Quotes from Erica Jong

Singularity shows something wrong in the mind.

In loving life you love what can't survive.

From Roman times to the present, Italy has been a country to fall in love with - a tribute to all that is enduring, crazy, pagan, joyous, melancholy, at once banal and divine, in the human spirit.

Pain is not love. Love flowers; love gives without taking; love is serene and calm.

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.

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.

A poem (surely someone has said this before) is a one-night stand, a short story a love affair, and a novel a marriage.

I am not sure if love is a salve or just a deeper kind of wound.

It takes a spasm of love to write a poem.

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.

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.

The problem with feminism in the second wave was that we fought so much among ourselves, and I think we did so much damage to the movement... and I think the next wave, the third wave, is women mentoring younger women and women helping younger women to enter the political process and the writing world.

The trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more.

Is a currency worth anything if no one wants it? We used to buy shoes in Italy. Remember?

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

And what if I don't want forgiveness?

Murky language means someone wants to pick your pocket.

she died of internal weeping

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.

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

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.

Every country gets the circus it deserves. Spain gets bullfights. Italy the Church. America Hollywood.

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.

If you don't risk anything, you risk even more.