excerpts from Henry and June, by Anaïs Nin

At moments he can say the most delicate or profound things. But his softness is dangerous, because when he writes he does not write with love, he writes to caricature, to attack, to ridicule, to destroy, to rebel. He is always against something. I am always for something. Anger poisons me. I love, I love, I love. p 50

To retreat is not feminine, male, or trickery. It is a terror before utter destruction. What we analyze inexorably, will it die? p 65

What is left out of the journal is also left out of my mind. At the moment of writing I rush for the beauty. I disperse the rest, out of the journal, out of my body. I would like to come back, like a detective, and collect what I have washed off. p 113

I have a mischievous awareness that he expects me to become interested in him, and I don't like playing the game while knowing it is a game. Yet my interest is sincere. I also tell him I don't mind any more whether he admires me or not. And that is a victory over myself.  p 134

"Of course," he said, "you are a narcissist. That is the raison d'être of the journal. Journal writing is a disease. But it's all right. It's very interesting." p 136-7 (Henry as related by Anaïs)

  -- Anaïs Nin, Henry and June: From "A Journal of Love" -The Unexpurgated Diary of Anais Nin (1931-1932)