And what if I don’t want forgiveness?
ERICA JONGAnd what if I don’t want forgiveness?
ERICA JONGThe truth is simple, you do not die from love. You only wish you did.
ERICA JONGAnd the trouble is, if you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.
ERICA JONGYou are always naked when you start writing; you are always as if you had never written anything before; you are always a beginner.
ERICA JONGMy mother wanted me to be her wings, to fly as she never quite had the courage to do. I love her for that. I love the fact that she wanted to give birth to her own wings.
ERICA JONGThe words carry their own momentum. A confession in motion tends to stay in motion. Newton’s first law of jealousy.
ERICA JONGAdvice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn’t.
ERICA JONGSolitude is un-American.
ERICA JONGJealousy is all the fun you think they had.
ERICA JONGIt is the nature of those books we call classics to wait patiently on the shelf for us to grow into them.
ERICA JONGDo all women have to keep silent for men to speak? Do all women have to be legless for men to walk?
ERICA JONGA new dog never replaces an old dog, it merely expands the heart.
ERICA JONGImages are … a kind of emotional shorthand.
ERICA JONGKeeping a journal implies hope.
ERICA JONGCompose with utter freedom and edit with utter discipline.
ERICA JONGDo you want me to tell you something really subversive? Love is everything it’s cracked up to be. That’s why people are so cynical about it.
ERICA JONG