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shisasan

February 10, 1925 Journals of Anais Nin 1923-1927 [volume 3]

shisasan

For years, a misattributed and altered Anaïs Nin excerpt has circulated across various platforms, including Tumblr:

"Touched bottom again. Decided to liberate myself. We are never trapped unless we choose to be."

frequently attributed to The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 4: 1944–1947

The original diary entry, from Mirages (December 7, 1944), reads:

"I touched the bottom again and then liberated myself."

Later in the same entry:

"...we are never in a trap unless we want to be."

The circulating version merges separate passages, alters the original wording, and assigns the wrong source:

This is one of the reasons I always encourage people to read the actual books themselves. The further a quote travels from its source, the more likely it is to be shortened, rewritten, merged with other passages, or assigned the wrong source altogether.

Eventually, what remains is often a version that was never actually written.

heavenlyyshecomes

there is a level of seduction that exists beyond the body. something less tangible, and perhaps more potent. anais nin understood this idea about how desire does not begin with touch but with language, perception, and the sharp electric pull of a mind that challenges and excites you. in her journals, desire is not just a physical hunger but a hunger of the intellect, an unraveling of thought before an unraveling of the body. to be drawn into someone’s mind, to feel their thoughts press against your own, can be more intoxicating than any physical closeness.

—Caitlyn Richardson, 'can intellectual intimacy replace physical desire?', in milk fed

petaltexturedskies

Anaïs Nin, Delta of Venus

sarahwestcott

Image I.D. — “violently sensual, alive, earthy.” — End I.D.

anexperimentallife

Also applies to "AI" "artists" and "musicians."

vexheart

yoogrimo

‼️🎯

whendidmythoughtsgocrazy

I would have kept choosing you forever but you made me choose myself.

k.b. // by @/brennenbeckwith - tiktok

iseetheworldinmetaphor

I, no longer a secret to myself,

am telling my body I can live. Will live.

Must live. Deserve to live.

There are underground cities waiting.

—Yrsa Daley Ward

quotesengage

I don’t think that I’ll live a particularly long life. It doesn’t bother me

You gather speed when you’re descending.

The Terrible by Yrsa Daley-Ward

stayuntilthefoglifts

Your soul stained my shoulders. My whole life smells like you. This will take time, undoing you from my blood.

Nayyirah Waheed

petaltexturedskies

In films, we are voyeurs, but in novels, we have the experience of being someone else: knowing another person’s soul from the inside. No other art form does that. And this is why sometimes, when we put down a book, we find ourselves slightly altered as human beings. Novels change us from within.

Donna Tartt