The poet is one who is able to keep the fresh vision of the child alive.
Anais NinRead
Three or four threads may be agitated, like telegraph wires, at the same time, and if I were to tap them all I would reveal such a mixture of innocence and duplicity, generosity and calculation, fear and courage, I cannot tell the whole truth simply because I would have to write four journals at once.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Truth can be complex and multifaceted, making it difficult to express fully.
Anais Nin reflects on the inherent complexity of human emotions and experiences, suggesting that truth is not singular but a blend of varied feelings and perspectives. The metaphor of tapping multiple telegraph wires emphasizes the challenge of conveying this complexity, as different aspects of our lives often coexist—innocence alongside duplicity, and generosity alongside calculation, all demanding acknowledgment in our narratives.
Themes
TruthComplexityHuman NaturePerspectiveEmotion
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion about honesty in relationships, this quote can illustrate the complications involved.
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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