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"50 Simone de Beauvoir Quotes & Sayings

      French     /     View profile
Born: 9 January 1908. Died: 14 April 1986 | Writer | Philosopher | Activist | Feminist |

One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.

One Born Becomes Woman
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One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others.

One's Life Value Others
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All oppression creates a state of war. And this is no exception.

Oppression Creates War Exception
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That's what I consider true generosity: You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.

Generosity Feel Costs Nothing
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A man attaches himself to woman -- not to enjoy her, but to enjoy himself.

Man Woman Enjoy Himself
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To lose confidence in one’s body is to lose confidence in oneself.

Lose Confidence Body Oneself
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Be loved, be admired, be necessary; be somebody.
Loved Admired Necessary Somebody
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To catch a husband is an art; to hold him is a job.

Catch Husband Art Job
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If you live long enough, you'll see that every victory turns into a defeat.

Live Long enoughVictory Defeat
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Man is defined as a human being and a woman as a female — whenever she behaves as a human being she is said to imitate the male.

Man Human being Woman Male
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The body is not a thing, it is a situation: it is our grasp on the world and our sketch of our project

Body Situation World Project
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I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom.

Wish Human life Transparent Freedom
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Capabilities are clearly manifested only when they have been realized.

Capabilities Clearly Manifested Realized
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Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay.
Change Life Future Act now
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I could see no reason for being sad. It's just that it makes me unhappy not to feel happy.

Reason Sad Unhappy Feel
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Women's mutual understanding comes from the fact that they identify themselves with each other; but for the same reason each is against the others.

Women's Understanding Identify Reason
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Today, however, we are having a hard time living because we are so bent on outwitting death.

Today Hard time Living Death
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Some things I loved have vanished. A great many others have been given to me

Some things Loved Great Given
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A day in which I don't write leaves a taste of ashes.

Day Write Taste Ashes
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To abstain from politics is in itself a political attitude.

Abstain Politics Attitude
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People seem to think that if you keep your head empty you automatically fill your balls.

People Think Empty Fill
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Self-consciousness is not knowledge but a story one tells about oneself.

Self-consciousness Knowledge Story Oneself
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Freedom is the source from which all significations and all values spring. It is the original condition of all justification of existence.

Freedom Source Values Existence
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To paint, to write, to engage in politics—these are not merely ‘sublimations’; here we have aims that are willed for their own sakes. To deny it is to falsify all human history.

Paint Write Falsify History
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Mystery is never more than a mirage that vanishes as we draw near to look at it

Mystery Mirage Vanishes Look
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Man must not attempt to dispel the ambiguity of his being but, on the contrary, accept the task of realizing it.

Man Attempt Accept Task
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Self-knowledge is no guarantee of happiness, but it is on the side of happiness and can supply the courage to fight for it

Knowledge Happiness Courage Fight
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I went to get a detective story. You have to kill time. But time will kill me too - and there's the true, preestablished balance.

Story Time True Balance
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The characteristic feature of all ethics is to consider human life as a game that can be won or lost and to teach man the means of winning.

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

Justification Existence Indefinitely Future
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Every war, every revolution, demands the sacrifice of a generation, of a collectivity, by those who undertake it

War Revolution Sacrifice Generation
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That the child is the supreme aim of woman is a statement having precisely the value of an advertising slogan.

Child Aim Woman Value
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The whole world was nothing but an exile with no hope of a return.

World Nothing Exile Hope
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To will oneself moral and to will oneself free are one and the same decision
Will Moral Free Decision
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It is so tiring to hate someone you love

Tiring Hate Someone Love
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I think that where you go wrong is that you imagine that your reasons for living ought to fall on you, ready-made from heaven, whereas we have to find them for ourselves.

Imagine Reasons Living Find
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Weakness' is weakness only in light of the aims man sets for himself, the instruments at his disposal and the laws he imposes.

Weakness Aims Man Laws
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Life is occupied in both perpetuating itself and in surpassing itself; if all it does is maintain itself, then living is only not dying.

Life Occupied Living Dying
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I realized that even if we went on talking till Judgment Day, I would still find the time all too short.

Realized Talking Time Short
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But women do not say 'We', except at some congress of feminists or similar formal demonstration; men say 'women', and women use the same word in referring to themselves.

Women Congress Feminists Demonstration
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All success cloaks a surrender

Success Cloaks Surrender
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Youth and what the Italians so prettily call stamina. The vigor, the fire, that enables you to love and create. When you've lost that, you've lost everything.

Youth Vigor Fire Love
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Oppression tries to defend itself by its utility

Oppression Defend Itself Utility
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…but all day long I would be training myself to think, to understand, to criticize, to know myself; I was seeking for the absolute truth: this preoccupation did not exactly encourage polite conversation

Day Training Think Truth
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She was ready to deny the existence of space and time rather than admit that love might not be eternal.

Deny Existence Time Love
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I am too intelligent, too demanding, and too resourceful for anyone to be able to take charge of me entirely. No one knows me or loves me completely. I have only myself

Intelligent Charge Loves Myself
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I am incapable of conceiving infinity, and yet I do not accept finity. I want this adventure that is the context of my life to go on without end.

Infinity Adventure Life End
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What an odd thing a diary is: the things you omit are more important than those you put in.

Odd Things Omit Important
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I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth - and truth rewarded me.

Myself Comfort Love Truth
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It is in the knowledge of the genuine conditions of our lives that we must draw our strength to live and our reasons for living

Knowledge Conditions Lives Strength
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Simone de Beauvoir Quotes & Sayings