Anaïs Nin

Her name popped up in my head a couple minutes ago, I think just because it's a cool name. So I looked her up and was instantly fascinated by her life.

Some quotes (from Wikipedia, of course):

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage."
--Completely agree. I'm trying to work on that courage part.

"...for no one has ever loved an adventurous woman as they have loved adventurous men."
--Sad but true? Sad.

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

"I postpone death by living, by suffering, by error, by risking, by giving, by losing."

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world not possibly born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."
--Love this quote because I feel as though I've only recently realized this. My circle of friends, close, true friends, however small, are different. I act different, feel different around them. I appreciate that because in a way, it's reflecting a bit of me and pulling out something new, too, as Nin says. Another thing: I want to meet different people.

"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. Anything I cannot transform into something marvelous, I let go. Reality doesn't impress me. I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I escape, one way or another. No more walls."
--I can relate to this in a way because I see myself as a dreamer. I fantasize and poeticize life--not all the time, but most of the time. I have to keep this in check, though. Being a romantic is not good when you're also a realist. Still, this idea is a bit extreme for me. I like being comfortable, maybe too much. (Again, something I'm trying to sort out).

"Something is always born of excess: great art was born of great terror, great loneliness, great inhibitions, instabilities, and it always balances them."
--I've always thought about what it would be like to be a great artist. I see artists as: insanely creative, sensitive, emotional, attached to life and riding everything down to a point. I think if I had pursued my love of drawing further at a younger age, I could have turned it into something more than a hobby. But I don't know if I have the right personality to handle "excess" in whatever form. I'm a moderate person. I'm still utterly attracted to the idea of a "great artist."

"Dreams are necessary to life."
--Yes. They can show you potential, a blueprint for something better. I think dreams and art are the same because they can both show you truth and the ideal. It's up to the individual to figure out what that is.

"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."
--Agree with this, too. We see ourselves reflected in others and in the world. There is something psychological and fundamentally human in this idea. There is no objectivity, only subjective truth. We can choose how to see the world and choose how to see ourselves. To expound on this idea: we may not be able to control what life gives us, but we can control how we ultimately see what is given (glass half-full/empty). If I were to apply this quote to people I know, I could probably ascertain what sort of person they are. But then I guess I would really be seeing myself in how I choose to see other people, which reminds me of the concept of the Ouroboros. Or that episode of Catdog where one end travels through the other ends and finds...something. I don't remember.

"People living deeply have no fear of death."
--And they are lucky.


I think I will add her to the list of authors I want to get into. I want to get into proto-feminist women, because that whole idea is way cool.