Simone de Beauvoir Quotes

I've come to the conclusion that it's not really possible to help others.

And were your back as broad as heaven, and your purse full of gold, and did your compassion reach from here to hell itself, there is nothing you can do.

There is nothing you can do about it but sit back and watch.

I don't believe in expending energy on something you can't do anything about. If there was some easy way of fixing things, I'd probably do it.

Why declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do?

I cannot change anything, so I don't want to think about what I would have done.

Asks the Possible of the Impossible, "Where is your dwelling-place?" "In the dreams of the Impotent," comes the answer.

Risk is trying to control something you are powerless over.

There's not anything, I don't think, that I can do or accomplish.

Cynical realism is the intelligent man's best excuse for doing nothing in an intolerable situation.

No one is more miserable than the person who wills everything and can do nothing.

The real reason for apathy is usually a feeling of powerlessness.

You can't save anybody.

I've reached the point where I hardly care whether I live or die. The world will keep on turning without me, and I can't do anything to change events anyway.

I can't do nothing just a little.

I can't change a light bulb.

I'm able to do nothing.

There is nothing harder for me than to sit at the sideline, not being able to be productive.

People can do great things. However, there are some things they just CAN'T do. I, for instance, have not been able to transform myself into a Popsicle, despite years of effort.

Theory is the practice of the impotent.

You can't save everyone, though God knows you try.

The sad thing about true stupidity is that you can do absolutely nothing about it.

"I just don't know," I said, my voice sounding bumby, not like mine, "how do you help someone who doesn't want your help. What do you do when you can't do anything?"

Love can do all but raise the Dead.

It was like trying to bail out an ocean of water with a teaspoon.