If you live long enough, you'll see that every victory turns into a defeat.
Simone De BeauvoirRead
The most mediocre of males feels himself a demigod as compared with women.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the inflated self-perception that some men have in relation to women, suggesting a sense of superiority.
Simone De Beauvoir's quote critiques the notion of male superiority, emphasizing that even average men often perceive themselves as being much more significant or capable than women. It speaks to the wider issues of gender inequality and the social constructs that allow such beliefs to flourish, indicating a deep-rooted sexism prevalent in society.
Themes
GenderSuperiorityInequalitySexismSociety
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about gender roles, this quote can be cited to illustrate male perception.
More from Simone De Beauvoir
All quotes βTwo separate beings, in different circumstances, face to face in freedom and seeking justification of their existence through one another, will always live an adventure full of risk and promise." (p. 248)
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To catch a husband is an art; to hold him is a job.
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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.
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As long as there have been men and they have lived, they have all felt this tragic ambiguity of their condition, but as long as there have been philosophers and they have thought, most of them have tried to mask it.
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Few tasks are more like the torture of Sisyphus than housework, with its endless repetition: the clean becomes soiled, the soiled is made clean, over and over, day after day. The housewife wears herself out marking time: she makes nothing, simply perpetuates the present β¦ Eating, sleeping, cleaning β the years no longer rise up towards heaven, they lie spread out ahead, grey and identical. The battle against dust and dirt is never won.
Simone De BeauvoirRead
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