102 quotes
I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth — and truth rewarded me.
All Said and Done (1972)
Self-knowledge is no guarantee of happiness, but it is on the side of happiness and can supply the courage to fight for it.
Force of Circumstances Vol. III (1963)
I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom.
The Blood of Others [Le sang des autres (1946)
One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius; and the feminine situation has up to the present rendered this becoming practically impossible.
The Second Sex (1949)
One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.
The Second Sex (1949)
Society cares about the individual only in so far as he is profitable. The young know this. Their anxiety as they enter in upon social life matches the anguish of the old as they are excluded from it.
The Coming of Age (1970)
One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion.
The Coming of Age (1970)
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.
The Coming of Age (1970)
To will oneself moral and to will oneself free are one and the same decision.
Pour une morale de l'ambiguïté (1947)
It was said that I refused to grant any value to the maternal instinct and to love. This was not so.
Force of Circumstances Vol. III (1963)
The present enshrines the past—and in the past all history has been made by men.
The Second Sex (1949)
What has value in their eyes is never what is done for them; it's what they do for themselves.
All Men are Mortal (1946)
One is not born a woman: one becomes one.
Le deuxiéme sexe (1949)
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.
The Second Sex (1949)
He walks in the street, a picture of modesty in his felt hat and his gabardine suit, and all the while he's thinking, "I'm immortal." The world is his, time is his, and I'm nothing but an insect.
All Men are Mortal (1946)
To "catch" a husband is an art; to "hold" him is a job.
The Second Sex (1949)
There is an element of failure in all success.
It is impossible to do anything for anyone.
All Men are Mortal (1946)
Cooking is revelation and creation; and a woman can find special satisfaction in a successful cake or a flaky pastry, for not every one can do it: one must have the gift.
The Second Sex (1949)
I'm never afraid. But in my case it's nothing to be proud of.
All Men are Mortal (1946)