The poet is one who is able to keep the fresh vision of the child alive.
Anais NinRead
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
PassivityDesireAgencyRelationshipsWomenExploration
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.
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
You won't forget me, Peter, will you, before spring-cleaning time comes? Of course Peter promised, and then he flew away. He took Mrs. Darling's kiss with him. The kiss that had been for no one else Peter took quite easily. Funny. But she seemd satisfied.
James M. BarrieRead
Mutual caring relationships require kindness and patience, tolerance, optimism, joy in the other's achievements, confidence in oneself, and the ability to give without undue thought of gain.
Fred RogersRead
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
Elie WieselRead
And one thing that I always believed and that I knew for certain was that I could never have sustained a personal relationship while I worked this hard, or while I was that driven this intensely by the story.
Christiane AmanpourRead
When it comes time to settle down, find someone who wants an equal partner. Someone who thinks women should be smart, opinionated, and ambitious.
Sheryl SandbergRead
We had loved people we really shouldn't have loved and then married other people in order to forget our impossible loves, or we had once called out hello into the cauldron of the world and then run away before anyone could respond.
Miranda JulyRead