In 1949, I believed that social progress, the triumph of the proletariat, socialism would lead to the emancipation of women. But I saw that nothing came of it: first of all, that socialism was not achieved anywhere, and that in certain countries which called themselves socialist, the situation of women was no better than it was in so-called capitalist countries.

The ballot box is a most inadequate mechanism of change.

There is not a single line in this diary that does not call for a correction or a denial...Yes: throughout these pages I meant what I was writing and I meant the opposite; reading them again I feel completely lost...I was lying to myself. How I lied to myself!

If you are writing something in which you are really involved, you don't even need to think about it any longer. The situation itself demands your total commitment as an individual, just as in your political commitments.

She was trying to get rid of a religious hangover.

A Darwinian nation of economic fitness abhors idleness, dependence, non-productivity.

The ideal of happiness has always taken material form in the house, whether cottage or castle; it stands for permanence and separation from the world.