Quotes from Anais Nin

If all of us acted in unison as I act individually there would be no wars and no poverty. I have made myself personally responsible for the fate of every human being who has come my way.

My first vision of earth was water veiled. I am of the race of men and women who see all things through this curtain of sea and my eyes are the color of water.

Sexual intercourse... a joyous, joyous, joyous, joyous impaling of woman on man's sensual mast.

A man who lives unrelated to other human beings dies. But a man who lives unrelated to himself also dies.

This image of herself as a not ordinary women, an image which was trembling now in his eyes, might suddenly disappear. Nothing more difficult to live up to than men's dreams.

I want to fall in love in such a way that the mere sight of a man, even a block away from me, will shake and pierce me, will weaken me, and make me tremble and soften and melt.

A man fell in love with Jeanne, and she tried to love him. But she complained that he uttered such ordinary words, that he could never say the magic phrase which would open her being.

The secret of joy is the mastery of pain.

Tranquillity is contagious, peace is contagious. One only thinks of the contagiousness of illness, but there is the contagion of serenity and joy.

I walked into my own book, seeking peace. It was night, and I made a careless movement inside the dream; I turned too brusquely the corner and I bruised myself against my madness.

Eroticism is one of the basic means of self-knowledge, as indispensable as poetry.

Poetry is the alchemy which teaches us to convert ordinary materials into gold.

To write at the same temperature at which I live I should write nothing but poetry.

Big Business and Politics are twins, they are the monsters who kill everything, corrupt everything.

Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be...including our perception. Of it

You can either give negativity power over your life or you can choose happiness instead.

I don't mind working, holding my ground intellectually, artistically; but as a woman, oh, God, as a woman I want to be dominated

To commit suicide is easy. To live without a god is more difficult. The drunkenness of triumph is greater than the drunkenness of sacrifice.

Will you come down and kiss me good night?

Everything but happiness is neurosis.

Because history is only an aggregate of personal hostilities, personal prejudices, personal blindness and irrationality, there are times when we have to live against it.

When others asked the truth of me, I was convinced it was not the truth they wanted, but an illusion they could bear to live with.

Each contact with a human being is so rare, so precious, one should preserve it.

Nothing too long imagined can be perfect in a wordly way.