Quotes By Erica Jong

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.

You see a lot of smart guys with dumb women, but you hardly ever see a smart woman with a dumb guy.

Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.

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.

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.

I've never been able to control my public image.

Show me a woman who doesn't feel guilty and I'll show you a man.

No one ever found wisdom without also being a fool. Writers, alas, have to be fools in public, while the rest of the human race can cover its tracks.

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

He who can take advice is sometimes superior to him who can give it.

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.

Fame means millions of people have the wrong idea of who you are.

It's hard to do fiction and nonfiction simultaneously.

I don't cook. My mother didn't cook. My daughter doesn't cook.

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

When I was a ten-year old bookworm and used to kiss the dust jacket pictures of authors as if they were icons, it used to amaze me that these remote people could provoke me to love.

Jealousy is all the fun you think they had.

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.

My grandchildren are fabulous and funny.

I remember everything but forgive anyway.

I have forgotten my rave reviews and memorized my vicious ones - like most writers.

Ambivalence is a wonderful tune to dance to. It has a rhythm all its own.

Men have always detested women's gossip because they suspect the truth: their measurements are being taken and compared.

Women are the only exploited group in history to have been idealized into powerlessness.

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

I never became a writer for the money. I am a poet first. Even getting published is a miracle for poets.

Singularity shows something wrong in the mind.

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

Gossip is the opiate of the oppressed.

Perhaps all artists were, in a sense, housewives: tenders of the earth household.