Simone de Beauvoir: Quotes about life

Simone de Beauvoir was French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist, and social theorist. Explore interesting quotes on life.
Simone de Beauvoir: 304   quotes 33   likes

“I am incapable of conceiving infinity, and yet I do not accept finity. I want this adventure that is the context of my life to go on without end.”

Simone de Beauvoir book La Vieillesse

Pt. 2, Ch. 2: Time, activity, history, p. 412
The Coming of Age (1970)
Source: La Vieillesse

Life

“In spite of so many stubborn lies, at every moment, at every opportunity, the truth comes to light, the truth of life and death, of my solitude and my bond with the world, of my freedom and my servitude, of the insignificance and the sovereign importance of each man and all men.”

Simone de Beauvoir book The Ethics of Ambiguity

Part I : Ambiguity and Freedom
The Ethics of Ambiguity (1947)
Context: In spite of so many stubborn lies, at every moment, at every opportunity, the truth comes to light, the truth of life and death, of my solitude and my bond with the world, of my freedom and my servitude, of the insignificance and the sovereign importance of each man and all men. There was Stalingrad and there was Buchenwald, and neither of the two wipes out the other. Since we do not succeed in fleeing it, let us therefore try to look the truth in the face. Let us try to assume our fundamental ambiguity. It is in the knowledge of the genuine conditions of our life that we must draw our strength to live and our reason for acting [C'est dans la connaissance des conditions authentiques de notre vie qu'il nous faut puiser la force de vivre et des raisons d'agir].

Life , Death , Men , Truth

“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

As quoted in Successful Aging : A Conference Report (1974) by Eric Pfeiffer, p. 142
Attributed

Love , Life , Friendship

“I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom.”

Simone de Beauvoir

The Blood of Others [Le sang des autres] (1946)
General sources

Life , Freedom

“Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay.”

Simone de Beauvoir

Attributed
Source: As quoted in The Book of Positive Quotations (2007) by John Cook, p. 548

Motivational , Life , Change , Future

“Why one man rather than another? It was odd. You find yourself involved with a fellow for life just because he was the one that you met when you were nineteen.”

Simone de Beauvoir
Life

“It is not in giving life but in risking life that man is raised above the animal; that is why superiority has been accorded in humanity no to the sex that brings forth but to that which kills.”

Simone de Beauvoir book The Second Sex

Source: The Second Sex

Life , Sex , Animals

“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.”

Simone de Beauvoir
Life , Age

“Life is occupied in both perpetuating itself and in surpassing itself; if all it does is maintain itself, then living is only not dying.”

Simone de Beauvoir
Life

“It was as though some stubborn god spent their time in an immutable and absurd balancing act between life and death, prosperity and poverty.”

Simone de Beauvoir

Source: All Men are Mortal (1946), p. 81

Life , Death , God , Time

“When Sartre and I met not only did our backgrounds fuse, but also our solidity, our individual conviction that we were what we were made to be. In that framework we could not become rivals. Then, as the relationship between Sartre and me grew, I became convinced that I was irreplaceable in his life, and he in mine. In other words, we were totally secure in the knowledge that our relationship was also totally solid, again preordained, though, of course, we would have laughed at that word then. When you have such security it's easy not to be jealous. But had I thought that another woman played the same role as I did in Sartre's life, of course, I would have been jealous.”

Simone de Beauvoir

Interview by John Gerassi in Society (January-February 1976) http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/ethics/de-beauvoir/1976/interview.htm
General sources

Life , Knowledge

“Even the children of Carmona were divided into two camps, and below the ramparts, among the brushwood and rocks, we battled with stones shouting "Long live the duke!" and others, "Down with the tyrant!" We fought viciously, but I was never satisfied with this game — the fallen enemy rose again, the dead came back to life. The day after a battle, victors and vanquished both found themselves unharmed.”

Simone de Beauvoir

Source: All Men are Mortal (1946), p. 72

Life , Children , Game , Dead

“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.”

Simone de Beauvoir

Conclusion, p. 543
The Coming of Age (1970)

Life

“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.”

Simone de Beauvoir

Conclusion, p. 539
The Coming of Age (1970)

Life , Death , Age , Way

“You made me come to Paris. You pestered me to start living again. Well, now it's up to you to make my life livable. You mustn't let three whole days go by without coming to see me. … You wanted me to take notice of you. Now nothing else matters to me. I know you're alive and I feel emptiness inside me when you're away.”

Simone de Beauvoir

Raimon to Regina. p. 20
All Men are Mortal (1946)

Life , Feeling

“For the first time in my life, I took part in a real battle between men. The dead did not come to life again, the vanquished fled in disorder; every thrust of my lance helped save Carmona. That day, I would have died with a smile on my lips, certain of having contributed to a triumphant future for my city.”

Simone de Beauvoir

Source: All Men are Mortal (1946), p. 73

Life , Men , Smile , Time