The poet is one who is able to keep the fresh vision of the child alive.
Anais NinRead
Many couples, many people, are not living with real human beings, but with their ghosts. Who has not followed for years the spell of a particular tone of voice, from voice to voice, as the fetishist follows a beautiful foot, scarcely seeing the woman herself? A voice, a mouth, an eye, all stemming from the original fountain of our first desire, directing it, enslaving us, until we choose to unravel the fatal web and free ourselves.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the tendency of individuals to become enamored with the superficial attributes of their partners instead of their true selves.
Anais Nin’s quote examines the phenomenon of people becoming entranced by the superficial qualities of their partners—like their voice or physical features—rather than engaging with their authentic selves. It suggests that many relationships are based on these surface-level attractions, creating a disconnect where true understanding and connection are lost. The idea of 'ghosts' implies that these relationships are often hollow, as they are constructed from idealized versions of a person rather than their real essence. Ultimately, Nin encourages individuals to break free from these illusions to achieve genuine connections.
Themes
RelationshipsSelf-DiscoveryLoveAuthenticityIllusion
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the importance of authenticity in relationships.
More from Anais Nin
All quotes →Anxiety is love's greatest killer, because it is like the stranglehold of the drowning.
Anais NinRead
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.
Anais NinRead
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.
Anais NinRead
We have been poisoned by fairy tales.
Anais NinRead
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
Similar quotes
Connection and love: We all want it. Most people settle for connection because love's too scary.
Tony RobbinsRead
Anna was saying to herself: why do I always have this awful need to make other people see things as I do? It's childish, why should they? What it amounts to is that I'm scared of being alone in what I feel.
Doris LessingRead
When a Cat adopts you, and I am not superstitious at all I don't mean only Black cats there is nothing to be done about it except to put up with it and wait until the wind changes.
T. S. EliotRead
Be a good listener...It makes the person who's speaking to you feel loved,cared for and worthy of being heard.
Wayne DyerRead
You can measure the happiness of a marriage by the number of scars that each partner carries on their tongues, earned from years of biting back angry words.
Elizabeth GilbertRead
Well, I know about loneliness. I won't talk about it, but I was very lonely after the war. I know what it feels like to spend a whole weekend all by yourself and no one wants you at all.
Charles M. SchulzRead