Simone de Beauvoir Quotes

French philosopher, social theorist and activist (1908–1986)

Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French author and existentialist philosopher. She is now most famous for her 1949 treatise The Second Sex [Le Deuxième Sexe], a detailed analysis of women's oppression and a foundational tract of contemporary feminism, and her long personal relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre.

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Pen Names: Le Castor

Alternative Names: Simone-Lucie-Ernestine-Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir • Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir • Castor

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After wars peace, after peace, another war. Every day men are born and others die.

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

[C]'est la vraie générosité ; vous donnez tout et rien ne semble jamais vous coûter.

Were we really more advanced than the alchemists of Carmona? We had brought to light certain facts that they were not aware of, we had organised them into the right order; but had we advanced even a step nearer to the mysterious heart of the universe?

It is impossible to do anything for anyone.

What has value in their eyes is never what is done for them; it's what they do for themselves.

What did today's sacrifices matter: the Universe lay ahead in the future. What did burnings at the stake and massacres matter? The Universe was somewhere else, always somewhere else! And it isn't anywhere: there are only men, men eternally divided.

There is only one good. And that is to act according to the dictates of one's conscience.

It was as though some stubborn god spent their time in an immutable and absurd balancing act between life and death, prosperity and poverty.

For the first time in my life, I took part in a real battle between men. The dead did not come to life again, the vanquished fled in disorder; every thrust of my lance helped save Carmona. That day, I would have died with a smile on my lips, certain of having contributed to a triumphant future for my city.

Even the children of Carmona were divided into two camps, and below the ramparts, among the brushwood and rocks, we battled with stones shouting "Long live the duke!" and others, "Down with the tyrant!" We fought viciously, but I was never satisfied with this game — the fallen enemy rose again, the dead came back to life. The day after a battle, victors and vanquished both found themselves unharmed.

I was born in Italy on the 17th May 1279 in a castle in the city of Carmona.

You're unique like all other women.

They were walking side by side, but each was alone.

Dare to believe me. Dare!