It was easier for me to think of a world without a creator than of a creator loaded with all the contradictions of the world. Simone de Beauvoir More Quotes by Simone de Beauvoir More Quotes From Simone de Beauvoir …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. Simone de Beauvoir training long thinking Sex pleasure in woman is a kind of magic spell; it demands complete abandon; if words or movements oppose the magic of caresses, the spell is broken. Simone de Beauvoir magic broken sex It is in great part the anxiety of being a woman that devastates the feminine body. Simone de Beauvoir being-a-woman anxiety body Oppression tries to defend itself by its utility. Simone de Beauvoir utility oppression trying She was ready to deny the existence of space and time rather than admit that love might not be eternal. Simone de Beauvoir space love romantic It's only arrogance if you're wrong. Simone de Beauvoir arrogance ifs 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. It is even more deceptive to dream of gaining through the child a plenitude, a warmth, a value, which one is unable to create for oneself; the child brings joy only to the woman who is capable of disinterestedly desiring the happiness of another, to one who without being wrapped up in self seeks to transcend her own existence. Simone de Beauvoir marriage dream children I would certainly like to see some young women take up psychoanalysis seriously and reconstruct it from an absolutely new viewpoint. Simone de Beauvoir young-women viewpoints young If you live long enough, you'll see that every victory turns into a defeat. Simone de Beauvoir victory war long The nearer I come to the end of my days, the more I am enabled to see that strange thing, a life, and to see it whole. Simone de Beauvoir aging strange ends However gifted an individual is at the outset, if his or her talents cannot be developed because of his or her social condition, because of the surrounding circumstances, these talents will be still-born. Simone de Beauvoir individuality talent social In a way, literature is true than life,' he said to himself. 'On paper, you say exactly and completely what you feel. How easy it is to break things off on paper! You hate, you shout, you kill, you commit suicide; you carry things to the very end. And that's why it's false. But it's damned satisfying. In life, you're constantly denying yourself, and others are always contradicting you. On paper, I make time stand still and I impose my convictions on the whole world; they become the only reality. Simone de Beauvoir hate suicide reality Old age was growing inside me. It kept catching my eye from the depths of the mirror. I was paralyzed sometimes as I saw it making its way toward me so steadily when nothing inside me was ready for it. Simone de Beauvoir mirrors eye age No existence can be validly fulfilled if it is limited to itself. Simone de Beauvoir fulfilled existence existential 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. Simone de Beauvoir ignorance real philosophy One can hardly tell women that washing up saucepans is their divine mission, [so] they are told that bringing up children is their divine mission. But the way things are in the world, bringing up children has a great deal in common with washing up saucepans. Simone de Beauvoir women children world It is not in giving life but in risking life that man is raised above the animal; that is why superiority has been accorded in humanity not to the sex that brings forth but to that which kills. Simone de Beauvoir life death sex It's not a very big step from contentment to complacency. Simone de Beauvoir complacency contentment steps To emancipate woman is to refuse to confine her to the relations she bears to man, not to deny them to her; let her have her independent existence and she will continue nonetheless to exist for him also: mutually recognising each other as subject, each will yet remain for the other an other...when we abolish the slavery of half of humanity, together with the whole system of hypocrisy that it implies, then the 'division' of humanity will reveal its genuine significance and the human couple will find its true form. Simone de Beauvoir independent couple men To be oneself, simply oneself, is so amazing and utterly unique an experience that it's hard to convince oneself so singular a thing happens to everybody. Simone de Beauvoir convince unique happens
