Loving someone is a loss of freedom - but one doesn't think of it as loss because one gains so much else.
Erica JongI think weโre [men and women] more similar. In that we all deal with our fantasy lives and sometimes are disappointed by reality.
Erica JongTo name oneself is the first act of both the poet and the revolutionary. When we take away the right to an individual name, we symbolically take away the right to be an individual. Immigration officials did this to refugees; husbands routinely do it to wives.
Erica JongBut if the gods do not exist at all - then we are lost,' I said. On the contrary - we are found!' said Aesop. But when we are afraid, who can we turn to, if not the gods?' Ourselves. We turn to ourselves anyway. We only pretend there are gods and that they care about us. It is a comforting falsehood.
Erica Jong