One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.

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.

Women's mutual understanding comes from the fact that they identify themselves with each other; but for the same reason each is against the others.

Many things would be changed for Americans if they would only admit that there is ill-luck in this world and that misfortune is not a priori a crime.

The notion of ambiguity must not be confused with that of absurdity. To declare that existence is absurd is to deny that it can ever be given a meaning; to say that it is ambiguous is to assert that its meaning is never fixed, that it must be constantly won. Absurdity challenges every ethics; but also the finished rationalization of the real would leave no room for ethics; it is because man's condition is ambiguous that he seeks, through failure and outrageousness, to save his existence.

He formed his sentences hesitantly and then threw them at me with such force that I felt as if I were receiving a present each time

Be loved, be admired, be necessary; be somebody.