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Date of Birth
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09-January-1908
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Place of Birth
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Paris
(ÃŽle-de-France, France, Seine)
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Nationality
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France
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Also know as
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Simone-Lucie-Ernestine-Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir, Castor
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Profession
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Writer, Philosopher, Novelist
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Quotes
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- When an individual is kept in a situation of inferiority, the fact is that he does become inferior.
- In order for the artist to have a world to express he must first be situated in this world, oppressed or oppressing, resigned or rebellious, a man among men.
- It is old age, rather than death, that is to be contrasted with life. Old age is life's parody, whereas death transforms life into a destiny: in a way it preserves it by giving it the absolute dimension. Death does away with time.
- Buying is a profound pleasure.
- To make oneself an object, to make oneself passive, is a very different thing from being a passive object.
- One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion.
- To catch a husband is an art; to hold him is a job.
- One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius.
- It's frightening to think that you mark your children merely by being yourself. It seems unfair. You can't assume the responsibility for everything you do --or don't do.
- Society cares for the individual only so far as he is profitable.
- 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.
- What is an adult? A child blown up by age.
- Retirement may be looked upon either as a prolonged holiday or as a rejection, a being thrown on to the scrap-heap.
- 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.
- Since it is the Other within us who is old, it is natural that the revelation of our age should come to us from outside --from others. We do not accept it willingly.
- All oppression creates a state of war.
- The most mediocre of males feels himself a demigod as compared with women.
- Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay.
- Defending the truth is not something one does out of a sense of duty or to allay guilt complexes, but is a reward in itself.
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Simone-Lucie-Ernestine-Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir, commonly known as Simone de Beauvoir, was a French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist and social theorist. She did not consider herself a philosopher but she had a significant influence on both feminist existentialism and feminist theory. Beauvoir wrote novels, essays, biographies, an autobiography and monographs on philosophy, politics and social issues. She is best known for her novels, including She Came to Stay and The Mandarins, as well as her 1949 treatise The Second Sex, a detailed analysis of women's oppression and a foundational tract of contemporary feminism.
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