Frequently attributed to Nin, but without cited source in her work (possibly due to a quotation in Living on Purpose: Straight Answers to Universal Questions (2000) by Dan Millman that attributed the quote to Nin without source).
In March 2013, a former Director of Public Relations at John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, Elizabeth Appell, claimed she had authored the quote in 1979 for an inspirational header on a class schedule: http://anaisninblog.skybluepress.com/2013/03/who-wrote-risk-is-the-mystery-solved/
Disputed
Variant: The day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
“Ere sin could blight or sorrow fade,
Death came with friendly care;
The opening bud to heaven conveyed,
And bade it blossom there.”
Epitaph on an Infant
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
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Samuel Taylor Coleridge 220
English poet, literary critic and philosopher 1772–1834Related quotes
“Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it.”
Vegn vos Firn op fun Yidishkeit, 1911. S. Liptzin. Peretz. Yivo, 1947, p. 372.
Context: They are all so-called Christian nations, but... this superimposed religion... does not penetrate into the core of their souls. It has no relation to their daily experience... It is a key to open a heaven after death and not a key with which to force open the portals of this life.
“Death gestured with his hands and bade the king thrice welcome.”
Book VIII, line 168
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)
Letter to William Hayley (1803-10-07)
1810s