Science condemns itself to failure when, yielding to the infatuation of the serious, it aspires to attain being, to contain it, and to possess it; but it finds its truth if it considers itself as a free engagement of thought in the given, aiming, at each discovery, not at fusion with the thing, but at the possibility of new discoveries; what the mind then projects is the concrete accomplishment of its freedom.

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.

You can't address yourself to women by speaking a language which no average woman will understand. In my opinion, it's wrong.

The torment that so many young women know, bound hand and foot by love and motherhood, without having forgotten their former dreams.

No existence can be validly fulfilled if it is limited to itself.

It is perfectly natural for the future woman to feel indignant at the limitations posed upon her by her sex. The real question is not why she should reject them: the problem is rather to understand why she accepts them.

For years I thought my work still lay ahead, and now I find it is behind me: there was no moment when it took place.