The sentence is credited to Simone de Beauvoir’s All Said and Done, page 16, by Wikiquote. It is also quoted with that book title in Canadian government symposium proceedings; the original page has not been inspected here.
“I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth — and truth rewarded me” Attributed to Simone de Beauvoir, All Said and Done, p. 16; specific secondary citation, original page not inspected. English translation by Patrick O’Brian (1974).
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The English wording belongs to a modern translated memoir. It is treated as copyrighted; the 1972 French date is not used as a date for the English translation.
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Context
Why it mattered
The line is cited to Beauvoir’s final autobiographical volume, a retrospective account of her thinking and life. Its later use in a symposium on gender statistics turns the contrast between certainty and truth into a call to improve the evidence available about women’s lives.
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Filed under
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Simone de Beauvoir explored freedom, responsibility and women’s situation through philosophy, fiction and memoir. The Second Sex became a foundational feminist work; her four-volume autobiography concludes with All Said and Done.
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The primary source (Chicago)
Beauvoir, Simone de. All Said and Done, p. 16, as cited by Wikiquote. English translation metadata: Patrick O’Brian, 1974; French original Tout compte fait, 1972. Original page not inspected.
This verification page
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth — and truth rewarded me’?” Last verified 9 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/i-tore-myself-away-from-the-safe-comfort-of-certainties/