Sex pleasure in woman is a kind of magic spell; it demands complete abandon; if words or movements oppose the magic of caresses, the spell is broken.

Man is a talking animal and he will always let himself be swayed by the power of the word. Machines won't change human nature.

She was ready to deny the existence of space and time rather than admit that love might not be eternal.

To make oneself an object, to make oneself passive, is a very different thing from being a passive object.

Those interested in perpetuating present conditions are always in tears about the marvelous past that is about to disappear, without having so much as a smile for the young future.

Defending the truth is not something one does out of a sense of duty or to allay guilt complexes, but is a reward in itself.

I think that The Second Sex will seem an old, dated book, after a while. But nonetheless, a book which will have made its contribution. At least, I hope so.