Anais Nin

"The writer is the duelist who never fights at the stated hour, who gathers up an insult, like another curious object, a collector's item, spreads it out on his desk later, and then engages in a duel with it verbally. Some people call it weakness. I call it postponement. What is weakness in the man becomes a quality in the writer. For he preserves, collects what will explode later in his work. That is why the writer is the loneliest man in the world; because he lives, fights, dies, is reborn always alone; all his roles are played behind a curtain. In life he is an incongruous figure."

5 likes

Source: Anais Nin (1977). “DELTA OF VENUS EROTICA”

About the author

Anais Nin

Anais Nin

Writer, Diarist

Anais Nin was a French-Cuban-American diarist and writer known for her exploration of love, identity, and the human psyche in works like 'Delta of Venus'.

All quotes by Anais Nin →

Same author

More quotes by Anais Nin

See all →
Anais Nin Writer, Diarist

"Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country."

Read quote
Anais Nin Writer, Diarist

"My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to find peace with exactly who and what I am. To take pride in my thoughts, my appearance, my talents, my flaws and to stop this incessant worrying that I can’t be loved as I am."

Read quote
Anais Nin Writer, Diarist

"Life, religion and art all converge in Bali. They have no word in their language for 'artist' or 'art.' Everyone is an artist."

Read quote