100 Top & Most Popular Anais Nin Quotes

1. “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”
2. “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”
3. “The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say.”
4. “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
5. “I am an excitable person who only understands life lyrically, musically, in whom feelings are much stronger as reason. I am so thirsty for the marvelous that only the marvelous has power over me.”
6. “I postpone death by living, by suffering, by error, by risking, by giving, by losing.”
7. “I must be a mermaid, Rango. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living.”
8. “We are all born mad. Some remain so.”
9. “Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don’t know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.”
10. “The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.”

11. “I am an instrument in the shape of a woman trying to translate pulsations into images.”
12. “Life is a full circle, widening until it joins the circle motions of the infinite.”
13. “I cannot let the fear of the past color the future.”
14. “The personal life deeply lived always expands into truths beyond itself.”
15. “The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle.”
16. “You live like this, sheltered, in a delicate world, and you believe you are living. Then you read a book… or you take a trip… and you discover that you are not living, that you are hibernating.”
17. “What I cannot love, I overlook. Is that real friendship?”
18. “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.”
19. “I am lonely, yet not everybody will do. I don’t know why, some people fill the gaps and others emphasize my loneliness.”
20. “I take pleasure in my transformations. I look quiet and consistent, but few know how many women there are in me.”
21. “We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present.”
22. “I don’t really want to become normal, average, standard. I want merely to gain in strength, in the courage to live out my life more fully, enjoy more, experience more. I want to develop even more original and more unconventional traits.”
23. “I disregard the proportions, the measures, the tempo of the ordinary world. I refuse to live in the ordinary world as ordinary women. To enter ordinary relationships. I want ecstasy.”
24. “Each contact with a human being is so rare, so precious, one should preserve it.”
25. “I am always drawn back to the places where I have lived, the houses and their neighborhoods.”
26. “Anxiety is love’s greatest killer. It makes others feel as you might when a drowning man holds on to you. You want to save him, but you know he will strangle you with his panic.”
27. “I am a woman and I am a person, and I cannot be subsumed into either of those categories at the expense of the other.”
28. “Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.”
29. “There is not one big cosmic meaning for all; there is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person.”
30. “What you seek is seeking you.”
31. “Life is a wonderful journey to be embraced with open arms and a grateful heart. We must celebrate the journey that has brought us to where we are today.”
32. “It is the function of art to renew our perception. What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and, as if by magic, we see a new meaning in it.”
33. “I am an artist… I am here to live out loud.”
34. “The only way to deal with fear is to face it head-on.”

36. “The personal life deeply lived always expands into truths beyond itself.”
37. “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”
38. “The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say.”
39. “The only way to deal with fear is to face it head-on.”
40. “Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.”
41. “The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.”
42. “I must be a mermaid, Rango. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living.”
43. “Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don’t know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.”
44. “We are all born mad. Some remain so.”
45. “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”
46. “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.”
47. “I am lonely, yet not everybody will do. I don’t know why, some people fill the gaps and others emphasize my loneliness.”
48. “Anxiety is love’s greatest killer. It makes others feel as you might when a drowning man holds on to you. You want to save him, but you know he will strangle you with his panic.”
49. “I take pleasure in my transformations. I look quiet and consistent, but few know how many women there are in me.”
50. “I disregard the proportions, the measures, the tempo of the ordinary world. I refuse to live in the ordinary world as ordinary women. To enter ordinary relationships. I want ecstasy.”
51. “Each contact with a human being is so rare, so precious, one should preserve it.”
52. “I am always drawn back to the places where I have lived, the houses and their neighborhoods.”
53. “What I cannot love, I overlook. Is that real friendship?”
54. “We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present.”
55. “I don’t really want to become normal, average, standard. I want merely to gain in strength, in the courage to live out my life more fully, enjoy more, experience more. I want to develop even more original and more unconventional traits.”
56. “I am a woman and I am a person, and I cannot be subsumed into either of those categories at the expense of the other.”
57. “Life is a full circle, widening until it joins the circle motions of the infinite.”
58. “The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle.”
59. “You live like this, sheltered, in a delicate world, and you believe you are living. Then you read a book… or you take a trip… and you discover that you are not living, that you are hibernating.”
60. “The unknown was my compass. The unknown was my encyclopedia. The unnamed was my science and progress.”

61. “I am only responsible for my own heart, you offered yours up for the smashing my darling. Only a fool would give out such a vital organ.”
62. “I don’t want to be a passenger in my own life.”
63. “I postpone death by living, by suffering, by error, by risking, by giving, by losing.”
64. “We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.”
65. “The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.”
66. “People living deeply have no fear of death.”
67. “Life is a continuous process of adjustment.”
68. “We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are.”
69. “You don’t find love, it finds you. It’s got a little bit to do with destiny, fate, and what’s written in the stars.”
70. “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”
71. “We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.”
72. “Introspection is a devouring monster. You have to feed it with much material, much experience, many people, many places, many loves, many creations, and then it ceases feeding on you.”
73. “I am an excitable person who only understands life lyrically, musically, in whom feelings are much stronger than reason. I am so thirsty for the marvelous that only the marvelous has power over me. Anything I can not transform into something marvelous, I let go.”
74. “The personal life deeply lived always expands into truths beyond itself.”
75. “The only way to deal with fear is to face it head on.”
76. “I don’t really want to become normal, average, standard. I want merely to gain in strength, in the courage to live out my life more fully, enjoy more, experience more. I want to develop even more original and more unconventional traits.”
77. “The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle.”
78. “Life is a full circle, widening until it joins the circle motions of the infinite.”
79. “I am not a finished poem, and I am not the song you’ve turned me into. I am a mosaic of jagged pieces you picked up with bleeding hands and cut yourself on, and you threw them back into the world, expecting me to be grateful for the beautiful mess you’ve made.”
80. “The artist’s task is not to alter the world as the eye sees it into a world of imagination, but to perceive the natural world as it is, and to find relationships between it and the imagination.”
81. “Anxiety is love’s greatest killer. It makes others feel as you might when a drowning man holds on to you. You want to save him, but you know he will strangle you with his panic.”
82. “I am made and remade continually. Different people draw different words from me.”
83. “The personal life deeply lived always expands into truths beyond itself.”
84. “It is a sign of great inner insecurity to be hostile to the unfamiliar.”
85. “I am lonely, yet not everybody will do. I don’t know why, some people fill the gaps and others emphasize my loneliness.”

87. “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”
88. “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.”
89. “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”
90. “The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.”
91. “Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don’t know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.”
92. “Anxiety is love’s greatest killer. It makes others feel as you might when a drowning man holds on to you. You want to save him, but you know he will strangle you with his panic.”
93. “Life is a full circle, widening until it joins the circle motions of the infinite.”
94. “We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.”
95. “We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are.”
96. “The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle.”
97. “Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.”
98. “We are all of us stars, and we deserve to twinkle.”
99. “You don’t find love, it finds you. It’s got a little bit to do with destiny, fate, and what’s written in the stars.”
100. “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”

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