1. Beauvoir wrote that “essence does not precede existence” (Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 270). Jean-Paul Sartre coined the phrase in the format “existence precedes essence” (Sartre, Existentialism Is a Humanism, 20).
2. Beauvoir, Old Age, 601.
3. Beauvoir, The Prime of Life, 285.
4. Moi, Simone de Beauvoir, 23. Sanos, Simone de Beauvoir, 11–13.
5. Hansberry, Simone de Beauvoir, 129–133. Bakewell, At The Existentialist Cafe, 21. The quote and title of the article that appeared in Le Nouvel Observateur read, “Femmes, vous lui devez tout!” meaning, “Women, you owe her everything!” Badinter said it was a mistake and should have read, “Femmes, vous lui devez tant!” meaning, “Women, you owe her so much!” (Rodgers, “Elisabeth Badinter and ‘The Second Sex,’” 147).
6. In an interview, Beauvoir said, “Anyhow, Sartre is a philosopher, and I am not, and I have never really wanted to be a philosopher. I like philosophy very much, but I have not created a philosophical work. My field is literature. I am interested in novels, memoirs, essays, such as The Second Sex. However, none of these is philosophy.” (Simons, Benjamin, and Beauvoir. “Simone de Beauvoir: An Interview,” 338).
7. Beauvoir, The Prime of Life, 178.
8. Beauvoir, “What Is Existentialism?,” 324. Philosopher Nancy Bauer argued of Beauvoir’s method in The Second Sex that “the main goal is not to ‘get it right’ but, rather, to understand the attractions and powers of philosophical abstraction as they bear on one’s everyday life” (Bauer, Simone de Beauvoir, 10).
9. Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 3.
10. René Maheu, with whom Beauvoir was friends prior to meeting Sartre, gave her the nickname in 1929 because, he said, “Beavers like company and they have a constructive bent” (Beauvoir, Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter, 323). Philosopher Kate Kirkpatrick suggested that Beauvoir and Maheu were romantically involved, although Beauvoir denied that it was a physical relationship (Kirkpatrick, Becoming Beauvoir, 86).
11. Beauvoir, Force of Circumstance I, 189.
12. Beauvoir, “The Second Sex: 25 Years Later,” 79–80.
13. For an excellent analysis of the complexities between oppression and moral failure, see Manon Garcia’s We Are Not Born Submissive (2021).
14. Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 283. In French, the sentence is: “On ne naît pas femme: on le devient.” Kate Kirkpatrick pointed out that while Beauvoir’s quote was original, the idea was inspired by Alfred Fouillée who wrote, “Man isn’t born, but rather becomes, free,” and that Beauvoir made other claims that were more revolutionary, such as that the relentless sexualization of women keeps them oppressed (Kirkpatrick, Becoming Beauvoir, 53).
15. Kirkpatrick, Becoming Beauvoir, 262. Beauvoir, “Why I’m a Feminist: Interview with Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber. For a discussion of the sentence, “One is not born, but rather becomes, woman,” see Mann and Ferrari’s On Ne Naît Pas Femme: On Le Devient (2017).
16. Kristeva, Julia. Beauvoir Présente. Paris: Pluriel, 2016.
17. Beauvoir, Force of Circumstance I, 38.
18. As philosopher Gordon Marino proposed with respect to existential advice: “The [existential thinkers] do not offer a step-by-step plan for coping with our feelings of inadequacy, or a checklist of behaviors to avoid. Instead of detailing some strategy for assuaging our depression, they might tender advice on how to keep our moral and spiritual bearings when it feels as though we are going under” (Marino, The Existentialist’s Survival Guide, 31).
19. Authenticity is often associated with Heidegger’s discussion of Eigentlichkeit—meaning being truly one’s own—in Being and Time (1927), but many other philosophers had already discussed similar variations before this. In 390 AD, Saint Augustine popularized the idea of inwardness, urging people to introspect, to find God, and then to transcend: “Return within yourself. In the inward man dwells truth. If you find that you are by nature mutable, transcend yourself.” In the nineteenth century, Max Stirner urged us to own ourselves, Friedrich Nietzsche incited us to “Become who you are!,” and Søren Kierke- gaard linked authenticity to self-government: “The world has perhaps always had a lack of what could be called authentic individualities, decisive subjectivities, those artistically permeated with reflection, the independent thinkers who differ from the bellowers and the didacticizers.” (See Saint Augustine. Of True Religion. Trans. Burleigh, J. H. S. South Bend, IN: Gateway Editions, 1953: 69; Stirner, Max. The Ego and His Own. 1844. Trans. Byington, Steven T. Ed. Martin, James J. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2005; Nietzsche, Friedrich. Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Trans. Kaufmann, Walter. New York: The Modern Library, 1995: 239; and Kierkegaard, Søren. Concluding Unscientific Postscript Vol 1. 1846. Trans. Hong, Howard V. and Edna H. Hong. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992: 66.)
20. hooks, All About Love, xxv.
21. Beauvoir, All Said and Done, 1.
22. In the words of philosopher and existential therapist Emmy van Deurzen, “authenticity in living is to ‘own’ life as it really is, to own up to our responsibilities as human beings, but more than that it is about not refusing life and its vagaries: daring to be ‘engaged’ with life, a life where we are willing to connect and open our eyes to reality” (Deurzen, Psychotherapy, 158).
23. Philosopher Toril Moi, inspired by Beauvoir, suggested that writing is an appeal to others to join an intellectual journey: “A good reader remains herself—she doesn’t abandon her own views, beliefs, and principles without careful consideration—but she is also willing to open herself up to the writer’s vision, to try to see what she sees, to follow her on her adventure” (Moi, “Acknowledging the Other,” 108).