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All Quotes by author - Erica Jong
" Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't. "
Know
Ask
Answer
" All my forebears worked for a living. My grandfather painted portraits. My mother too. My aunt painted seascapes. "
Aunt
Too
Mother
" Ambivalence is a wonderful tune to dance to. It has a rhythm all its own. "
Own
Rhythm
Wonderful
" And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more. "
Trouble
You
Risk
" 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. "
Poet
You
Want
" 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. "
Women
Free
Beginning
" At certain historic moments, grandparents took on childrearing responsibilities. In many cultures, they still do. Chinese grandparents who are able to retire at 55 are seen all over Beijing bouncing grandbabies. In the United States, we can't afford to retire at 55. "
Over
Cultures
Grandparents
" Every country gets the circus it deserves. Spain gets bullfights. Italy the Church. America Hollywood. "
Country
Italy
America
" Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads. "
Follow
Dark
Talent
" Fame means millions of people have the wrong idea of who you are. "
Who
Idea
Fame
" Famous people complain about fame, but they never want to give it back, myself included. "
Famous
People
Fame
" Feminism is teaching. I've gotten a lot of pleasure pushing younger writers that I've met and worked with. "
Teaching
Feminism
Pleasure
" Friends love misery, in fact. Sometimes, especially if we are too lucky or too successful or too pretty, our misery is the only thing that endears us to our friends. "
Us
Successful
Sometimes
" Gossip is the opiate of the oppressed. "
Oppressed
Gossip
Opiate
" He who can take advice is sometimes superior to him who can give it. "
Sometimes
Superior
Him
" I believe that women should live for love, for motherhood and for intellect, and I believe we shouldn't have to choose. And I believe that's always been difficult for women, to express themselves intellectually, maternally, and passionately. "
Love
Motherhood
Women
" I do a lot of teaching... and so I think I know how hard it is for young writers, how they have to work two jobs to survive. "
Young
Hard
Survive
" I don't cook. My mother didn't cook. My daughter doesn't cook. "
Cook
Mother
Daughter
" 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. "
Go
Think
World
" I don't think there's just one person for everyone. It would be very hard for me to be with a guy who was not bright or funny. And he'd have to see the absurdities of the world, not exactly as I see them necessarily. "
See
Me
Funny
" If you don't risk anything, you risk even more. "
More
You
Risk
" I guess the thing that I'm most proud of is that I kept on writing poetry. I understand that poetry is sort of the source of everything I do. It's the source of my creativity. "
Creativity
Writing
Proud
" 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. "
Ahead
Change
Life
" I have a very sensitive nose. I identify with dogs. I understand the world through my nose. "
Dogs
Understand
Through
" I have forgotten my rave reviews and memorized my vicious ones - like most writers. "
Rave
Like
Forgotten
" 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. "
Women
Own
Man
" I'm interested in what happens to people when they get into that publicity machine. We tend to think things have changed, but there's still a deep sexism underlying the way women are treated publicly. "
Way
Deep
People
" In a bad marriage, friends are the invisible glue. If we have enough friends, we may go on for years, intending to leave, talking about leaving - instead of actually getting up and leaving. "
Talking
Marriage
Enough
" I never became a writer for the money. I am a poet first. Even getting published is a miracle for poets. "
Never
First
I Am
" In poetry you can express almost inexpressible feelings. You can express the pain of loss, you can express love. People always turn to poetry when someone they love dies, when they fall in love. "
Love
Fall
Poetry
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