Q0508

“All oppression creates a state of war.” — Simone de Beauvoir (The Second Sex (1949), Vol. II)

Verified English quotation. Primary source: The Second Sex (1949), Vol. II. Theme: justice.

English

All oppression creates a state of war.
Thinker Simone de Beauvoir
School Existentialism
Source The Second Sex (1949), Vol. II
Theme Justice
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source and attribution

The archive attributes this English wording to The Second Sex (1949), Vol. II and files it under Existentialism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

About Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) was a French existentialist philosopher and novelist whose The Second Sex (1949) transformed feminist theory. A Normalienne, she partnered intellectually with Sartre while building an independent oeuvre on ethics, aging, and politics.

How to read this passage

Distributive, retributive, and restorative justice name different problems. Political philosophy asks what a just society owes its members and outsiders. This passage enters that discussion through justice, freedom.

Concepts in this quote

Justice
Justice concerns fairness, rights, desert, and the arrangement of institutions that claim to treat people as equals.
Freedom
Freedom is among the most searched and most contested themes in philosophy: what it is to choose, to be responsible, and to live without illegitimate constraint.

How to cite this quotation

APA: Simone de Beauvoir. (n.d.). All oppression creates a state of war. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0508

MLA: Simone de Beauvoir. “All oppression creates a state of war..” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0508.

Chicago: Simone de Beauvoir. “All oppression creates a state of war..” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0508.

Frequently asked questions

What is the source of the quotation “All oppression creates a state of war.”?

The passage is attributed to Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (1949), Vol. II. The archive attributes this English wording to The Second Sex (1949), Vol. II and files it under Existentialism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

What does Simone de Beauvoir mean by justice?

Distributive, retributive, and restorative justice name different problems. Political philosophy asks what a just society owes its members and outsiders. This passage enters that discussion through justice, freedom.

Same thinker

More from Simone de Beauvoir

  1. One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.
  2. To will oneself free is also to will others free.
  3. The freedom of others… conditions my freedom.
  4. The body is not a thing, it is a situation.
  5. Representation of the world, like the world itself, is the work of men; they describe it from their own point of view, which they confuse with the absolute truth.

All quotations by Simone de Beauvoir

Same theme

More on justice

  1. It is worse to do injustice than to suffer it.
  2. Justice is doing one's own work and not meddling in others'.
  3. Those who have the Way receive much help; those who lose the Way receive little help.
  4. I say that the noble and good man and woman are happy, and the unjust and wicked are miserable.
  5. The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it…Reason…teaches all mankind…that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.

Browse the justice theme