If I want to define myself, I first have to say, “I am a woman”; all other assertions will arise from this basic truth. A man never begins by positin… - Simone de Beauvoir

A man never begins by presenting himself as an individual of a certain sex; it goes without saying that he is a man.

Life is occupied in both perpetuating itself and in surpassing itself; if all it does is maintain itself, then living is only not dying.

Existence asserts itself as an absolute which must seek its justification within itself and not suppress itself. To attain this truth, man must not attempt to dispel the ambiguity of his being but, on the contrary, accept the task of realizing it.

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?