Quote

Despite all the cynical things writers have said about writing for money, the truth is we write for love. That is why it is so easy to exploit us.

Erica Jong

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Erica Jong
Age: 82
Born: 1942
Born: March 26
Author
Feminist
Novelist
Poet
Writer
New York City
New York
Erica Mann Jong
Writing
Exploits
Things
Cynical
Love
Despite
Writers
Easy
Write
Money
Truth
Exploit

More quotes by Erica Jong

Image
Writers are always at the edge of the inferno, and the fire is licking at our toes. Luckily, this turns us on!
Erica Jong
Image
Perhaps every generation thinks of itself as a lost generation and perhaps every generation is right.
Erica Jong
Image
Since flesh can't stay, we pass the words along.
Erica Jong
Image
I am thinking of the onion again. . . . Not self-righteous like the proletarian potato, nor a siren like the apple. No show-off like the banana. But a modest, self-effacing vegetable, questioning, introspective, peeling itself away, or merely radiating halos like ripples.
Erica Jong
Image
A book is a box brimming with incendiary material. The reader strikes the match.
Erica Jong
Image
As yet we use our media only for selling things - including, of course, political candidates. What will happen when someone masters the art of selling souls?
Erica Jong
Image
The only rule I have when writing is to try to tell the truth. That doesn't mean you can't exaggerate, edit, rewrite things to make them more dramatic. But emotional truth is what I look for in writing.
Erica Jong
Image
I don't believe in organized religion. I believe that people should try to connect with their own life force and let it lead them to do with their lives what they will find satisfying.
Erica Jong
Image
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.
Erica Jong
Image
Gossip is the opiate of the oppressed.
Erica Jong
Image
Perhaps it is because Venice is both liquid and solid, both air and stone, that it somehow combines all the elements crucial to make our imaginations ignite and turn fantasies into realities.
Erica Jong
Image
Love gives without taking
Erica Jong
Image
we need poetry most at those moments when life astounds us with losses, gains, or celebrations. We need it most when we are most hurt, most happy, most downcast, most jubilant. Poetry is the language we speak in times of greatest need. And the fact that it is an endangered species in our culture tells us that we are in deep trouble.
Erica Jong
Image
I see the whole episode in my memory as if it were a very crisply photographed black and white movie. Directed by Bergman perhaps.We are playing ourselves in the movie version. If only we could escape from always having to play ourselves !
Erica Jong
Image
Critics write out of intellectual exercise, not poets. Poets write straight from the heart.
Erica Jong
Image
Most sex is not really intimate.
Erica Jong
Image
Is perception equivalent to existence?
Erica Jong
Image
My generation had Doris Day as a role model, then Gloria Steinem--then Princess Diana. We are the most confused generation.
Erica Jong
Image
When everyone thinks they know you, it's hard not to be guarded.
Erica Jong
Image
We write poems / as leaves give oxygen - / so we can breathe.
Erica Jong