“It was said that I refused to grant any value to the maternal instinct and to love. This was not so.”

— Simone de Beauvoir

Force of Circumstances Vol. III (1963) as translated by Richard Howard (1968) - Excerpt online http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/ethics/de-beauvoir/1963/interview.htm
General sources
Context: It was said that I refused to grant any value to the maternal instinct and to love. This was not so. I simply asked that women should experience them truthfully and freely, whereas they often use them as excuses and take refuge in them, only to find themselves imprisoned in that refuge when those emotions have dried up in their hearts. I was accused of preaching sexual promiscuity; but at no point did I ever advise anyone to sleep with just anyone at just any time; my opinion on this subject is that all choices, agreements and refusals should be made independently of institutions, conventions and motives of self-aggrandizement; if the reasons for it are not of the same order as the act itself, then the only result can be lies, distortions and mutilations.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "It was said that I refused to grant any value to the maternal instinct and to love. This was not so." by Simone de Beauvoir?

Simone de Beauvoir 152

French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, po… 1908–1986

Brian Reynolds Myers (1963) American professor of international studies

"Touch of Evil: A selective investigation of recent mysteries and thrillers" http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/04/touch-of-evil/304721/ (April 2006), The Atlantic
2000s

“All women love the man who appeals to their maternity. Rudy does that instinctively and it is devastating in its effects on feminine resistance.”

Natacha Rambova (1897–1966) American film personality and fashion designer

On Valentino, p. 58
Photoplay: "Wedded and Parted" (December 1922)

“So-called instincts are instructive, Felix. They point to survival values.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Beyond This Horizon

Source: Beyond This Horizon (1948; originally serialized in 1942), Chapter 7, “Burn him down at once—”, p. 76

“I'm so afraid of losing something I love, that I refuse to love anything.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005), p. 216

“Cary Grant roles are ones I would love to have played, but I was never given any.”

Ian Carmichael (1920–2010) actor

Associated Press obituary 8 February 2010 http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jlzdX4EHkShqZYk3U2TEp_YHkjLgD9DO2PH01

“Maternity," it has been said, "is a matter of fact, paternity is a matter of opinion.”

Walter Bagehot (1826–1877) British journalist, businessman, and essayist

Ch. 4, Nation Making http://books.google.com/books?id=1ANBAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Maternity+it+has+been+said+is+a+matter+of+fact+paternity+is+a+matter+of+opinion%22&pg=PA122#v=onepage
Physics and Politics https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4350 (1869)

“I refuse to be beaten in any way shape or form, so I'm gonna beat this too.”

Ronnie James Dio (1942–2010) American singer

From "A 39 News Interview in Houston" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXTL6EqHqkc

“In the quest to build a community united in Christ the Saviour, a community of God's family, a family of families, we cannot develop without the feminine intuition, without the maternal instincts, without the care of women.”

Théodore-Adrien Sarr (1936) Catholic cardinal

Source: Women have a very important role in the Christian Community http://www.archivioradiovaticana.va/storico/2014/08/08/women_have_a_very_important_role_in_the_christian_community_/en-1104194 (August 2014)

“The biblical view is not just apolitical but antipolitical in the sense that it refuses to confer any value on political power, or in the sense that it regards political power as idolatrous.”

Jacques Ellul (1912–1994) French sociologist, technology critic, and Christian anarchist

Source: The Subversion of Christianity (1984), p. 113

“I refused to believe that love could take any other form than mine: I measured love by the extent of my jealousy, and by that standard of course she could not love me at all.”

Graham Greene book The End of the Affair

Source: The End of the Affair

“It was said that I refused to grant any value to the maternal instinct and to love. This was not so.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Simone de Beauvoir 152

Related quotes

Related topics