Quotes from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“Be loved, be admired, be necessary; be somebody.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“…but all day long I would be training myself to think, to understand, to criticize, to know myself; I was seeking for the absolute truth: this preoccupation did not exactly encourage polite conversation.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“The books I liked became a Bible from which I drew advice and support; I copied out long passages from them; I memorized new canticles and new litanies, psalms, proverbs, and prophecies, and I sanctified every incident in my life by the recital of these sacred texts. My emotions, my tears, and my hopes were no less sincere on account of that; the words and the cadences, the lines and the verses were not aids to make believe: but they rescued from silent oblivion all those intimate adventures of the spirit that I couldn’t speak to anyone about; they created a kind of communion between myself and those twin souls which existed somewhere out of reach; instead of living out my small private existence, I was participating in a great spiritual epic.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“إن اللذة تبقى قذرة إذا لم تصهر بنار العاطفة”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“In fact, the sickness I was suffering from was that I had been driven out of the paradise of childhood and had not found my place in the world of adults. I had set myself up in the absolute in order to gaze down upon this world which was rejecting me; now, if I wanted to act, to write a book, to express myself, I would have to go back down there: but my contempt had annihilated it, and I could see nothing but emptiness. The fact is that I had not yet put my hand to the plow. Love, action, literary work: all I did was to roll these ideas round in my head; I was fighting in an abstract fashion against abstract possibilities, and I had come to the conclusion that reality was of the most pitiful insignificance. I was hoping to hold fast to something, and misled by the violence of this indefinite desire, I was confusing it with the desire for the infinite.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“في الريف كنت أحس هناك وجود الله أكثر مما كنت أحسه في باريس. و كنت كلما التصقت بالأرض كلماازددت قرباً منه، و كانت كل نزهة صلاة له. كان يخيل إلي أنه على نحو ما بحاجة إلى عينيّ لتكون للأشجار ألوانها. و حرارة الشمس، و رطوبةالندى، أنى لذهن مجرد أن يحسهما إلا عبر جسدي؟ لقد جعل هذه الأرض للبشر، و جعل البشر ليشهدوا بمحاسنها. و حين كنت أجتاز في الصباح الحواجز لأوغل في الغابات فإنما هو الذي كان يناديني، و كان ينظر إلي بفرح و أنا أنظر إلى هذا العالم الذي خلقه لأراه.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“أكثر ما كان يجذبني إليه ضحكته: فكأنما سقط، من غير انتظار، على كوكب ليس هو كوكبه، فأخذ يكتشف طرافته العجيبة. و حين كانت ضحكته تنفجر، كان كل شيء يبدو لي جديداً، أخاذاً، رائعاً.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“I was very fond of Lagneau’s phrase: “I have no comfort but in my absolute despair.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“لقد كنت أشعر برضى غامر أن أعرف أني خارج القانون”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“كنت أعتقد أن الانسان ليس بوسعه أن يحب من غير ان يكره ”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“Les livres que j'aimais devinrent une Bible où je puisais des conseils et des secours. ”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“من المريع جداً أن يتسلى المرء حين لا يشعر باي حاجة للتسلية”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“وكنت أبكي لأن هذا كان جميلا إلى هذا الحد , ولأنه كان لا مجدياً”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“On the evenings when my parents held parties, the drawing-room mirrors multiplied to infinity the scintillations of a crystal chandelier. Mama would take her seat at the grand piano to accompany a lady dressed in a cloud of tulle who played the violin and a cousin who performed on a cello. I would crack between my teeth the candied shell of an artificial fruit, and a burst of light would illuminate my palate with a taste of blackcurrant or pineapple: all the colours, all the lights were mine, the gauzy scarves, the diamonds, the laces; I held the whole party in my mouth.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“The thing I understood least of all was that knowledge led to despair and damnation. Our spiritual mentor had not said that those bad books had given a false picture of life: if that had been the case, he could easily have exposed their falsehood; the tragedy of the little girl whom he had failed to bring to salvation was that she had made a premature discovery of the true nature of reality. Well, anyhow, I thought, I shall discover it myself one day, and it isn’t going to kill me: the idea that there was a certain age when knowledge of the truth could prove fatal I found offensive to common sense.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“لم تفتح لي الفلسفة السماء ولم ترسني في الأرض.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“تعلمت ألم الوجود، لقد نُفيت من جنة الطفولة و لم أجد مكاناً بين الكبار .”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“كم هو كليّ حضور الإنسان،وكم هو جذري غيابه.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“Literature took the place in my life that had once been occupied by religion: it absorbed me entirely, and transfigured my life.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“Alone: for the first time I understood the terrible significance of that word. Alone without a witness, without anyone to speak to, without refuge. The breath in my body, the blood in my veins, all this hurly-burly in my head existed for nobody.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“البشر ليسوا أرواحاً وانما هم أجساد فريسة الحاجة ملقاة في مغامرة قاسية”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“One afternoon Clairaut came over to me with a book in his hand: “Mademoiselle de Beauvoir,” he began, in an inquisitorial tone, “what do you make of Brochard who is of the opinion that Aristotle’s God would be able to experience sexual pleasure?” Herbaud cast him a disdainful look: “I should hope so, for his sake,” he haughtily replied.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“La stupidità ci faceva ridere, era uno dei nostri grandi motivi di spasso, ma aveva anche qualcosa di spaventevole. Se avesse prevalso, non avremmo più avuto il diritto di pensare, di prendere in giro, di provare veri desideri, veri piaceri. Bisognava combatterla o rinunciare a vivere.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“الكاتب يخون يأسه بمجرد أن يكتب عنه كتاباً”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“Mais le pire, quand on habite une prison sans barreaux, c'est qu'on n'a pas même conscience des écrans qui bouchent l'horizon; j'errais à travers un épais brouillard, et je le croyais transparent. Les choses qui m'échappaient, je n'en entrevoyais même pas la présence.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“If I had rediscovered in Heaven, amplified to infinity, the monstrous alliance of fragility and implacability, of caprice and artificial necessity which had oppressed me since my birth, rather than worship Him I would have chosen damnation.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

“Peut-être vas-tu me trouver ridicule, mais je me mépriserais de n'oser l'être jamais.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, quote from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

About the author

Popular quotes

“When he asked my grandmother if she would mind being poor, she said she would be happy just to have her daughter and himself: 'If you have love, even plain water is sweet.”
― Jung Chang, quote from Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China

“She bit delicately down on a breadstick, holding it between her teeth..
"Mind if I have a Bite"
Shock snapped her eyes wide open and froze her breath..dark eyes dominating her field of vision, a whiff of some kind of calogne in her nostrils, two long fingers tilting her chin up. Damon leaned in, and neatly and precisely, bit off the other end of the bread stick.”
― L.J. Smith, quote from The Awakening / The Struggle

“I’m in love with you,” he whispered, searching my eyes. He looked very pale and very scared, and a little…hopeful.”
― S.C. Stephens, quote from Thoughtless

“I've never had a boy in here," Martin said in a serious voice. "I've never touched another man, as a matter of fact. . . .except for my father. That was my duty.”
― Stieg Larsson, quote from The Millennium Trilogy

“If V’lane were a signpost, it would read Abandon All Personal Will, Ye Who Tread Here.”
― Karen Marie Moning, quote from Faefever

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.