“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.”

—  Anaïs Nin

February 1954 The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 5 as quoted in Woman as Writer (1978) by Jeannette L. Webber and Joan Grumman, p. 38
Diary entries (1914 - 1974)
Context: We write to taste life twice, in the moment, and in retrospection. We write, like Proust, to render all of it eternal, and to persuade ourselves that it is eternal. We write to be able to transcend our life, to reach beyond it.
Context: The artist is the only one who knows that the world is a subjective creation, that there is a choice to be made, a selection of elements. It is a materialization, an incarnation of his inner world. Then he hopes to attract others into it. He hopes to impose his particular vision and share it with others. And when the second stage is not reached, the brave artist continues nevertheless. The few moments of communion with the world are worth the pain, for it is a world for others, an inheritance for others, a gift to others, in the end. When you make a world tolerable for yourself, you make a world tolerable for others.
We also write to heighten our own awareness of life. We write to lure and enchant and console others. We write to serenade our lovers. We write to taste life twice, in the moment, and in retrospection. We write, like Proust, to render all of it eternal, and to persuade ourselves that it is eternal. We write to be able to transcend our life, to reach beyond it. We write to teach ourselves to speak with others, to record the journey into the labyrinth. We write to expand our world when we feel strangled, or constricted, or lonely. We write as the birds sing, as the primitives dance their rituals. If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don't write, because our culture has no use for it. When I don't write, I feel my world shrinking. I feel I am in a prison. I feel I lose my fire and my color. It should be a necessity, as the sea needs to heave, and I call it breathing.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Feb. 14, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect." by Anaïs Nin?
Anaïs Nin photo
Anaïs Nin 278
writer of novels, short stories, and erotica 1903–1977

Related quotes

Sue Monk Kidd photo

“We write to taste life twice," Anais Nin wrote, "in the moment and in retrospection.”

Sue Monk Kidd (1948) Novelist

Source: Traveling With Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story

Colin Wilson photo

“We have all experienced the moments that William James calls melting moods, when it suddenly becomes perfectly obvious that life is infinitely fascinating. And the insight seems to apply retrospectively.”

Colin Wilson (1931–2013) author

Periods of my life that seemed confusing and dull at the time now seem complex and rather charming. It is almost as if some other person a more powerful and mature individual has taken over my brain. This higher self views my problems and anxieties with kindly detachment, but entirely without pity. Looking at problems through his eyes, I can see I was a fool to worry about them.
Source: Access to Inner Worlds (1990), p. 2-3

Chuck Palahniuk photo

“That's why I write, because life never works except in retrospect. You can't control life, at least you can control your version.”

Chuck Palahniuk (1962) American novelist, essayist

Source: Stranger than Fiction

Nicholas Sparks photo
Prevale photo

“Make the most of your time. Burn the moments, even instants of life, because it will not offer you the same opportunities twice.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Sfruttate al massimo il vostro tempo. Bruciate i momenti, persino gli istanti della vita, perché non vi offrirà due volte le stesse opportunità.
Source: prevale.net

Anaïs Nin photo
Zadie Smith photo
George Santayana photo
Bram van Velde photo

“An artist’s life is all very fine and moving. But only in retrospect. In books.”

Bram van Velde (1895–1981) Dutch painter

1960's, Conversations with Samuel Beckett and Bram van Velde' (1965 - 1969)

Related topics