697 Quotes by Simone de Beauvoir

The feminine body is expected to be flesh, but discreetly so;

But the answer is obvious: it is easy to believe one is sovereign when alone, to believe oneself strong when carefully refusing to bear any burden.

The relation of woman to husband, of of daughter to father, of sister to brother, is a relation of vassalage.

she gives birth in pain, she heals males' wounds, she nurses the newborn and buries the dead; of man she knows all that offends his pride and humiliates his will. While inclining before him and submitting flesh to spirit, she remains on the carnal borders of the spirit; and she contests the sharpness of hard masculine architecture by softening the angles; she introduces free luxury and unforeseen grace.

Sorumlusu olmadığım halde, benim olan, hiçbir zaman da bağışlatamayacağım bir günahın, umutsuzluk içinde, cezasını çekiyordum.

Primitive people alienate themselves in their mana, their totem; civilized people in their individual souls, their egos, their names, their possessions, and their work: here is the first temptation of inauthenticity.

The little girl feels that her body is escaping her, that it is no longer the clear expression of her individuality: it becomes foreign to her; and at the same moment she is grasped by others as a thing: on the street, eyes follow her, her body is subject to comments; she would like to become invisible; she is afraid of becoming flesh and afraid to show her flesh.

Ningún hombre consentiría en ser mujer, pero todos desean que haya mujeres.

Taking without being taken in the anguish of becoming prey is the dangerous game of adolescent feminine sexuality.