I realized that even if we went on talking till Judgment Day, I would still find the time all too short.

Eating, sleeping, cleaning - the years no longer rise up toward heaven, they lie spread out ahead, gray and identical. The battle against dust and dirt is never won. Washing, ironing, sweeping, ferreting out rolls of lint from under wardrobes - all this halting of decay is also the denial of life; for time simultaneously creates and destroys, and only its negative aspect concerns the housekeeper.

If women really did have complete equality with men, society would be completely overturned.

It is in the knowledge of the genuine conditions of our lives that we must draw our strength to live and our reasons for living.

We must not confuse the present with the past. With regard to the past, no further action is possible.

Ah, if only there were two of me, she thought, one who spoke and the other who listened, one who lived and one who watched, how I would love myself! I would envy no one.

In truth we need to change the society itself, men as well as women, to change everything.