One writes not by will but by surrender. Erica Jong More Quotes by Erica Jong More Quotes From Erica Jong I have forgotten my rave reviews and memorized my vicious ones - like most writers. Erica Jong viciousraveforgotten Is a currency worth anything if no one wants it? We used to buy shoes in Italy. Remember? Erica Jong shoeswantremember I write lustily and humorously. It isn't calculated; it's the way I think. I've invented a writing style that expresses who I am. Erica Jong who-i-amwritingthinking Men and women, women and men. It will never work. Erica Jong womenrelationshipmen 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 identitymenneeds I thought to spend my declining years writing poetry and teaching - but that won't pay the Bergdorf's bill. I think I'll move to somewhere life is cheaper. Erica Jong teachingwritingmoving I think feminism means what it has always meant - women want to use all their gifts, all their talents and be judged impartially for them. I don't think feminism has ever meant anything else. Erica Jong feminismmeanthinking When I'm sitting at the desk not being able to write line one, it's silence and despair! It's not so easy to put the pen to the legal pad or type the first sentence on the computer screen. Erica Jong despairsilencewriting What are the sources of poetry? Love and death and the paradox of love and death. All poetry from the beginning is about Eros and Thanatos. Those are the only subjects. And how Eros and Thanatos interweave. Erica Jong love-poetrylove-and-deathparadox There is still the feeling that women's writing is a lesser class of writing, that what goes on in the nursery or the bedroom is not as important as what goes on in the battlefield, that what women know about is a less category of knowledge. Erica Jong feelingswritingclass Poetry is the language we speak in the most terrifying or ecstatic passages of our lives. But the very word poetry scares people. They think of their grade school teachers reciting 'Hiawatha' and they groan. Erica Jong teacherschoolthinking 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 attitudeideasthinking 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. Erica Jong expressionwritingthinking Ken, my husband, just smelled like he belonged to me. I'm not talking about hygiene. I'm talking about when you hug him, he either feels like a member of your tribe or not. It's their scent. Erica Jong hygienehusbandtalking I write slowly by hand. Publishing is effectively bankrupt for you unless you are Danielle Steele. It takes a year to write book and advances are going down or disappearing. Erica Jong writingbookhands I don't think that I had any idea that 'Fear of Flying' would become a part of the culture. I had no idea that it would go all over the world and be published in Chinese and Serbo-Croat and so on. Erica Jong flyingideasthinking As a past president of the Writers Guild, I think women shouldn't write for free. Maybe you have to do it for a time, to make a reputation, but I think the idea of giving your work away is the beginning of authors not being able to make a living. Erica Jong writingpastthinking Anybody who instantly goes from being a poet and a graduate student to being a public figure has to be in a state of shock. First people want to praise you, and then they want to attack you. No one can prepare you for it. Erica Jong wantpeoplefirsts The stones themselves are thick with history, and those cats that dash through the alleyways must surely be the ghosts of the famous dead in feline disguise. Erica Jong catghoststones Sadly, because of the enormous gap between rich and poor, some mothers can afford helpers, but many can't. Those who can would be kinder to refrain from criticizing other women. Erica Jong mothers-daywould-beinspiring
