Erica Jong Quotes

No man enjoys the true taste of life, but he who is ready and willing to quit it.

I would argue that nothing gives life more purpose than the realization that every moment of consciousness is a precious and fragile gift.

It is only the consciousness of a nonexistence which allows us to realize for moments that we are living.

I had gone through a near-death experience, and that gives you an insight into how fleeting life is, and what's important.

Believe me, if a man doesn't know death, he doesn't know life.

One should not confuse the craving for life with endorsement of it.

It's a lot harder to find fault with the mundane details of daily existence when you really, really know on a cellular level that you're going to go, and that this moment, right now, is life. Life isn't what happens to you in 20 years. This moment, right now, is your life.

Seek not, my soul, the life of the immortals; but enjoy to the full the resources that are within thy reach.

Joy of living is sustainable; fear of dying is not.

You've gotta know what death is to know life!

You realize that however much you don't think about death - or think that's for other people - you're just an organism living from day to day. I'm just grateful I'm here.

You can't take life for granted.

Life - how curious is that habit that makes us think it is not here, but elsewhere.

Man wants but little here below, nor wants that little long.

I am sensible of the velocity of the moments, and entering that part of my head alert to the motion of the world I am aware that life was never perfect, never absolute. This bestows contentment, even a fearlessness.

I wake up some mornings and sit and have my coffee and look out at my beautiful garden, and I go, 'Remember how good this is. Because you can lose it.'

For if there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.

I am so thrilled by the privilege of life, and yet at the same time I know that I have to let it go.

I have now reigned above fifty years in victory or peace; beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, and respected by my allies. Riches and honors, power and pleasure, have waited on my call, nor does any earthly blessing appear to have been wanting to my felicity. In this situation, I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot: they amount to Fourteen: - O man! place not thy confidence in this present world.

I believe you must enjoy the life that God has given you. Cherish it, because it is all you have. You could be here right now, and in two seconds, you could be gone.

What makes us really human is it's in the presence of death that we start valuing life.

I've had a lot of people pass away in my life. I guess it's all a matter of how you deal with your mortality - and recognizing that you are mortal. I'm trying to see what a gift life is and how quickly it can be extinguished, without any warning.

You never know when your last day gig is, and if you spend your life thinking about it, you'll drive yourself nuts. But I try not to foster or exhibit any desperation.

Nothing in the world is permanent, and we’re foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we’re still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it.

The ideal is to live forever, right? Or to live right now and just be grateful that I feel good. I'm definitely grateful for every second that I'm alive. At this point in my life, I definitely take time out throughout the day to just stop and be like, "Everything is cool." It's as good as it's gonna be, because it only gets worse.