Erica Jong Quotes
I started with poetry because it was direct, immediate, and short. It was the ecstasy of striking matches in the dark.
Quotes to Explore
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Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow.
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Pete Seeger is a modest, unassuming, cheerful, and kind-natured man. He's a good folk singer, if you can stand folk singing. And he's such an excellent banjo player that you almost don't wish you had a pair of wire cutters.
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I had a strong vision for 'The Best Man Holiday,' so I was able to translate that to the actors and ultimately to the screen. Things can't get too heavy or too outrageously funny; it has to strike a balance. Tone is everything. If you've set the right tone, you can get away with a lot of stuff. You can get away with making people cry.
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I've been in situations where I was the only black guy. We're in a time now where nobody wants to see that. But it still happens.
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Not listening to people who care about you, not to be open or transparent, will make you isolated.
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To communicate the truths of history is an act of hope for the future.
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I believe in incentivizing people. If you can incentivize people in anything, whether it's in politics; in life; in spirituality; in business; just take care of folks. Incentivize them and all of a sudden it's amazing the difference that you'll see.
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Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force - that thoughts rule the world.
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I don't want to look old and worn, but what can you do? My real focus is being an actor. I care more about having the opportunity to play roles that I haven't played than I care if my neck looks like someone's bedroom curtains.
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I'm constantly pitching one episode where we see life through Castle's eyes. I think Castle's just a little off as far as his perception goes. A very, very clever man, but I want to see the world as Castle sees it - kind of a rose-colored glasses, all the women find him irresistible, all the guys find him super cool and do whatever he says.
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Once you start playing a piece, there is a connection between every note. You cannot say, 'I will not concentrate on this note.' You cannot ignore things the way you do in the rest of your life.
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My life is full of mistakes. They're like pebbles that make a good road.
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I started as an engineer. I migrated to philosophy and international politics. And I did my studies about African – Africa democracy and democratization in Africa, taking Kenya as a model. And then, while I was doing so in 1996 in South Africa, Al Jazeera was established. So they requested me to be an analyst on African affairs.
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I'm not going to do a song that's really sad and thoughtful. Although I've done ballads like 'Dear Darlin',' I want to make them dance and be happy.
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The idea of being a painter, I've always thought, is better than being an artist or a sculptor.
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Cheerleader roles are really not my thing. I want things that are weird or not typical.
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To be understood is to prostitute yourself.
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Melancholy and remorse form the deep leaden keel which enables us to sail into the wind of reality; we run aground sooner than the flat-bottomed pleasure-lovers but we venture out in weather that would sink them and we choose our direction.
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I wrote my first single, 'Keep Your Head Up,' and that's what got me on the radio and helped me develop a whole base around the country.
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But length of days with an evil heart is only length of misery and already she begins to know it. All get what they want; they do not always like it.
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I certainly was surprised to be named Poet Laureate of this far-out city on the left side of the world, and I gratefully accept, for as I told the Mayor, "How could I refuse?" I'd rather be Poet Laureate of San Francisco than anywhere because this city has always been a poetic center, a frontier for free poetic life, with perhaps more poets and more poetry readers than any city in the world.
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Paradise Lost is a book that, once put down, is very hard to pick up again.
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I find my vocabulary is quite a lot better when I'm hungover. I feel like I unlock a key of words that I don't usually use in day-to-day life.
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I started with poetry because it was direct, immediate, and short. It was the ecstasy of striking matches in the dark.
