The poet is one who is able to keep the fresh vision of the child alive.
Anais NinRead
Our culture made a virtue of living only as extroverts. We discouraged the inner journey, the quest for a center. So we lost our center and have to find it again.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the value of introspection over societal pressures to conform to extroverted ideals.
Anais Nin's quote emphasizes the importance of the inner journey and self-discovery in a culture that prioritizes extroverted behaviors and values. By discouraging this inward exploration, society has led individuals to lose their sense of self or 'center,' which they must now strive to rediscover in order to achieve true fulfillment and understanding.
Themes
CultureIntrospectionSelf-DiscoveryExtroversionInner Journey
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on mental health, one might use this quote to advocate for the importance of self-reflection.
More from Anais Nin
All quotes →Anxiety is love's greatest killer, because it is like the stranglehold of the drowning.
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We celebrate peace. Yet we pay no attention to the ways of curing aggression in human beings. And when one sees in psychoanalysis hostility disappearing as people conquer their fears, one wonders if the cure is not there.
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The impetus to grow and live intensely is so powerful in me I cannot resist it. I will work, I will love my husband, but I will fulfill myself.
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We have been poisoned by fairy tales.
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But I lie. I embellish. My words are not deep enough. They disguise, they conceal. I will not rest until I have told of my descent into a sensuality which was as dark, as magnificent, as wild, as my moments of mystic creation have been dazzling, ecstatic, exalted.
Anais NinRead
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