Context

Anaïs Nin was one of the most famous diarists of all time. She started keeping journals when she was only ten years old and, for the rest of her life, travelled and wrote down her observations. Those thoughts would become novels with fictional characters based loosely on Nin and her travels. Here, Lillian takes on a journey of self-discovery and realizes that the only way she can understand the world is to understand herself. Know thyself; it's true.

It doesn't take long for Lillian to realize that people don't really want to look and the world and see how it is. They just need to see it through their own lens. Heck, maybe we're not even capable of looking at things a different way. It might just be how we're built. Even those old timey guys who wrote the Talmud knew that. As did everyone else who has said or written about this idea before.

Where you've heard it

This is a great quote to break out when you think someone else isn't seeing things clearly. You? Well, you always look reality right in the face, don't you?

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

If you want to tell people that they're just not seeing the world clearly enough, then you've gotta be prepared for some pretty hardcore groans. No one likes to have their faults pointed out them. Least of all people who can only see stuff through their own rose-colored glasses.