TOPICS
SPEAKERS
HOME
BROWSE TOPICS
BROWSE SPEAKERS
◀ BACK

Simone de Beauvoir Quotes

Philosopher

Simone de Beauvoir was a French existentialist philosopher and feminist whose work challenged traditional notions of gender, identity, and freedom. Best known for her influential book *The Second Sex*, she examined the social and cultural forces that shape women’s lives, advocating for liberation and equality. The following quotes capture her revolutionary ideas on existence, the human condition, and the struggle for personal and social transformation.

; the man who does not "understand" a woman is happy to replace his subjective deficiency with an objective resistance; instead of admitting his ignorance, he recognizes the presence of a mystery exterior to himself: here is an excuse that flatters his laziness and vanity at the same time.
From The Second Sex
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, and compassion.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Today, however, we are having a hard time living because we are so bent on outwitting death.
From The Ethics of Ambiguity
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Two separate beings, in different circumstances, face to face in freedom and seeking justification of their existence through one another, will always live an adventure full of risk and promise." (p. 248)
From The Second Sex
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.
From The Second Sex
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Regardless of the staggering dimensions of the world about us, the density of our ignorance, the risks of catastrophes to come, and our individual weakness within the immense collectivity, the fact remains that we are absolutely free today if we choose to will our existence in its finiteness, a finiteness which is open on the infinite. And in fact, any man who has known real loves, real revolts, real desires, and real will knows quite well that he has no need of any outside guarantee to be sure of his goals; their certitude comes from his own drive.
From The Ethics of Ambiguity
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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.
From La vieillesse
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay.
From The Book of Positive Quotations
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
If so few female geniuses are found in history, it is because society denies them any means of expression.
From The Second Sex
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
That’s what I consider true generosity: You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Be loved, be admired, be necessary; be somebody.
From Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The fear of death never left me; I couldn't get used to the thought; I would still sometimes shake and weep with terror. By contrast, the fact of existence here and now sometimes took on a glorious splendour.
From Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I am awfully greedy; I want everything from life. I want to be a woman and to be a man, to have many friends and to have loneliness, to work much and write good books, to travel and enjoy myself, to be selfish and to be unselfish… You see, it is difficult to get all which I want. And then when I do not succeed I get mad with anger.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
; the man who does not "understand" a woman is happy to replace his subjective deficiency with an objective resistance; instead of admitting his ignorance, he recognizes the presence of a mystery exterior to himself: here is an excuse that flatters his laziness and vanity at the same time.
From The Second Sex
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, and compassion.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Today, however, we are having a hard time living because we are so bent on outwitting death.
From The Ethics of Ambiguity
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Two separate beings, in different circumstances, face to face in freedom and seeking justification of their existence through one another, will always live an adventure full of risk and promise." (p. 248)
From The Second Sex
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.
From The Second Sex
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Regardless of the staggering dimensions of the world about us, the density of our ignorance, the risks of catastrophes to come, and our individual weakness within the immense collectivity, the fact remains that we are absolutely free today if we choose to will our existence in its finiteness, a finiteness which is open on the infinite. And in fact, any man who has known real loves, real revolts, real desires, and real will knows quite well that he has no need of any outside guarantee to be sure of his goals; their certitude comes from his own drive.
From The Ethics of Ambiguity
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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.
From La vieillesse
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay.
From The Book of Positive Quotations
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
If so few female geniuses are found in history, it is because society denies them any means of expression.
From The Second Sex
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
That’s what I consider true generosity: You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Be loved, be admired, be necessary; be somebody.
From Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The fear of death never left me; I couldn't get used to the thought; I would still sometimes shake and weep with terror. By contrast, the fact of existence here and now sometimes took on a glorious splendour.
From Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I am awfully greedy; I want everything from life. I want to be a woman and to be a man, to have many friends and to have loneliness, to work much and write good books, to travel and enjoy myself, to be selfish and to be unselfish… You see, it is difficult to get all which I want. And then when I do not succeed I get mad with anger.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
; the man who does not "understand" a woman is happy to replace his subjective deficiency with an objective resistance; instead of admitting his ignorance, he recognizes the presence of a mystery exterior to himself: here is an excuse that flatters his laziness and vanity at the same time.
From The Second Sex
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, and compassion.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Today, however, we are having a hard time living because we are so bent on outwitting death.
From The Ethics of Ambiguity
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Two separate beings, in different circumstances, face to face in freedom and seeking justification of their existence through one another, will always live an adventure full of risk and promise." (p. 248)
From The Second Sex
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.
From The Second Sex
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Regardless of the staggering dimensions of the world about us, the density of our ignorance, the risks of catastrophes to come, and our individual weakness within the immense collectivity, the fact remains that we are absolutely free today if we choose to will our existence in its finiteness, a finiteness which is open on the infinite. And in fact, any man who has known real loves, real revolts, real desires, and real will knows quite well that he has no need of any outside guarantee to be sure of his goals; their certitude comes from his own drive.
From The Ethics of Ambiguity
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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.
From La vieillesse
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay.
From The Book of Positive Quotations
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
If so few female geniuses are found in history, it is because society denies them any means of expression.
From The Second Sex
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
That’s what I consider true generosity: You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Be loved, be admired, be necessary; be somebody.
From Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The fear of death never left me; I couldn't get used to the thought; I would still sometimes shake and weep with terror. By contrast, the fact of existence here and now sometimes took on a glorious splendour.
From Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I am awfully greedy; I want everything from life. I want to be a woman and to be a man, to have many friends and to have loneliness, to work much and write good books, to travel and enjoy myself, to be selfish and to be unselfish… You see, it is difficult to get all which I want. And then when I do not succeed I get mad with anger.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote