… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
“In our opinion, there is no public good other than one that assures the citizens' private good; we judge institutions from the… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
“Woman has ovaries and a uterus; such are the particular conditions that lock her in her subjectivity; some even say she thinks… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
“How could van Gogh have been born woman? A woman would not have been sent on mission to Boringe, she would not… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
“Misogynists have often reproached intellectual women for 'letting themselves go'; but they also preach to them: if you want to be our… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
“The fact is that men encounter more complicity in their woman companions than the oppressor usually finds in the oppressed; and in… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
“The proletariat could plan to massacre the whole ruling class; a fanatic Jew or black could dream of seizing the secret of… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
A man is in the right in being a man; it is the woman who is in the wrong. — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
No one is more arrogant toward women, more aggressive or scornful, than the man who is anxious about his virility. — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
The time that one gains cannot be accumulated in a storehouse; it is contradictory to want to save up existence, which, the fact is,… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius; and the feminine situation has up to the present rendered this becoming practically impossible. — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
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… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
“You said something very true the other day: that for us, nudity begins with the face.” — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
Life is occupied in both perpetuating itself and in surpassing itself; if all it does is maintain itself, then living is only not dying. — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
However gifted an individual is at the outset, if his or her talents cannot be developed because of his or her social condition, because… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
In fact, people seem to be tired of fiction now. There are so many other ways of exploring humanity - by ethnology, psychoanalysis, and… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
“Magari mi troverai ridicola, ma mi disprezzerei se non osassi esserlo mai” — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image
from one minute to the next the present is merely an honorary past. It must be filled unceasingly anew to dissemble the curse it… — Simone de Beauvoir Copy Share Image