“Scriassine studied me in turn. "You're not so dumb, you know. Generally I dislike intelligent women, maybe because they're not intelligent enough. They always want to prove to themselves, and to everyone else, how terribly smart they are. So all they do is talk and never understand anything. What struck me the first time I saw you was that way you have of keeping quiet.”

French writer, social theorist, and feminist activist

Simone de Beauvoir was a French writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. She is closely associated with existentialism and with the development of feminist thought. Although she did not describe herself as a philosopher, her work had a major influence on feminist existentialism and feminist theory. Her writings are often read in the context of those ideas, rather than as part of a formal philosophical career.