There are no atheists on turbulent airplanes.
ERICA JONGTo name oneself is the first act of both the poet and the revolutionary.
More Erica Jong Quotes
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The words carry their own momentum. A confession in motion tends to stay in motion. Newton’s first law of jealousy.
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Gossip is the opiate of the oppressed.
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If you don’t have time to do it right you must have time to do it right you must have time to do it over. If you don’t know where you are going, how do you know when you get there? If you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.
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I want you. I want you. I want you. Anything to avoid saying: I love you.
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Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads.
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The soul is awakened through service.
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Our empathy for others as an excuse to underpay us.
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My advice to you is get married: if you find a good wife you’ll be happy; if not, you’ll become a philosopher.” – Socrates (470-399 B.C.) “Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn’t
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I don’t think you could ever know just how truly special you are that even on the darkest nights you are my brightest star
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Narrative- and image-making creatures like humans don’t feel any experience is complete unless it’s recorded.
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Conflict is the soul of literature.
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If, every day, I dare to remember that I am here on loan, that this house, this hillside, these minutes are all leased to me, not given, I will never despair.
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The best slave does not need to be beaten. She beats herself.
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It’s horrible getting older. I mean, it’s wonderful because you see the circles of life get completed. But it’s horrible losing your looks.
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Humor is one of the most serious tools we have for dealing with impossible situations.
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You can’t be creative and still be a good girl.
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Every country gets the circus it deserves. Spain gets bullfights. Italy the Church. America Hollywood.
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Motherhood cannot finally be delegated.
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It’s easier to write about pain than about joy. Joy is wordless.
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People are interested in their own sexuality and they’ve always reflected it in their art. End of story.
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What I would like to give my daughter is freedom. And this is something that must be given by example, not exhortation.
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Often I find that poems predict what I’m going to do later in my own writing, and often I find that poems predict my life. So I think poetry is the most intense expression of feeling that we have.
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It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.
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Divorce is my generation’s coming of age ceremony – a ritual scarring that makes anything that happens afterward seem bearable.
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Dogs come into our lives to teach us about love and loyalty. They depart to teach us about loss.
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Unhappiness is our element. We come to believe we can’t function without it.
ERICA JONG