Simone de Beauvoir

There is no justification for present existence other than its expansion into an indefinitely open future.

— Simone de Beauvoir

All the idols made by man, however terrifying they may be, are in point of fact subordinate to him, and that is…

— Simone de Beauvoir

“Representation of the world, like the world itself, is the work of men; they describe it from their own point of view,…

— Simone de Beauvoir

“Não há salvação. Nem mesmo a embriagez do desespero e a resolução cega, porque tu estás aí, nessa cama, na luz selvagem…

— Simone de Beauvoir

For me, the problem of time is linked up with that of death, with the thought that we inevitably draw closer and…

— Simone de Beauvoir

It must be said in addition that the men with the most scrupulous respect for embryonic life are also those who are…

— Simone de Beauvoir

It's frightening to think that you mark your children merely by being yourself. It seems unfair. You can't assume the responsibility for…

— Simone de Beauvoir

Hegel held that the two sexes were of necessity different, the one being active and the other passive, and of course the…

— Simone de Beauvoir

The past is not a peaceful landscape lying there behind me, a country in which I can stroll wherever I please, and…

— Simone de Beauvoir

Man is defined as a human being and a woman as a female - whenever she behaves as a human being she…

— Simone de Beauvoir

As long as there have been men and they have lived, they have all felt this tragic ambiguity of their condition, but…

— Simone de Beauvoir

I don't want to be just another blade of grass.

— Simone de Beauvoir

It is in great part the anxiety of being a woman that devastates the feminine body.

— Simone de Beauvoir

We always come back to the same vicious circle - an extreme degree of material or intellectual poverty does away with the…

— Simone de Beauvoir

Retirement revives the sorrow of parting, the feeling of abandonment, solitude and uselessness that is caused by the loss of some beloved…

— Simone de Beauvoir

But I must admit I didn´t like that idea; do the same thing as everyone else. Eating to live, living to eat…

— Simone de Beauvoir

Sometimes speech is no more than a device for saying nothing - and a neater one than silence.

— Simone de Beauvoir

To be a woman, if not a defect, is at least a peculiarity.

— Simone de Beauvoir

Society turns away from the aged worker as though he belonged to another species. That is why the whole question is buried…

— Simone de Beauvoir

Between women love is contemplative; caresses are intended less to gain possession of the other than gradually to re-create the self through…

— Simone de Beauvoir

The state of emotional intoxication allows one to grasp existence in one's self and in the other, as both subjectivity and passivity.…

— Simone de Beauvoir

“The fact is that the individual, though its genotypic sex is fixed at fertilisation, can be profoundly affected by the environment in…

— Simone de Beauvoir

You can't assume the responsibility for everything you do or don't do.

— Simone de Beauvoir

“Nu-mi placea, in continuare, idea de casatorie. [...] "Seara in pat, nu poti nici macar sa plangi in voie daca ai chef!"…

— Simone de Beauvoir

Choice springs from the totality of the person. Thus, to study, to analyze what a person is, does not eliminate the idea…

— Simone de Beauvoir