QuoteProject
There is simply no dignified way for a woman to live alone. Oh, she can get along financially perhaps (though not nearly as well as a man), but emotionally she is never left in peace. Her friends, her family, her fellow workers never let her forget that her husbandlessness, her childlessness - her selfishness, in short - is a reproach to the American way of life.
Erica Jong
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote highlights the societal pressures and emotional struggles faced by women who live alone.

Erica Jong's quote reflects the cultural stigma associated with women living independently in a society that often devalues their choices. It suggests a belief that women, when single, are judged for not fulfilling traditional roles of marriage and motherhood, leading to feelings of isolation and reproach that are reinforced by their social circles and society at large.

Themes

WomenIndependenceSocietyLonelinessEmotionalJudgment

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about women's rights, this quote can highlight the emotional challenges faced by single women.

More from Erica Jong

My reaction to porno films is as follows: After the first ten minutes, I want to go home and screw. After the first twenty minutes, I never want to screw again as long as I live.
Erica JongRead
I have accepted fear as a part of life - specifically the fear of change... I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says: turn back.
Erica JongRead
No one ever found wisdom without also being a fool. Writers, alas, have to be fools in public, while the rest of the human race can cover its tracks.
Erica JongRead
My generation was not only maligned in book reviews and attacked in graduate school but we lived to see our adored and adorable daughters wonder why feminism had become a dirty word.
Erica JongRead
Do you want me to tell you something really subversive? Love is everything it's cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it. It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more.
Erica JongRead
I believe that women should live for love, for motherhood and for intellect, and I believe we shouldn't have to choose. And I believe that's always been difficult for women, to express themselves intellectually, maternally, and passionately.
Erica JongRead

Similar quotes

Let us forgive each other - only then will we live in peace.
Leo TolstoyRead
When it comes down to it, you win a bunch of games or maybe things don't go the way that you plan - those relationships that you build with the guys around you last a lifetime. To me, that's meaningful.
Marcus MariotaRead
People are not problems to be solved. They are mysteries to be explored.
Eugene H. PetersonRead
Forgivness is letting go of the hope that the past can be changed
Oprah WinfreyRead
I must quit marrying men who feel inferior to me. Somewhere there must be a man who could be my husband and not feel inferior.
Hedy LamarrRead
We're alone, but we are capable of communicating to one another both our loneliness and our desire to break through it. You say, 'I'm alone.' Someone answers, 'I'm alone too.' There's a shift in the scale of power. A bridge is thrown between the two abysses.
Elie WieselRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.