"My body was flesh, which was only one step removed from shit, from clay, from dust."

Erica Jong Literature See all quotes by Erica Jong →

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More by Erica Jong

“Everyone's a little crazy when you get inside their head... it's only a matter of degree.”

“I'm just trying to lead my own fucking life if I can manage to find it in all this confusion.”

“They all cheat sooner or later. You might as well have one who isn't a bore the rest of the time.”

“Pregnancy seemed like a tremendous abdication of control. Something growing inside you which would eventually usurp your life.”

“And what if I don't want forgiveness?”

“It takes a spasm of love to write a poem.”

Resonant Thoughts

"I thought that the essential factor we have to remember in deciding on our plans and policy for the future is that in the German character the unquestioned authority of the State is what counts for mo…"

— Anthony Eden

Politics1897–1977

#time

"When we talk of parental influence we do not think of terror in connection with it—that is not the primary idea—it is not terror and coercion, but kindness and affection, which may bias the child's mi…"

— William Wood

1864–1947

#mind

"'Don't be visionary', shouted trade and the spiritual blindness which is absurdly called practical common sense, 'morals have nothing to do with politics'. 'Don't talk of injustice. In this world we m…"

— George William Curtis

Social Activism1824–1892

#justice

"The institution of slavery was constitutionally and statutorily sanctioned by the Government of the United States from 1789 through 1865. American Slavery is our country’s original sin and its existen…"

— Sheila Jackson Lee

Politics1950–2024

#war