697 Quotes by Simone de Beauvoir

Economically, men and women almost form two castes; all things being equal, the former have better jobs, higher wages, and greater chances to succeed than their new female competitors; they occupy many more places in industry, in politics, and so forth, and they hold the most important positions.

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.

If I were to share Jaques’ existence I would find it hard to hold my own against him, for already I found his nihilism contagious.

The nearer I come to the end of my days, the more I am enabled to see that strange thing, a life, and to see it whole...

Uno no puede responder con nada a la ausencia.

She offered her mouth to him, as if enchanted. A Persian princess, a little Indian, a fox, a morning glory, a lovely wisteria – it always pleased them when you told them they looked like something, like something else.

Everything that men have written about women should be viewed with suspicion, because they are both judge and party,’ wrote Poulain de la Barre,11 a little-known seventeenth-century feminist.

Have you ever felt in your inmost being, the conscience of others?′ again she was trembling, the words were not releasing her. ‘It’s intolerable you know.

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.