The emancipation of women must be the work of women themselves, independent of the class struggle. Simone de Beauvoir More Quotes by Simone de Beauvoir More Quotes From Simone de Beauvoir I'm not against mothers. I am against the ideology which expects every woman to have children, and I'm against the circumstances under which mothers have to have their children. Simone de Beauvoir circumstances mother children When we abolish the slavery of half of humanity, together with the whole system of hypocrisy it implies, then the "division" of humanity will reveal its genuine significance and the human couple will find its true form. Simone de Beauvoir diversity couple justice The writer of originality, unless dead, is always shocking, scandalous; novelty disturbs and repels. Simone de Beauvoir bad-ass powerful writing There is something in the New York air that makes sleep useless. Simone de Beauvoir new-york sleep travel Capabilities are clearly manifested only when they have been realized. Simone de Beauvoir capability has-beens To be moral is to discover fundamentally ones own being. Simone de Beauvoir moral immortality is a terrible curse. Simone de Beauvoir curse immortality terrible Society cares for the individual only so far as he is profitable. Simone de Beauvoir society care inspirational The notion of ambiguity must not be confused with that of absurdity. To declare that existence is absurd is to deny that it can ever be given a meaning; to say that it is ambiguous is to assert that its meaning is never fixed, that it must be constantly won. Absurdity challenges every ethics; but also the finished rationalization of the real would leave no room for ethics; it is because man's condition is ambiguous that he seeks, through failure and outrageousness, to save his existence. Simone de Beauvoir confused real men Man is a talking animal and he will always let himself be swayed by the power of the word. Machines won't change human nature. Simone de Beauvoir animal talking men Let women be provided with living strength of their own. Simone de Beauvoir strength A life is such a strange object, at one moment translucent, at another utterly opaque, an object I make with my own hands, an object imposed on me, an object for which the world provides the raw material and then steals it from me again, pulverized by events, scattered, broken, scored yet retaining its unity; how heavy it is and how inconsistent: this contradiction breeds many misunderstandings. Simone de Beauvoir unity broken hands Eating, sleeping, cleaning - the years no longer rise up toward heaven, they lie spread out ahead, gray and identical. The battle against dust and dirt is never won. Washing, ironing, sweeping, ferreting out rolls of lint from under wardrobes - all this halting of decay is also the denial of life; for time simultaneously creates and destroys, and only its negative aspect concerns the housekeeper. Simone de Beauvoir dust sleep lying If the feminine issue is so absurd, is because the male's arrogance made it "a discussion Simone de Beauvoir males issues arrogance I realized that even if we went on talking till Judgment Day, I would still find the time all too short. Simone de Beauvoir judgment too-short talking He reflected. 'I know a lot of different kids of people; what I want is to show each of them how the others really are. You hear so many lies! Simone de Beauvoir kids lying people 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) Simone de Beauvoir risk adventure two The ideal of happiness has always taken material form in the house, whether cottage or castle; it stands for permanence and separation from the world. Simone de Beauvoir taken house home Few tasks are more like the torture of Sisyphus than housework, with its endless repetition: the clean becomes soiled, the soiled is made clean, over and over, day after day. Simone de Beauvoir cleaning endless tasks The fact that we are human beings is infinitely more important than all the peculiarities that distinguish human beings from one another. Simone de Beauvoir helping-others humanity people