If you live long enough, you'll see that every victory turns into a defeat.
Simone De BeauvoirRead
My worst mistake has been not grasping that time goes by. It was going by and there I was, set in the attitude of the ideal wife of an ideal husband. Instead of bringing our sexual relationship to life again I brooded happily over memories of our former nights together.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the importance of recognizing the passage of time in relationships and the need to nurture them rather than dwelling on the past.
Simone De Beauvoir's quote highlights the regret of allowing time to pass without actively engaging in the present moment of a relationship. She reflects on a time when she was fixated on the idealized memories of her past intimacy, rather than revitalizing and embracing the current dynamics with her partner. This introspection challenges the notion of complacency in relationships and underscores the necessity of continual effort and presence in connection with a partner.
Themes
TimeRelationshipsIntimacyMemoriesEngagement
In practice
Example use cases
During a couples therapy session to encourage communication about their evolving relationship.
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)
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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.
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
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