“Capabilities are clearly manifested only when they have been realized.”

“As long as there have been men and they have lived, they have all felt this tragic ambiguity of their condition, but as long as there have been philosophers and they have thought, most of them have tried to mask it.”

“Même les manifestations et les initiatives féminines n'ont pris de valeur que lorsqu'une décision masculine les a efficacement prolongées.”

“Some things I loved have vanished. A great many others have been given to me”

“In itself, homosexuality is as limiting as heterosexuality: the ideal should be to be capable of loving a woman or a man; either, a human being, without feeling fear, restraint, or obligation.”

“It must feel wonderfully strange when, like Manette, one stands there, the only witness to a vanished world.”

“The curse which lies upon marriage is that too often the individuals are joined in their weakness rather than in their strength, each asking from the other instead of finding pleasure in giving. It is even more deceptive to dream of gaining through the child a plenitude, a warmth, a value, which one is unable to create for oneself; the child brings joy only to the woman who is capable of disinterestedly desiring the happiness of another, to one who without being wrapped up in self seeks to transcend her own existence.”