--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We write to taste life twice, first in…" description: "\"We write to taste life twice, first in the moment and second in retrospect\" — Anais Nin" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc2/anais-nin-288_life_we-write-to-taste-life-twice-first-in-th_2294035.png" --- # We write to taste life twice, first in the moment and… ![“We write to taste life twice, first in the moment and second in retrospect” quote by Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc2/anais-nin-288_life_we-write-to-taste-life-twice-first-in-th_2294035.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc2/anais-nin-288_life_we-write-to-taste-life-twice-first-in-th_2294035.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc2/anais-nin-288_life_we-write-to-taste-life-twice-first-in-th_2294035.png) > “We write to taste life twice, first in the moment and second in retrospect” [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Experiencing life fully now, then reflecting later deepens appreciation. **In simple terms:** Live fully now, then reflect. Key Takeaway Savor moments, then reflect. Themes experience reflection appreciation Mood nostalgic contemplative Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - daily life - travel - creative work - relationships Key Concepts existentialism mindfulness Questions to Reflect On - How does reflection change your view of past events? - What moments do you revisit often? A Different Perspective Memory can be selective, altering true experience. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life Twice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-twice-1626879/) [Second Retrospect](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/second-retrospect-5401700/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Twice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/twice/) [Twice Moment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/twice-moment-3561743/) [Write Taste](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/write-taste-2014004/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/we-write-to-taste-life-twice-in-the-moment-and-in-retrospect/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/we-write-to-taste-life-twice-in-the-moment-and-in-retrospection/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [We also write to heighten our own awareness of life... We write to taste life twice, in the moment, and in retrospection... We write…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/we-also-write-to-heighten-our-own-awareness-of-life-we-write-to-taste/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [People who keep journals have life twice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessamyn-west/people-who-keep-journals-have-life-twice/) [Jessamyn West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessamyn-west/) > [in writing we live life twice: once in the experience, and again in recording and reflecting upon our experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-baldwin/in-writing-we-live-life-twice-once-in-the-experience-and-again-in/) [Christina Baldwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-baldwin/) > [“I write romance and passion to savour love twice, in the moment and in retrospect.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angeline-m-bishop/i-write-romance-and-passion-to-savour-love-twice-in-the-moment-and-in/) [Angeline M. Bishop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angeline-m-bishop/) > [“I write about romance and passion to savour love twice, in the moment and in retrospect.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angeline-m-bishop/i-write-about-romance-and-passion-to-savour-love-twice-in-the-moment/) [Angeline M. Bishop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angeline-m-bishop/) > [“It occurs once in every minute, Twice in every moment, And yet never in one hundred thousand years.   What is it?   It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-l-bevill/it-occurs-once-in-every-minute-twice-in-every-moment-and-yet-never-in/) [C.L. Bevill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-l-bevill/) > [I wouldn't have wanted anyone to teach me how to write. That's my own taste. I prefer to stumble on it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chinua-achebe/i-wouldn-t-have-wanted-anyone-to-teach-me-how-to-write-that-s-my-own/) [Chinua Achebe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chinua-achebe/) > [“We write to lure and enchant and console others. We write to serenade our lovers. We write to taste life twice, in the moment,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/we-write-to-lure-and-enchant-and-console-others-we-write-to-serenade/) [Anaïs Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [ To write with taste, in the highest sense, is to write \[...\] so that no one commits suicide, no one despairs; to write \[...\]… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-write-with-taste-in-the-highest-sense-is-to-write-so-that-no-one/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Asking a writer why they like to write {in the theoretical sense of the question} is like asking a person why they breathe. For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-heffington/asking-a-writer-why-they-like-to-write-in-the-theoretical-sense-of/) [Rachel Heffington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-heffington/) > [The reading eye must do the work to make them live, and so it did, again and again, never the same life twice, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-reading-eye-must-do-the-work-to-make-them-live-and-so-it-did/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [~ Life is not twice nor thrice but if you live it to the fullest, you can have multiple happiness. ~](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vince/life-is-not-twice-nor-thrice-but-if-you-live-it-to-the-fullest-you/) [Vince](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vince/) > [My dad gave me life twice. I thank him by using the strong body I now have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-purdy/my-dad-gave-me-life-twice-i-thank-him-by-using-the-strong-body-i-now/) [Amy Purdy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-purdy/) ## More by Anais Nin > [I wanted to remember in order to be able to return.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/i-wanted-to-remember-in-order-to-be-able-to-return/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [“…For love it is never the same. What goes on inside is never the same just like this music which changes every instant. For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/for-love-it-is-never-the-same-what-goes-on-inside-is-never-the-same/) [Anaïs Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [Jazz is the music of the body. The breath comes through brass. It is the body's breath, and the strings' wails and moans are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/jazz-is-the-music-of-the-body-the-breath-comes-through-brass-it-is/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [I have so strong a sense of creation, of tomorrow, that I cannot get drunk, knowing I will be less alive, less well, less…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/i-have-so-strong-a-sense-of-creation-of-tomorrow-that-i-cannot-get/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [We don't have a language for the senses. Feelings are images, sensations are like musical sounds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/we-don-t-have-a-language-for-the-senses-feelings-are-images/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [Strange, isn't it, that no chemical will give a human being the iridescence that illusions have given them? Give me your hat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/strange-isn-t-it-that-no-chemical-will-give-a-human-being-the/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [The personal, if it is deep enough, becomes universal, mythical, symbolic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/the-personal-if-it-is-deep-enough-becomes-universal-mythical-symbolic/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [Introspection is a devouring monster. You have to feed it with much material, much experience, many people, many places, many loves, many creations, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/introspection-is-a-devouring-monster-you-have-to-feed-it-with-much/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [In each studio there is a human being dressed in the full regalia of his myth fearing to expore a vulnerable opening, spreading not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/in-each-studio-there-is-a-human-being-dressed-in-the-full-regalia-of/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [I don't mind working, holding my ground intellectually, artistically; but as a woman, oh, God, as a woman I want to be dominated](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/i-don-t-mind-working-holding-my-ground-intellectually-artistically/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [“Laughter and tears are not separate experiences, with intervals of rest: they rush out together and it is like walking with a sword between…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/laughter-and-tears-are-not-separate-experiences-with-intervals-of/) [Anaïs Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [The basis of insincerity is the idealized image we hold of ourselves and wish to impose on others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/the-basis-of-insincerity-is-the-idealized-image-we-hold-of-ourselves/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [I write emotional algebra.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/i-write-emotional-algebra/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [The role of the writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say. Most of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/the-role-of-the-writer-is-not-to-say-what-we-can-all-say-but-what-we/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [I say quotations are literary. They are good only when dealing with ideas, not with experience. Experience should be pure, unique.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/i-say-quotations-are-literary-they-are-good-only-when-dealing-with/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) [Explore all 715 Anais Nin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) ## More Life quotes > [Of all the people who have affected my life and influenced the choices I've made, none has been more important than my father. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teddy-atlas/of-all-the-people-who-have-affected-my-life-and-influenced-the/) [Teddy Atlas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teddy-atlas/) > [What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/what-sets-worlds-in-motion-is-the-interplay-of-differences-their/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Life is full of change. That's how we learn and grow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-is-full-of-change-that-s-how-we-learn-and-grow/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Life works most perfectly when a reciprocal love relationship is in place between man and God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-moore/life-works-most-perfectly-when-a-reciprocal-love-relationship-is-in/) [Beth Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-moore/) > [I value the experiences that come with life too much to sit by and not put my full effort into them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-miller/i-value-the-experiences-that-come-with-life-too-much-to-sit-by-and/) [Jim Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-miller/) > [Entertainment is a sacred pursuit when done well. When done well, it raises the quality of human life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-chabon/entertainment-is-a-sacred-pursuit-when-done-well-when-done-well-it/) [Michael Chabon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-chabon/) > [“There's more to life than you can see. Your sight is limited.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tammy-kling/there-s-more-to-life-than-you-can-see-your-sight-is-limited/) [Tammy Kling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tammy-kling/) > [“I've spent much of my life calling my intuition "something wrong with me.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deanna-l-lawlis/i-ve-spent-much-of-my-life-calling-my-intuition-something-wrong-with/) [Deanna L. Lawlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deanna-l-lawlis/) > [When you do things they're absolutely right at that time for you and it can always teach you something about yourself. You can take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kym-marsh/when-you-do-things-they-re-absolutely-right-at-that-time-for-you-and/) [Kym Marsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kym-marsh/) > [The only people who think the Internet is a calamity are people whose lives have been hurt by it; the only people who insist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-klosterman/the-only-people-who-think-the-internet-is-a-calamity-are-people-whose/) [Chuck Klosterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-klosterman/) > [The one thing that I keep learning over and over again is that I don't know nothing. I mean, that's my life lesson.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwayne-johnson/the-one-thing-that-i-keep-learning-over-and-over-again-is-that-i-don/) [Dwayne Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwayne-johnson/) > [“THIS tale of my sore-troubled life I write,    To thank the God of nature, who conveyed    My soul to me, and with such care…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/this-tale-of-my-sore-troubled-life-i-write-to-thank-the-god-of-nature/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The future is only an indifferent void no one cares about, but the past is filled with life, and its countenance is irritating, repellent,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/the-future-is-only-an-indifferent-void-no-one-cares-about-but-the/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [Two things revolutionised life: moving to the countryside and falling in love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-love/two-things-revolutionised-life-moving-to-the-countryside-and-falling/) [Nick Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-love/) > [But just remember, life without me would be even more unbearable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/but-just-remember-life-without-me-would-be-even-more-unbearable/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) [Browse all 265,290 Life quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We write to taste life twice, first in the moment and second in retrospect", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Anais Nin" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/we-write-to-taste-life-twice-first-in-the-moment-and-second-in/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Life" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/we-write-to-taste-life-twice-first-in-the-moment-and-second-in/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc2/anais-nin-288_life_we-write-to-taste-life-twice-first-in-th_2294035.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc2/anais-nin-288_life_we-write-to-taste-life-twice-first-in-th_2294035.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc2/anais-nin-288_life_we-write-to-taste-life-twice-first-in-th_2294035.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We write to taste life twice, first in the moment and second in retrospect” — Anais Nin", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Anais Nin", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "We write to taste life twice,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/we-write-to-taste-life-twice-first-in-the-moment-and-second-in/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/we-write-to-taste-life-twice-first-in-the-moment-and-second-in/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```