Sappho's Leap Quotes

“Without the gods, how would I sing?' I asked.
With your own voice,' he said.”
― Erica Jong, Sappho's Leap

“But 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, Sappho's Leap

“Great loves have legs and wings. They are substantial. They do not dissapate so easily... Great loves have staying power. Or so I told myself.”
― Erica Jong, Sappho's Leap

“I loved Aphrodite from the first and steeped myself in her legends. My mother told me that in ancient times her rituals were bloody and cruel, but I only half believed it.”
― Erica Jong, Sappho's Leap

“I know that love is no cure, but rather the disease itself.”
― Erica Jong, Sappho's Leap

“Because When you write about people, you inevitably offend--but if you write about animals, the evil do not recognize themselves but the good understand immediately.”
― Erica Jong, Sappho's Leap

“I am unimaginably old—fifty. Only witches live to be fifty! Good women die in childbirth at seventeen as I nearly did. By fifty I should be dead or a crone—with my dark looks and my somewhat crooked spine—which I have always disguised with capes of multicolored silk. My youth is gone, but my vanity is not. How can I still dream of love at fifty? I must be mad!”
― Erica Jong, Sappho's Leap

“There's no shame in loving life above death. Otherwise I would be dead. What use would that be to the gods, who will not die themselves?”
― Erica Jong, Sappho's Leap

“My real despair came because Aphrodite withdrew her favours. Aphrodite needs nothing from me. She always has new singers to celebrate her. So what if they are my students, acolytes, and imitators? So what if they learned everything they know from me? The goddess of love favours the young. She always has”
― erica jong, Sappho's Leap

“My black hair, which used to glisten like wet violets on an ebony altar, is now a steely gray”
― Erica Jong, Sappho's Leap

“Unencumbered by antique ideas of honor, he was invincible.”
― Erica Jong, Sappho's Leap