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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.
Anais Nin
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects on the contradiction between celebrating peace and ignoring the roots of aggression in humanity.

Anais Nin highlights the paradox of society's focus on celebrating peace while neglecting to address the underlying causes of aggression within individuals. She suggests that understanding and overcoming personal fears through psychoanalysis can lead to a reduction in hostility, proposing that internal healing is key to external harmony.

Themes

PeaceAggressionPsychoanalysisHostilityFear

In practice

Example use cases

This quote would be ideal for a psychology seminar discussing the importance of mental health in achieving social peace.

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The poet is one who is able to keep the fresh vision of the child alive.
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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.
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I gathered poets around me and we all wrote beautiful erotica. As we were condemned to focus only on sensuality, we had violent explosions of poetry. Writing erotica became a road to sainthood rather than to debauchery.
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