It's easier to write about pain than about joy. Joy is wordless. Erica Jong More Quotes by Erica Jong More Quotes From Erica Jong Being a daughter is only half the equation; bearing one is the other. Erica Jong equationsdaughterhalf 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 Erica Jong wifewishadvice Isn't it our job to be appalled by our parents? Isn't it every generation's duty to be dismayed by the previous generation? And to assert that we are different - only to discover later that we are distressingly the same? Erica Jong differentparentjobs You reach a point in life where you realize that you might as well do what you need to do, because your being loved or not being loved is really a function of the people you encounter and not of yourself. That is an immensely liberating insight. Erica Jong confidenceencounterspeople There is this tendency to think that if you could only find the magic way, then you could become a poet. "Tell me how to become a poet. Tell me what to do." . . . What makes you a poet is a gift for language, an ability to see into the heart of things, and an ability to deal with important unconscious material. When all these things come together, you're a poet. But there isn't one little gimmick that makes you a poet. There isn't any formula for it. Erica Jong magicheartthinking Murky language means someone wants to pick your pocket. Erica Jong pocketswantmean tis true that tho' People can transcend their Characters in Times of Tranquillity, they can ne'er do so in Times of Tumult. Erica Jong tranquillitycharacterpeople we all carry the Houses of our Youth inside, and our Parents, too, grown small enough to fit within our Hearts. Erica Jong familyhomeheart I do believe that in every age there are people whose consciousness transcends their own time and that these people, whether fictional or historical, are those with whom we most closely identify and those about whom we most enjoy reading. Erica Jong readingbelievepeople I think professionalism is important, and professionalism means you get paid. Erica Jong importantmeanthinking It was the old psychosomatic side-step. Everyone in my family dances it at every opportunity. You've given me a splitting headache! You've given me indigestion! You've given me crotch rot! You've given me auditory hallucinations! You've given me a heart attack! You've given me cancer! Erica Jong cancerfamilyheart Once I worshipped Keats for dying young. Now I think it's braver to die old. Erica Jong dyingyoungthinking When everyone thinks they know you, it's hard not to be guarded. Erica Jong guardedknowsthinking fame is merely the fact of being misunderstood by millions of people. Erica Jong misunderstoodfactspeople Faith is the Knowledge of the Heart, Logick the Knowledge of the Mind. Erica Jong faithmindheart is there not an Arabick Proverb which goes, 'No one throws Stones at a Barren Tree'? Erica Jong envyjealousytree Eating is never so simple as hunger. Erica Jong hungereatingsimple We've lost more men to homosexuality than we ever did in two world wars. Erica Jong menwartwo I understand that unless you have a government of laws, rather than a government of people, you cannot protect dissent. And I understand, as a woman who probably would have been burned in the marketplace for witchcraft only about 200 years ago, that I need the First Amendment more than anybody does. And that even if I am repelled by child pornography or Bob Guccione's productions, that I have to protect those things, because essentially it's in my self-interest to do so. Erica Jong governmentselfchildren If we ban whatever offends any group in our diverse society, we will soon have no art, no culture, no humor, no satire. Satire is by its nature offensive. So is much art and political discourse. The value of these expressions far outweighs their risk. Erica Jong diverse-societyexpressionart
