The poet is one who is able to keep the fresh vision of the child alive.
Often, though, the passivity of the woman's role weighs on me, suffocates me. Rather than wait for his pleasure, I would like to take it, to run wild. Is it that which pushes me into lesbianism? It terrifies me. Do women act thus? Does June go to Henry when she wants him? Does she mount him? Does she wait for him? He guides my inexperienced hands. It is like a forest fire, to be with him. New places of my body are aroused and burnt. He is incendiary. I leave him in an unquenchable fever.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote explores a woman's struggle with passivity in relationships and her desire for agency.
In this quote, Anais Nin reflects on the limitations imposed on women within romantic relationships and acknowledges the suffocating nature of passivity. She expresses a desire for more active participation and control over her sexual identity and relationships, suggesting a complex interplay of desire, fear, and empowerment. The metaphor of fire illustrates the intensity of her feelings, depicting both the passion and the potential destruction that such emotions can bring.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on women's empowerment, this quote can illustrate the importance of taking agency in one’s life.
More from Anais Nin
All quotes →Anxiety is love's greatest killer, because it is like the stranglehold of the drowning.
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.
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.
We have been poisoned by fairy tales.
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.
Similar quotes
I would say get to know somebody who isn't exactly like you and doesn't come from the same background as you, educate yourself and then just keep showing up. Finding ways to show up for people and your voice will come out of that relationship and out of your pursuit to seeing people who aren't exactly like you.
If your mother did not know how to love herself, or your father did not know how to love himself, then it would be impossible for them to teach you to love yourself. They were doing the best they could with what they had been taught as children.
In the quest to be clever, I completely forgot about the people that I love and that love me.
Spend time with those you love. One of these days you will say either, 'I wish I had', or 'I'm glad I did.'
At the core of all anger is a need that is not being fulfilled.
She did not suddenly start being disagreeable this afternoon, she was so good at it, she had evidently practised whatever are the scales and arpeggios of rudeness every day of her life.