56 Simone de Beauvoir Quotes (On Love, Feminism, Freedom)

**Top 10 Quotes - Love - Feminism - Freedom - Visual - Takeaways - Video - Further Readings** Here are 56 of the best quotes by Simone de Beauvoir. You'll gain insights into: - How to challenge social norms - How to live authentically - The value of intellectual autonomy - How to find meaning in your life Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) was: - A French writer, feminist, social theorist, and existential philosopher - Partner of Jean-Paul Sartre (Wikipedia) - Best known for her groundbreaking book *The Second Sex* - An active political activist championing women's rights If you believe in gender equality, responsibility, and freedom, you're in good hands. Enjoy reading her quotes as much as I did. Let's begin! **Top 10 Simone de Beauvoir Quotes** 1. "Self-knowledge is no guarantee of happiness, but it is on the side of happiness and can supply the courage to fight for it." 2. "Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay." 3. "One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman." 4. "To give space when what one most yearns for is closeness, that is both the great test and great tragedy of love." 5. "I take on a shape and an existence only if I first throw myself into the world by loving, by doing." 6. "The fact that we are human beings is infinitely more important than all the peculiarities that distinguish human beings from one another." 7. "I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth — and truth rewarded me." 8. "If the feminine issue is so absurd, is because the male’s arrogance made it 'a discussion'." 9. "Man can find a justification of his own existence only in the existence of other men." 10. "One’s life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion." **Simone de Beauvoir Quotes About Love** - "That’s what I consider true generosity: You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing." - "In itself, homosexuality is as limiting as heterosexuality: the ideal should be to be capable of loving a woman or a man; either, a human being, without feeling fear, restraint, or obligation." - "To catch a husband is an art; to hold him is a job." - "They were walking side by side, but each was alone." - "You’re unique like all other women." - "The word love has by no means the same sense for both sexes, and this is one cause of the serious misunderstandings that divide them." - "Authentic love must be founded on reciprocal recognition of two freedoms. For each of them, love would be the revelation of the self through the gift of the self and the enrichment of the universe." - "On the day when it will be possible for woman to love not in her weakness but in her strength, not to escape herself but to find herself, not to abase herself but to assert herself – on that day love will become for her, as for man, a source of life and not of mortal danger." - "Marriage is a career which brings about more benefits than many others." - "Love is then renunciation of all possession, of all confusion." **Simone de Beauvoir Quotes About Feminism** - "When an individual is kept in a situation of inferiority, the fact is that he does become inferior." - "When women act like women, they are accused of being inferior. When women act like human beings, they are accused of behaving like men." - "No one is more arrogant toward women, more aggressive or scornful, than the man who is anxious about his virility." - "It is perfectly natural for the future woman to feel indignant at the limitations posed upon her by her sex. The real question is not why she should reject them: the problem is rather to understand why she accepts them." - "Society, being codified by man, decrees that woman is inferior; she can do away with this inferiority only by destroying the male’s superiority." - "Woman has always been man’s dependent, if not his slave; the two sexes have never shaped the world in equality. And even today woman is heavily handicapped, though her situation is beginning to change." - "If so few female geniuses are found in history, it is because society denies them any means of expression." - "Girls are weighed down by restrictions, boys with demands – two equally harmful disciplines." - "The point is not for women simply to take power out of men’s hands, since that wouldn’t change anything about the world. It’s a question precisely of destroying that notion of power." - "That the child is the supreme aim of woman is a statement having precisely the value of an advertising slogan." **Simone de Beauvoir Quotes About Freedom** - "To will oneself free is also to will others free." - "All oppression creates a state of war." - "Her wings are cut and then she is blamed for not knowing how to fly." - "Anger or revolt that does not get into the muscles remains a figment of the imagination." - "I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom." - "To will oneself moral and to will oneself free are one and the same decision." - "No man can save himself alone." **More Quotes By Simone de Beauvoir** - "She was not to look beyond herself for the meaning of her life." - "Habit has a kind of poetry." - "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." - "What is an adult? A child blown up by age." - "One day I’ll be old, dead, forgotten." - "There is only one solution if old age is not to be an absurd parody of our former life, and that is to go on pursuing ends that give our existence a meaning." - "Society cares about the individual only in so far as he is profitable. The young know this. Their anxiety as they enter in upon social life matches the anguish of the old as they are excluded from it." - "Art is an attempt to integrate evil." - "In every society the artist or writer remains an outsider." - "When I was a child, when I was an adolescent, books saved me from despair: that convinced me that culture was the highest of values." - "To lose confidence in one’s body is to lose confidence in oneself." - "In the face of an obstacle which is impossible to overcome, stubbornness is stupid." - "The writer of originality, unless dead, is always shocking, scandalous; novelty disturbs and repels." - "I was made for another planet altogether. I mistook the way." - "Self-consciousness is not knowledge but a story one tells about oneself." **Visual for Simone de Beauvoir** *There is only one good. And that is to act according to the dictates of one’s conscience.* - Simone de Beauvoir **Key Takeaways From Simone de Beauvoir** Here are 5 simple things we can learn from Simone de Beauvoir: - **Think:** Emphasized the importance of questioning social norms and thinking critically about freedom, equality, and existence. - **Act:** Believed in taking responsibility for shaping one’s life through action, not passivity. - **Learn:** Valued continuous learning and growth, embracing challenges as opportunities for development. - **Love:** Championed authentic relationships rooted in mutual respect and freedom. - **Persist:** Showed that perseverance in the face of adversity is essential for meaningful change. **Video** Further Readings - Topic: Life - [100 One Word Quotes (For Quick Inspiration)] - [79 Positive Quotes To Uplift Yourself] - [100 Inspirational Quotes For Women To Empower You] **Simone de Beauvoir on Wikipedia** I hope you enjoyed these inspiring quotes by Simone de Beauvoir. If you did, please share them with a friend today! *Was this helpful?* *Submit* *Cancel* Thanks for your feedback! The post 56 Simone de Beauvoir Quotes (On Love, Feminism, Freedom) first appeared on Wisdom Quotes.