Q0092

Simone de Beauvoir

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.
Thinker Simone de Beauvoir
School Feminism
Source The Second Sex
Theme Self
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with The Second Sex, within the tradition of Feminism. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of self, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Simone de Beauvoir's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: Simone de Beauvoir. (n.d.). One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0092

MLA: Simone de Beauvoir. “One is not born, but rather becomes, a….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0092.

Chicago: Simone de Beauvoir. “One is not born, but rather becomes, a….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0092.

Same thinker

More from Simone de Beauvoir

  1. To will oneself free is also to will others free.
  2. The freedom of others… conditions my freedom.

All quotations by Simone de Beauvoir

Same theme

More on self

  1. A friend is another self.
  2. A person's character is their destiny.
  3. I searched for myself.
  4. It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
  5. Claim yourself for yourself.

Browse the self theme