Ashley

“There is not a single line in this diary that does not call for a correction or a denial...Yes: throughout these pages I meant what I was writing and I meant the opposite; reading them again I feel completely lost...I was lying to myself. How I lied to myself!”
― Simone de Beauvoir, The Woman Destroyed

“It is in the knowledge of the genuine conditions of our lives that we must draw our strength to live and our reasons for living.”
― Simone de Beauvoir

“There was once a man who lost his shadow. I forget what happened to him, but it was dreadful. As for me, I've lost my own image. I did not look at it often; but it was there, in the background, just as Maurice had drawn it for me. A straightforward, genuine, "authentic" woman, with out mean-mindedness, uncompromising, but at the same time understanding, indulgent, sensitive, deeply feeling, intensely aware of things and of people, passionately devoted to those she loved and creating happiness for them. A fine life, serene, full, "harmonious." It is dark: I cannot see myself anymore. And what do the others see? Maybe something hideous.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, The Woman Destroyed

“People seem to think that if you keep your head empty you automatically fill your balls.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, The Mandarins