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Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir Quotes

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Famous Simone de Beauvoir Quotes

“Even today in western countries, among women who have not had in their work an apprenticeship of freedom, there are still many who take shelter in the shadow of men; they adopt without discussion the opinions and values recognized by their husband or their lover, and that allows them to develop childish qualities which are forbidden to adults because they are based on a feeling of irresponsibility”

FreedomFeminismComplicity
Book:The Ethics of Ambiguity
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“Woman has ovaries and a uterus; such are the particular conditions that lock her in her subjectivity; some even say she thinks with her hormones. Man vainly forgets that his anatomy also contains hormones and testicles. He grasps his body as a direct and normal link with the world that he believes he apprehends in all objectivity, whereas he considers woman's body an obstacle, a prison, burdened by everything that particularizes it.”

Feminism
Book:The Second Sex
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“The fact is that men encounter more complicity in their woman companions than the oppressor usually finds in the oppressed; and in bad faith they use it as a pretext to declare that woman wanted the destiny they imposed on her. We have seen that in reality her whole education conspires to bar her from paths of revolt and adventure; all of society - beginning with her respected parents - lies to her in extolling the high value of love, devotion, and the gift of self and in concealing the fact that neither lover, husband nor children will be disposed to bear the burdensome responsibility of it. She cheerfully accepts these lies because they invite her to take the easy slope: and that is the worst of the crimes committed against her; from her childhood and throughout her life, she is spoiled, she is corrupted by the fact that this resignation, tempting to any existent anxious about her freedom, is mean to be her vocation; if one encourages a child to be lazy by entertaining him all day, without giving him the occasion to study, without showing him its value, no one will say when he reaches the age of man that he chose to be incapable and ignorant; this is how the woman is raised, without ever being taught the necessity of assuming her own existence; she readily lets herself count on the protection, love, help and guidance of others; she lets herself be fascinated by the hope of being able to realise her being without doing anything. She is wrong to yield to this temptation; but the man is ill advised to reproach her for it since it is he himself who tempted her.”

Feminism
Book:The Second Sex
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“If men were content to love a peer instead of a slave — as indeed some men do who are without either arrogance or an inferiority complex — then women would be far less obsessed with their femininity; they would become more natural and simple and would easily rediscover themselves as women, which, after all, they are.”

Inspirational QuotesFeminismNon FictionFeminism QuotesSociology QuotesPhilosophical QuotesQuestioning Society
Book:Extracts From: The Second Sex
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“Avviene una cosa strana: fino a diciannove anni e piú, le ragazze, ora, seguono gli stessi studi dei fratelli, leggono gli stessi libri, s'interessano del mondo, di politica. Acquisiscono l'amore del rischio, dell'avventura. E poi, di colpo, il loro slancio si arresta. A volte la famiglia non intende spendere per gli studi di una figlia quanto avrebbe speso per quelli d'un figlio. A volte la ragazza si spaventa un po', pensa: mi considereranno una di quelle intellettuali aggressive, non troverò marito. Ci sono quelle che dicono: lavorerò per due-tre anni, poi mi sposerò... Finiscono, insomma, nella mediocrità?”

FeminismWomen Empowerment
Book:Quando tutte le donne del mondo...
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“Une porte fermé, quelque chose qui guette derrière. Elle ne s'ouvrira pas si je ne bouge pas. Ne pas bouger; jamais. Arrêter le temps et la vie. Mais je sais que je bougerai. La porte s'ouvrira lentement et je verrai ce qu'il y a derrière la porte. C'est l'avenir. La porte de l'avenir va s'ouvrir. Lentement. Implacablement. Je suis sur le seuil. Il n'y a que cette porte et ce qui guette derrière. J'ai peur. Et je ne peux appeler personne au secours. J'ai peur.”

FeminismFiction WritingNovella
Book:The Woman Destroyed
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“Most feminists in France came to feminism after '68 as a result of the hypocrisy they experienced in leftist movements. In these movements, where everyone believed there was going to be true equality, fraternity between men and women, and that together they were going to struggle against this rotten society, even there they noticed that the leftists, the militants, kept them "in their place." Women made the coffee while the others did the talking; they were the ones who typed the letters.”

MenMadeTogetherResultsTalkingStruggleFeminismMovementMen And WomenLettersFeministCoffeeBeing TrueFranceHypocrisyRottenFraternityLeftistsTrue Equality
Author:Simone de Beauvoir
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“I think that feminism permits women to speak among themselves, instead of simply being resentful, having personal complaints, which get them nowhere and which make them sick and ill-tempered, depressive and poison the lives of their husbands and children. It's much better to arrive at a collective consciousness of this problem, which is both a kind of therapy and the basis for a struggle.”

ThinkingKindChildrenProblemSpeakConsciousnessStruggleFeminismHusbandSickBasesIllTherapyPoisonCollectivesPermitComplaintsResentfulDepressiveCollective ConsciousnessIll Tempered
Author:Simone de Beauvoir
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“One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”

PhilosophyMotivationalAgeWomenBornFeminismFemaleEmpowermentComing Of AgeStrong WomenEmpowering WomenFemale EmpowermentBeing A WomanWomen Empowering WomenInspirational WomenInspirational Strong WomenWomen PowerBeing A Strong WomanI Am WomanMale PrivilegeStrong Independent WomenBeing Independent WomanStrong Powerful WomenWomen Best InspirationalStrong Women MotivationBecoming A WomanSex And Gender
Author:Simone de Beauvoir
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