You cannot save people, you can only love them.

Anaïs Nin

French-Cuban writer Anaïs Nin is known for her poignant, intimate personal diaries, which often read like novels, detailing the depth of her affection for various friends and lovers, and her sensitivity to the workings of the world around her. This quote is from an entry in September 1939: World War II had just begun, and Nin discovered that a close friend had enlisted in the French army. Even faced with the potential loss of a loved one, she relinquishes control, committing to love without conditions. Nin’s words remind us that often, the best thing we can do for the people close to us is simply to love them, without trying to manage or change them.