The poet is one who is able to keep the fresh vision of the child alive.
Anais NinRead
Coming near him like a ballet dancer she took a leap towards him, and he, frightened by her vehemence, and fearing that she would crash against him, instinctively became absolutely rigid, and she felt herself embracing a statue.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote illustrates the intense emotions and vulnerability present in romantic relationships.
In this quote, Anais Nin captures the tension that can arise in intimate moments, where one partner's passionate approach can evoke both desire and fear in the other. The imagery of a ballet dancer emphasizes grace and beauty, while the depiction of becoming 'absolutely rigid' conveys the conflict between attraction and apprehension, resulting in a poignant moment of connection that is both exhilarating and paralyzing.
Themes
LoveFearPassionIntimacyVulnerability
In practice
Example use cases
Sharing this quote at a wedding to highlight the complexities of love.
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
In itself, homosexuality is as limiting as heterosexuality: the ideal should be to be capable of loving a woman or a man; either, a human being, without feeling fear, restraint, or obligation.
Simone De BeauvoirRead
As Sokrates tells it, your story begins the moment Eros enters you. That incursion is the biggest risk of your life. How you handle it is an index of the quality, wisdom, and decorum of the things inside you. As you handle it you come into contact with what is inside you, in a sudden and startling way. You perceive what you are, what you lack, what you could be.
Anne CarsonRead
My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy, and when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change without torture such as you cannot even imagine.
Mary Wollstonecraft ShelleyRead
What is irritating about love is that it is a crime that requires an accomplice.
Charles BaudelaireRead
You have to give others the opportunity to love who you love. If they don't accept it, it's their loss.
Alice WalkerRead
True rebels after all, are as rare as true lovers,and in both cases, to mistake a fever for passion can destroy one's life
James A. BaldwinRead