Ashley

“Life is occupied in both perpetuating itself & in surpassing itself; if all it does is maintain itself, then living is only not dying, & human existence is indistinguishable from an absurd vegetation; a life justifies itself only if its effort to perpetuate itself is integrated into its surpassing & if this surpassing has no other limits than those which the subject assigns himself.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity

“But for others, work can only be meaningful if its fundamental purpose is in things that would matter even if no one would pay you to care about them.”
― Pete Buttigieg, Shortest Way Home: One Mayor's Challenge and a Model for America's Future

“I tried to love you less.I couldn't.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, The Mandarins

“Surviving one’s own life, living on the other side of it like a spectator, is quite comfortable after all. You no longer expect anything, no longer fear anything, and every hour is like a memory.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, The Mandarins