Anaïs Nin Quotes Page 2

“Violence is a symptom of impotence.”

“We are never trapped unless we choose to be.”

“We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another, unevenly.

We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another.

The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made of layers, cells, constellations.”

“We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.”

“We see the world as 'we' are, not as 'it' is; because it is the "I" behind the 'eye' that does the seeing.”

“We write to taste life twice, in the moment, and in retrospection.”

“What we call our destiny is truly our character and that character can be altered. The knowledge that we are responsible for our actions and attitudes does not need to be discouraging, because it also means that we are free to change this destiny.

One is not in bondage to the past, which has shaped our feelings, to race, inheritance, background. All this can be altered if we have the courage to examine how it formed us. We can alter the chemistry provided we have the courage to dissect the elements.”

“When I am most deeply rooted, I feel the wildest desire to uproot myself.”

“When one is pretending the entire body revolts.”

“When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow.”

“When you possess light within, you see it externally.”

“Whenever you do something that is not aligned with the yearning or your soul—you create suffering.”

“Willingness to explore everything is a sign of strength. The weak ones have prejudices. Prejudices are a protection.”

“You are the poet, you walk inside my dreams.”

“You can either give negativity power over your life or you can choose happiness instead.”

“You have a right to experiment with your life. You will make mistakes. And they are right too.”

“You live out the confusions until they become clear.”

“I walk ahead of myself in perpetual expectancy of miracles.”

“Compassion for our parents is the true sign of maturity.”

“If I love you it means we share the same fantasies, the same madnesses.”

“You cannot save people. You can only love them.”

“Reality doesn’t impress me. I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me. I escape, one way or another. No more walls.”

“Shame is the lie someone told you about yourself.”