Quotes by Erica Jong

About Erica Jong:

Erica Jong is an American author and teacher best known for her fiction and poetry, and particularly for her 1973 novel Fear of Flying. The book became famously controversial for its attitudes towards female sexuality and figured prominently in the development of second-wave feminism. According to Washington Post, it has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Any system was a straightjacket if you insisted on adhering to it so totally and humorlessly.

Erica Jong

It was easy enough to kill yourself in a fit of despair. It was easy enough to play the martyr. It was harder to do nothing. To endure your life. To wait.

Erica Jong

...readers who think I have answers when all I have are a few pointed questions...

Erica Jong

Uno no tiene por qué pedir disculpas si quiere ser el dueño de su propia alma... para bien o para mal. Cuando ya todo se ha dicho y hecho, es todo cuanto queda.

Erica Jong

La verdad es que las fantasías, fantasías son y una no puede vivir extasiada todos los días del año. Incluso si das un portazo y te largas, incluso si jodes con todo el mundo a la vista, no te acercas más a la libertad necesariamente.

Erica Jong

I stand in the mist and cry, thinking of myself standing in the mist and crying, and wondering if I will ever be able to use this experience in a book.

Erica Jong

I know so many women in their fifties, sixties and seventies who delight in being on their own. It's amazing. They don't see any stigma attached to it. We don't need a man to prove our identity anymore.

Erica Jong

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.

Erica Jong

Without the gods, how would I sing?' I asked. With your own voice,' he said.

Erica Jong

But if the gods do not exist at all - then we are lost,' I said. On the contrary - we are found!' said Aesop. But when we are afraid, who can we turn to, if not the gods?' Ourselves. We turn to ourselves anyway. We only pretend there are gods and tha...

Erica Jong

We are so scared of being judged that we look for every excuse to procrastinate.

Erica Jong

All writing problems are psychological problems. Blocks usually stem from the fear of being judged. If you imagine the world listening, you'll never write a line. That's why privacy is so important. You should write first drafts as if they will never...

Erica Jong

Beware of books. They are more than innocent assemblages of paper and ink and string and glue. If they are any good, they have the spirit of the author within. Authors are rogues and ruffians and easy lays. They are gluttons for sweets and savories. ...

Erica Jong

We all parent the best we can. Being human, we're ambivalent. We want perfection for our babies, but we also need sleep.

Erica Jong

The words carry their own momentum. A confession in motion tends to stay in motion. Newton's first law of jealousy.

Erica Jong

Rendall's first law of jealousy: jealousy does the cock harder and pussy wetter.

Erica Jong

Someday every woman will have orgasms- like every family has color TV- and we can all get on with the business of life.

Erica Jong

Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads.

Erica Jong

I have accepted fear as a part of life - specifically the fear of change... I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says: turn back.

Erica Jong

People always think that history proceeds in a straight line. It doesn't. Social attitudes don't change in a straight line. There's always a backlash against progressive ideas.

Erica Jong

Author Bio

  • NameErica Jong
  • DescriptionNovelist, poet, memoirist, critic
  • BornMarch 26, 1942
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionWriter; Poet; Novelist
  • WorksFear Of Flying