Anais Nin? Rosalie Maggio? Katherine Young? Apocryphal?
Question for Quote Investigator: A deep emotional rapport with another person allows one to live vicariously. A famous diarist apparently said the following:
Through love, through friendship, a heart lives more than one life.
This statement has been ascribed to French-born U.S. author Anaïs Nin. Would you please help me to find a citation?
Reply from Quote Investigator: The quotation appeared in a diary entry dated December 27, 1922 within a volume titled “The Early Diary of Anaïs Nin 1920–1923”. The entry mentioned Nin’s cousin and friend Eduardo Sánchez. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
And Eduardo’s letters come to me, laden with sweetness, with peace and serene beauty and faith. And I bless that tie through which the bitterness of my experience is softened by a precious share of his!
Through love, through friendship, a heart lives more than one life and is made joyful or sorrowful by the experiences of many others. It is sweet to share all things thus and give and receive comfort and give and find inspiration and sustenance.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In 1997 quotation researcher Rosalie Maggio published the compilation “Quotations On Love” which included the following entry:2
Through love, through friendship, a heart lives more than one life.
Anaïs Nin
In 2000 “The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Wedding Toasts” edited by Katherine Young included the quotation together with an ascription to Anaïs Nin.3
In 2002 the quotation and ascription to Nin appeared in “What I Love Most About You: A Keepsake Book For the One I Treasure” by Joann Davis.4
In conclusion, Anaïs Nin deserves credit for the words she wrote in her diary in 1922 which were published in 1982 within the volume “The Early Diary of Anaïs Nin 1920–1923”. Nin’s insightful quotation has been reprinted in a few compilations of quotations.
Image Notes: Two friends who are conversing depicted in silhouette from Harli Marten at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to AL whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.
- 1982 Copyright, The Early Diary of Anaïs Nin 1920–1923 by Anaïs Nin, Volume 2, Diary Date: December 27, 1922, Quote Page 517, A Harvest Book: Harcourt Brace & Company, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1997 Copyright, Quotations On Love, Compiled by Rosalie Maggio, Chapter: The heart, Quote Page 105, Prentice Hall, Paramus, New Jersey. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2000, The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Wedding Toasts, Edited by Katherine Young, Chapter: Heart, Quote Page 184, Sterling Publishing Company Inc., New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2002, What I Love Most About You: A Keepsake Book For the One I Treasure by Joann Davis, Quote Page 50, William Morrow, An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎