If you live long enough, you'll see that every victory turns into a defeat.
Simone De BeauvoirRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote distinguishes between ambiguity and absurdity in existence, emphasizing that while existence may lack fixed meaning, it still possesses value and purpose.
Simone De Beauvoir's quote explores the complexities of human existence, positing that while life may be inherently ambiguous, it is not absurd. Ambiguity implies that meaning is fluid and can be sought through personal experiences and efforts, even in the face of failure. Rather than denying meaning altogether, this perspective encourages individuals to navigate the uncertainties of life, striving for ethical values and personal significance. In this way, De Beauvoir highlights the importance of the human condition and our ongoing quest for understanding.
Themes
ExistenceAmbiguityAbsurdityMeaningEthics
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophy lecture discussing existentialism.
More from Simone De Beauvoir
All quotes →Two 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)
Simone De BeauvoirRead
To catch a husband is an art; to hold him is a job.
Simone De BeauvoirRead
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.
Simone De BeauvoirRead
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.
Simone De BeauvoirRead
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 … Eating, sleeping, cleaning – 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
Similar quotes
The celebrity syndrome. When people forget who they are and start to believe what other people say about them.
Paulo CoelhoRead
What a country needs to do is be fair to all its citizens - whether people are of a different ethnicity or gender.
Chinua AchebeRead
I love and treasure individuals as I meet them, I loath and despise the groups they identify or belong to.
George CarlinRead
You should not have any special fondness for a particular weapon, or anything else, for that matter. Too much is the same as not enough. Without imitating anyone else, you should have as much weaponry as suits you.
Miyamoto MusashiRead
Every morning you put on your clothes to cover your nakedness and protect your body from inclement weather. Why don't you also clothe your soul with the garment of faith? Remember each morning the truths of your creed, and look at yourself in the mirror of your faith. Otherwise, your soul will soon be naked with the nakedness of oblivion.
Saint AugustineRead
My work with AIDS patients started right at the beginning of the epidemic, totally unplanned and spontaneous, as all my work had proceeded in the previous two decades, if it were not already my whole life-style! In the early eighties, we knew very little about this peculiar disease.
Elisabeth Kubler-RossRead