Erica Jong Quotes

Focus on yourself -- do what you want, when you want, without having to consider anyone else's agenda.

My idea of a true feminist is a woman who feels free enough to do whatever she wants.

I was intelligent enough to make up my own mind. I not only had freedom of choice, I had freedom of expression.

I was kind of raised with the suggestion that I had a duty to do; that life was real, life was earnest. And I hated that, actually. I needed to be liberated, to be told that I could live the life that I wanted to live; that I didn't need a job, or to be shouted at; that I could be myself; that I could be happy.

After feminism, I suddenly realised: not everyone has to live the same way. Imagine that!

My parents were quite liberal with us, always encouraging us to be our own person and be creative.

To a certain extent, this tour is a celebration of individuality and that you can invent and reinvent yourself. You should have the power to be able to do that. Sexuality is a part of that. It should release you. It doesn't have to be an issue. It shouldn't box you in.

My idea of feminism is self-determination, and it's very open-ended: every woman has the right to become herself, and do whatever she needs to do.

I am a private human.

You don't have to burn books, you don't have to rebel against teachers to rebel; to rebel is to truly own your own self.

The main thing I believe in is freedom.

Having children, they're not your property. They need to figure out their own views. I think my daughters have a pretty healthy self-awareness, but I can't speak on their behalf.

Today, charting your own course isn't just more necessary than ever before. It's also much easier - and much more fun.

I can connect with whoever I want to connect with in the world. And I can also write my own script. I don't have to follow rules. I can sort of just be unconventional.

You can wear whatever, be whatever, do whatever you want.

Everyone needs to be able to have their own space in which to be themselves.

It's important to me that I should be free to express myself.

If you want to sing out, sing out, and if you want to be free, be free, cause there's a million ways to be, you know that there are.

I just felt like I had to create a life for myself where I was more independent.

It's your body, your life. Do what you want to do.

But the whole point of liberation is that you get out. Restructure your life. Act by yourself.

I love people that willfully defy what you're supposed to be and create their own definition of their selves.

I am the product of living in dictatorships. And someone who's lived in dictatorships and not being allowed to be themselves, it cherishes the ability to be yourself and to have feelings and to speak them when asked. And I am that person.

Our work is a scream of freedom.

I'm going to do what I want to do. I'm going to be who I really am. I'm going to figure out what that is.