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.