Simone De Beauvoir on Fear Quotes

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

"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."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Our freedom is only real when we use it to fight the fears that keep us small."

"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."

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

"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."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"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."

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

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

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

"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."

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

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

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

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

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

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