Quotessence
Home / Authors / Erica Jong
Erica Jong

Erica Jong Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllWritingIfsThinkingPeopleMenSexWorldKnowsFeelsNeeds

Famous Erica Jong Quotes

“I myself hate that old Hemingwayesque paradigm of the writer as prizefighter and I have tried hard to create an alternate one for myself. When Anne Sexton admonished me, "We are all writing God's poem," I took it to mean there should be no competition between writers because we are all involved in a common project, a common prayer. But to Gore's and Norman's generation, particularly those male writers who served in the second world war, the prizefighter paradigm remains.”

WorldShouldWritingMeanWarHardHatePrayerCommonGenerationsInvolvedProjectsRemainsCompetitionMalesWar Of The WorldsParadigmGoreSecond World WarSelf Hate
Author:Erica Jong
Create image

“I was always a feminist. My mother was a feminist; my grandmother was a feminist. I always understood women had to fight very hard to do what they wanted to do in the world - that it wasn't an easy choice. But I think the most important part is that we all want the right to be taken seriously as human beings, and to use our talents without reservation, and that's still not possible for women.”

ThinkingWorldWantHumansStillsImportantHardUseWantedMotherChoicesFightingEasyHuman BeingsTakenTalentUnderstoodFeministGrandmotherMy GrandmotherReservations
Author:Erica Jong
Create image

“It's useful to know how much society's holding you back. My mother would talk about how she was told by the head of her art school that she was the best painter, but that she wouldn't get the biggest prize because she would waste her talent by having children. I think we have to get honest with girls about how they can expect the world to block them, and we have to prepare girls, and ourselves, to break through those blocks.”

ThinkingKnowsWorldChildrenArtSchoolMotherGirlBreakKnow HowHonestTalentWasteBlockPainterPrizeBreak ThroughArt SchoolHaving Children
Author:Erica Jong
Create image

“I hope we don't have to keep going back over the same territory and winning the same rights over and over again. The battle for birth control. The battle for abortion. The parity of women's health. It's very depressing to think that you win these rights, but then you have to win them again, and again, and again, and fight the same battles over and over.”

ThinkingFightingWinningRightsBirthBattleAbortionKeep GoingTerritoryAgain And AgainDepressingBirth ControlParityWomen's HealthVery Depressing
Author:Erica Jong
Create image

“Feminism is really the right of women to be full human beings and to not be defined only by their childbearing function. Feminism is really the right of women to be human beings. That's it, yet that's so frightening to a lot of people. A full human being wants satisfying work and love. A full human being is entitled to both, and is not simply defined by only one aspect of her being.”

PeopleWantHumansHuman BeingsFeminismAspectAnd LoveFunctionDefinedSatisfyingFrighteningEntitledChildbearingWork And LoveSatisfying Work
Author:Erica Jong
Create image