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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Sense is a line, the mind is a circle. Sense is like a line which is the flux of a point running out from itself, but intellect like a circle that keeps within itself.
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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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Humans can make friends easily if they are open to it and are interested in other people.
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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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I think the virtue I prize above all others is curiosity. If you look really hard at almost anybody, and try to see why they're doing what they're doing, taking a dig at them ceases to be what you want to do even if you hate them.
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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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As editor, I think we need to act more decisively on what kind of material appears on the 'Guardian'. Those who argue that this is an affront to freedom of speech miss the point. That freedom counts for little if it is used to silence others.
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Life is full of ironies and paradoxes.
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One or two people have named their children after characters in my songs. That's pretty intense.
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It is better to deny God, than to defy God. Sometimes our weakness is considered strength, and we take delight in borrowed greatness. To profess to be a lover of God and then to be dishonest to God, to the world and to himself, is unparalleled hypocrisy. Difficulties give us the opportunity to prove our greatness by overcoming them.
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For myself it would be most irksome to be ruled by a bevy of Platonic Guardians, even if I knew how to choose them, which I assuredly do not.
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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.
