Simone de Beauvoir Quotes

I am waiting for a sign that will indicate to me what meaning I must give to my life, but right now my existence is satisfactory.

When you don't have children you have to define and make your own purpose, and make your own reason for being here.

I can't tell you what your purpose is, that's got to come from you.

Everybody has to solve that "meaning of life" and purpose question for themselves. Everybody does it their own way. I think you have to be thoughtful about the way that you're doing it. So I describe it as purpose. If you can think about leading a purposeful life - not just an accumulation but you actually make the world a better place - then I think in the grand scheme of the universe, that that explains our existence. If not, we're just passing through. We're grains of sand and we're blowing in the breeze.

The purpose that you wish to find in life, like a cure you seek, is not going to fall from the sky. ...I believe purpose is something for which one is responsible; it's not just divinely assigned.

Do what brings you joy, and your purpose will unfold.

By my existence I am nothing more than an empty place, an outline,that is reserved within being in general. Given with it, though, is the duty to fill in this empty place. That is my life.

The purpose of life is to find out 'Who am I?', 'Why am I here?' and 'Where am I going?'

A man must fill his life with meaning, meaning is not automatically given to life.

I'm sure that inside your heart... you're trying with all your might to find it on your own... the reason you were born. Because... because really... there might not be anyone who was born with a reason. I think that everyone... everyone might have to find one on their own. [in her head] A reason for being born... A reason that it's okay to be alive... A reason to exist. [aloud] I think everyone might have to find it themselves... and decide it for themselves. It could be your dreams... your job... or a person... The reason you're looking for... might be vague, unclear... and uncertain. [in her head] And you might lose it. [aloud] But as long as you're alive... you have to keep searching for that reason.

A man knows when he has found his vocation when he stops thinking about how to live and begins to live.

I'd say imagine that you wake up one morning when you're going through a midlife crisis. You're getting divorced. Your kids won't speak to you. Their faces are covered with acne, and you have to decide why you should get out of bed. That's the career you should pick. The one that keeps you going no matter what, even if your life is falling apart. That's how I feel about my career.

People will always try to find themselves and their place in the world.

We spend our lives talking about this mystery. Our life.

Each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.

As you get older, the questions come down to about two or three. How long? And what do I do with the time I've got left?

Passion is what gives meaning to our lives. It's what allows us to achieve success beyond our wildest imagination. Try to find a career path that you have a passion for.

There are two great days in a person's life - the day we are born and the day we discover why.

I want to know why I'm alive. I want to understand. It's like exploration; it's like someone being interested in a place and its history, digging into the earth and looking for it, searching - it's a passion.

It's getting harder to make decisions to just want to do something to work... I'm trying to find things that are extremely challenging or mean something to me deeply.

The meaning of life is life.

Things can be really empty in this world, and I don't just mean the music world. It can become a very meaningless place if you don't really understand: 'who am I? Why am I here? What am I doing?' To feel fulfilment and have a deeper level of understanding, personally, that is the most important thing.

Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked.

Life is not accountable to us. We are accountable to life.

Go out there and see where the world needs your touch. That kind of meaning not only makes you feel more connected to your environment on a local scale, but also to yourself - whether you can operate from something beyond the definition that others might place on you.