Quote of the day by Simone de Beauvoir: 'An authentic marriage is that which is made by two free beings who are equal' - A lesson on what makes love and marriage truly meaningful by French philosopher

Simone de Beauvoir was one of the most influential French writers, thinkers and feminist voices of the 20th century. Her work often looked at freedom, relationships, social expectations and the way society shapes the lives of individuals. One of her observations about marriage remains relevant even today: “The authentic marriage is that which is made by two free beings who are equal.” The quote appears in her landmark 1949 work The Second Sex (Le Deuxième Sexe), in the section dealing with marriage and the position of women.

Quote of the day: What does Simone de Beauvoir mean?

“The authentic marriage is that which is made by two free beings who are equal.” — Simone de Beauvoir

The first part of Beauvoir's statement is about freedom. For her, a marriage cannot really be authentic if either person enters it because they have no other choice or because society has decided that marriage is simply what they are supposed to do. Two people should be able to make the decision for themselves and continue to remain individuals after becoming partners.


The second important idea is equality. Beauvoir is not describing marriage as a relationship where one person has authority over the other. The two people in it are supposed to have their own choices, responsibilities and ambitions. Her point is that love should not require one person to become smaller so that the other can have more control. A relationship based on dependence or imposed roles, therefore, does not fit the idea of the "authentic marriage" she describes.

Quote of the day: Why marriage was important in Beauvoir's work

Beauvoir's discussion of marriage needs to be understood in the wider argument of The Second Sex. Published in France in 1949 by Éditions Gallimard, the book examined how women had historically been placed in a secondary position in society.

She argued that women were often expected to organise their lives around roles created for them, including those connected to marriage, motherhood and domestic life. Her criticism was not simply directed at marriage itself. It was aimed at a social system in which women could lose economic, personal and sexual independence after entering such relationships.

That makes her quote about two "free beings" especially significant. Beauvoir was asking what a relationship could look like when neither person is expected to surrender their freedom simply because they are married.

Simone de Beauvoir's early life and education

Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir was born in Paris in 1908. She grew up in an upper-middle-class family and developed an early interest in literature and philosophy. Her education eventually took her towards philosophy, a field in which women were still far less visible than men at the time.

She studied philosophy at the Sorbonne and passed the highly competitive agrégation examination in philosophy in 1929. Around this period, she met Jean-Paul Sartre, beginning one of the best-known intellectual relationships in modern French history.

Beauvoir and Sartre remained closely connected for much of their lives, but they rejected conventional marriage and described their relationship in terms of what they called "essential love". Their personal choices also became part of the broader discussion surrounding Beauvoir's views on freedom and relationships.

The Second Sex changed feminist thought

Beauvoir's best-known work, The Second Sex, was published in 1949. The book examined women's position through history, culture, philosophy, economics and everyday life. One of its most famous lines is: “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”

Her argument was that society plays a major role in shaping what is expected from women. She examined the ways women were treated as the "Other", while men were positioned as the standard against which women were judged.

The book also explored marriage, motherhood, sexuality and economic independence. It challenged the idea that traditional feminine roles were simply natural and unavoidable. Over time, The Second Sex became a major text in feminist philosophy and is widely associated with the development of modern feminist thought.

Freedom was at the centre of her philosophy

Although Beauvoir is now strongly associated with feminism, her work covered much more than women's rights. She wrote about existentialism, ethics, politics, ageing, relationships and the difficult choices people face in life.

Freedom was one of the recurring ideas in her work. She believed that people have to take responsibility for their choices, while also recognising that social and material conditions can restrict what choices are actually available.

Her 1947 book The Ethics of Ambiguity developed these ideas further. Beauvoir examined the tension between human freedom and the limitations of real life. She argued that freedom cannot be considered only as an individual matter because people also have responsibilities towards the freedom of others.

This idea connects closely with her views on relationships. Freedom, in her thinking, was not simply about doing whatever one wanted. It also involved recognising another person's ability to make choices for themselves.

Beauvoir was also a novelist and public activist

Beauvoir's work was not limited to philosophical and feminist writing. She published novels, memoirs, essays, travel writing and political commentary. Her 1943 novel She Came to Stay explored relationships and existential questions, while The Mandarins, published in 1954, won the Prix Goncourt.

She was also involved in political and social activism. In 1971, she wrote and signed the Manifesto of the 343, a public statement in which women declared that they had undergone abortions and demanded changes to France's laws surrounding contraception and abortion.

Her activism, along with her writing, helped make her an important public figure in debates over women's rights and personal freedom.