“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[…].”

—  Simone de Beauvoir

Source: The Woman Destroyed

Last update June 11, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "When I was a child, when I was an adolescent, books saved me from despair: that convinced me that culture was the highe…" by Simone de Beauvoir?
Simone de Beauvoir photo
Simone de Beauvoir152
French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, po… 1908–1986

Related quotes

Wisława Szymborska photo

“If there are angels
they must, I hope,
find this convincing,
this merriment dangling from terror,
not even crying Save me Save me
since all of this takes place in silence.”

Wisława Szymborska (1923–2012) Polish writer

"Slapstick"
Poems New and Collected (1998), The End and the Beginning (1993)

“When I was a child, books were everything. And so there is in me, always, a nostalgic, yearning for the lost pleasure of books. It is not a yearning that one ever expects to be fulfilled.”

Diane Setterfield book The Thirteenth Tale

Source: The Thirteenth Tale

Hakeem Olajuwon photo

“Being from Africa is the best thing that could have ever, ever happened to me. I cannot see it any other way. All of my fundamental principles that were instilled in me in my home, from my childhood, are still with me. And now, when I look at the system here and look at my position--not just as a basketball player, but when I look around me at the values of the people and the culture and compare them with the values of where I came from--I feel so blessed to be from Africa.”

Hakeem Olajuwon (1963) Nigerian–American basketball player

Sourced Quotes

Lea DeLaria photo

“Did you read [Holly Near's book]? Let me save you the trouble. This is the most exciting sentence in the book:…"I feel like a lesbian when I'm making love to a woman." Gooooooooood, Holly! Well, the major difference between me and Holly Near is that I feel like a lesbian when I am BREATHING!”

Lea DeLaria (1958) American actress and singer

Bulldyke in a China Shop

John Clare photo

“When trouble haunts me, need I sigh?
No, rather smile away despair;”

John Clare (1793–1864) English poet

"The Stranger"
Poems Chiefly from Manuscript

Leo Tolstoy photo

“There it is!' he thought with rapture. 'When I was already in despair, and when it seemed there would be no end- there it is! She loves me. She's confessed it.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

Peter Hammill photo

“Re-awakening isn't easy when you're tired.
Don't push me: I was taught self-expression
when I was a child”

Peter Hammill (1948) British musician

"Re-awakening" on Fool's Mate (1971)

Mahatma Gandhi photo

“On all occasions of trial He has saved me. I know that the phrase 'God saved me' has a deeper meaning for me today, and still I feel that I have not yet grasped its entire meaning. Only richer experience can help me to a fuller understanding.
But in all my trials — of a spiritual nature, as a lawyer, in conducting institutions, and in politics — I can say that God saved me. When every hope is gone, 'when helpers fail and comforts flee', I experience that help arrives somehow, from I know not where.”

Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism during British-ruled India

Young India (24 April 1931), p. 274
1930s

B.K.S. Iyengar photo

“When I set off in yoga, I had no understanding of the greater glory of yoga. I too was seeking its physical benefits, and it was these that saved my life. When I say that yoga saved my life, I am not exaggerating. It was yoga that gave me a new birth with health from illness and firmness from infirmity.”

B.K.S. Iyengar (1918–2014) Indian yoga teacher and scholar

Source: Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom, P.xvii

Kathleen Norris photo

“When I was a child, it was a matter of pride that I could plow through a Nancy Drew story in one afternoon, and begin another in the evening…. I was probably trying to impress the librarians who kept me supplied with books.”

Kathleen Norris (1880–1966) American writer

Related topics