Simone De Beauvoir on Fear Quotes

"Life is occupied in both perpetuating itself and in surpassing itself; if all it does is maintain itself, then living is only not dying, and that is a fearful existence."

"It is the desire to be everything that makes us fear being nothing."

"The most mediocre of males feels himself a demigod as compared with women, and he fears the day that illusion is shattered."

"To live is to be willing to die; to fear death is to stop living."

"No one is more arrogant toward women, more aggressive or scornful, than the man who is anxious about his own virility."

"A man attaches himself to woman—not to enjoy her, but to enjoy himself through her. He fears her autonomy."

"Man is defined as a human being and woman as a female; whenever she behaves as a human being she is said to imitate the male, and she fears this label."

"To be free is not to have the power to do anything you want; it is to be able to stretch out into the future without fear."

"The oppressor would not be so strong if he did not have accomplices among the oppressed who fear their own power."

"To accept the risk of being hated is the price of being free from the fear of others."

"One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion, despite the fear of betrayal."

"I am too intelligent, too demanding, and too resourceful for anyone to be able to take charge of me entirely. No one knows me or loves me completely. I have only myself."

"If you live long enough, you'll see that every victory turns into a defeat, and that fear of loss is the only constant."

"I am incapable of conceiving infinity, and yet I do not accept finity. I want everything to be explained to me, and I fear the silence."

"The fear of death is the fear of the fact that we will no longer be able to protect the ones we love."

"One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman; and the process is often paved with the fear of non-conformity."

"Society cares for the individual only so far as he is profitable. The fear of being useless is the fear of being old."

"The slave who does not take the risk of his life to win his freedom remains a slave; fear is the chain."

"An authentic person is one who does not flee the ambiguity of existence but faces it with courage."

"If the soul is left to stagnate in the fear of the body, it will never reach transcendence."

"The feeling of being a 'useless mouth' is the greatest fear of the elderly in a capitalist society."

"When we are afraid of the future, it is because we are not sure of our ability to create it."

"The characteristic of the human being is that he is a being who is not what he is and who is what he is not, and this ambiguity causes fear."

"The problem with security is that it is often a cage made of fear."

"We must not confuse the fear of the unknown with the impossibility of the goal."

"I wanted to be everything, and I was afraid of choosing one thing because it meant losing the rest."

"Fatalism is a way of escaping the fear of making a choice."

"To grow old is to set out on a new venture, but most people approach it with a trembling heart."

"In the face of an obstacle which it is impossible to overcome, stubbornness is stupid; but the fear of even trying is a tragedy."

"The point is that the human slave, while he is a slave, is afraid of the very freedom that would liberate him."

"To change the world, we must first overcome the fear of the people who currently run it."

"I felt that I was being watched, and I was afraid of the judgment that I could not see."

"I was terrified by the idea that my life was a fixed thing, that it was already written."