Erica Jong Quotes
-
There is a rhythm to the ending of a marriage just like the rhythm of a courtship, only backward.
-
I've kept journals at many times in my life starting from when I was about 13 or 14. But it's boring and contrived to keep a journal every day. Better to write as the mood strikes.
-
And what if I don't want forgiveness?
-
There are no atheists on turbulent airplanes.
-
We are finally driven to monogamy not by morality but by exhaustion.
-
O what is it about having one's own Babe upon one's Hip that makes a Woman wish to go home to her Mother? A Desire to say: 'Look, the Circle is compleat'? A Desire to say: 'Look, I have cross'd the Divide and now am more like you'? A Desire to say: 'Look, this Babe I offer you is my most precious Gift'?
-
It is the artists who make the true value of the world, though at times they may have to starve to do it. They are like earthworms, turning up the soil so things can grow, eating dirt so that the rest of us may eat green shoots.
-
I think we’re men and women more similar. In that we all deal with our fantasy lives and sometimes are disappointed by reality.
-
Ambivalence is a wonderful tune to dance to. It has a rhythm all its own.
-
What is the fatal charm of Italy? What do we find there that can be found nowhere else? I believe it is a certain permission to be human, which other places, other countries, lost long ago.
-
I went for years not finishing anything. Because, of course, when you finish something you can be judged...I had poems which were re-written so many times I suspect it was just a way of avoiding sending them out.
-
What was time but a convention, a habit of mind, a custom of dress?
-
Spring, you are a pinking shears: you cut fresh edges on the world.
-
A dreary censorship, and self-censorship, has been imposed on books by the centralization of the book industry.
-
I don't know what the definition of pornography is and nobody else does either. Pornography is somebody else's erotica that you don't like. People are interested in their own sexuality and they've always reflected it in their art. End of story.
-
It is the nature of those books we call classics to wait patiently on the shelf for us to grow into them.
-
I think poetry is the best thing I do. It's certainly the purest. I seem to switch gears without too much trouble. Non-fiction is in many ways the easiest to write.
-
A baby's a full time job for three adults. Nobody tells you that when you're pregnant, or you'd probably jump off a bridge. Nobody tells you how all-consuming it is to be a mother-how reading goes out the window and thinking too.
-
But we should ask the question: Why should a writer be more than a writer? Why should a writer be a guru? Why are we supposed to be psychiatrists? Isn't it enough to write and tell the truth? It's not like telling the truth is common. Writers are the earthworms of society. We aerate the soil. That's enough.
-
My reaction to porno films is as follows: After the first ten minutes, I want to go home and screw. After the first twenty minutes, I never want to screw again as long as I live.
-
It is a sad paradox that when male authors impersonate women ... they are said to be dealing with 'cosmic, major concerns' - but when we impersonate ourselves we are said to be writing 'women's fiction' or 'women's poetry.
-
Famous people complain about fame, but they never want to give it back, myself included.
-
Women's books are kind of discriminated against. If a man writes a book about his family stories, people think of it as literature. If it's a woman, she's 'spilling her guts,' and it's not art.
-
We all parent the best we can. Being human, we're ambivalent. We want perfection for our babies, but we also need sleep.