Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
The quote distinguishes the initial attraction of marriage from the ongoing labor required to maintain it.
In plain terms
Winning a husband is an art but keeping him is work.
What can you take from it?
Relationships require continuous effort after the initial pursuit.

Where it applies

  • dating
  • marriage
  • relationship management

Putting it to work

  • prepare for long-term effort
  • value relationship maintenance

Questions to consider

  • Is marriage work or art?
  • What does holding someone mean?

Another view

It reinforces traditional gender expectations about domestic labor.

More from Simone De Beauvoir

  1. Sex pleasure in woman, as I have said, is a kind of magic spell; it demands complete abandon; if words or movements oppose the magic of caresses, the spell is …

    Permalink to quote #53
  2. The curse which lies upon marriage is that too often the individuals are joined in their weakness rather than in their strength, each asking from the other ins…

    Permalink to quote #55
  3. On ne nait pas femme: on le devient.

    Permalink to quote #52

Related quotes

  1. No thyng ys to man so dere As wommanys love yn gode manere. A gode womman is mannys blys.

    Robert MannyngRobert Mannyng quote #3
  2. Heiraten und Nahnadeln mussen die Frauenzimmer einfadeln.

    August von KotzebueAugust von Kotzebue quote #5
  3. You know, I'm not sitting here like some little woman standing by my man, like Tammy Wynette. I'm sitting here because I love him, and I respect him, and I hon…

    Hillary ClintonHillary Clinton quote #5