--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Coupling doesn't always have to do with…" description: "\"Coupling doesn't always have to do with sex ... Two people holding each other up like flying buttresses. Two people depending on each other and babying..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b0/erica-jong-445_coupling_coupling-doesn-t-always-have-to-do-with_767510.jpg" --- # Coupling doesn't always have to do with sex ... Two people… ![“Coupling doesn't always have to do with sex ... Two people holding each other up like flying buttresses. Two people depending on each other and babying each other and defending each other against the world outside. Sometimes it was worth all the disadvantages of marriage just to have that: one…” quote by Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b0/erica-jong-445_coupling_coupling-doesn-t-always-have-to-do-with_767510.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b0/erica-jong-445_coupling_coupling-doesn-t-always-have-to-do-with_767510.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b0/erica-jong-445_coupling_coupling-doesn-t-always-have-to-do-with_767510.jpg) > “Coupling doesn't always have to do with sex ... Two people holding each other up like flying buttresses. Two people depending on each other and babying each other and defending each other against the world outside. Sometimes it was worth all the disadvantages of marriage just to have that: one friend in an indifferent world.” [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A deep partnership can provide emotional support and solidarity, feeling like a steadfast friend amid a hostile world. **In simple terms:** Strong friendship can replace romantic expectations. Key Takeaway Seek and cherish supportive friendships. Themes friendship support partnership marriage solitude Mood reflective hopeful intimate Type philosophical relational When to use this quote - navigating loneliness - building trust - defending against external pressures Key Concepts emotional interdependence mutual defense companionship Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance independence with reliance on a friend? - What qualities make a friendship feel like a sanctuary? A Different Perspective Such bonds may not replace romantic intimacy for everyone. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Coupling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/coupling/) [Flying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flying/) [Marriage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/marriage/) [One friend](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/one-friend/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Sex](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sex/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [When you're scrambling to fill the void in your life and you feel like you're drowning... we all yearn to hear that one friend's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelly-furtado/when-you-re-scrambling-to-fill-the-void-in-your-life-and-you-feel/) [Nelly Furtado](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelly-furtado/) > [The Divine has loved me as mother, as father, and as friend, behind all friends. I searched for that one Friend behind all friends,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paramahansa-yogananda/the-divine-has-loved-me-as-mother-as-father-and-as-friend-behind-all/) [Paramahansa Yogananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paramahansa-yogananda/) > [You Too? I thought I was the only one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/you-too-i-thought-i-was-the-only-one/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [He who has one enemy shall meet him everywhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/omar-khayy-m/he-who-has-one-enemy-shall-meet-him-everywhere/) [Omar Khayyam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/omar-khayy-m/) > [The tender friendships one gives up, on parting, leave their bite on the heart, but also a curious feeling of a treasure somewhere buried.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/the-tender-friendships-one-gives-up-on-parting-leave-their-bite-on/) [Antoine de Saint-Exupery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/) > [Sometimes it was worth all the disadvantages of marriage just to have that: one friend in an indifferent world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/sometimes-it-was-worth-all-the-disadvantages-of-marriage-just-to-have/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [There is a rhythm to the ending of a marriage just like the rhythm of a courtshiponly backward. You try to start again but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/there-is-a-rhythm-to-the-ending-of-a-marriage-just-like-the-rhythm-of-2/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [It's a good thing to be rich and a good thing to be strong, but it is a better thing to be beloved of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-wendell-holmes-jr/it-s-a-good-thing-to-be-rich-and-a-good-thing-to-be-strong-but-it-is/) [Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-wendell-holmes-jr/) > [I am a big comedy fan, having been in 'Coupling.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gina-bellman/i-am-a-big-comedy-fan-having-been-in-coupling/) [Gina Bellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gina-bellman/) > [To find Margo Roth Spiegelman, you must become Margo Roth Spiegelman. And I had done many of the things she might have done: I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/to-find-margo-roth-spiegelman-you-must-become-margo-roth-spiegelman/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [Collage is the noble conquest of the irrational, the coupling of two realities, irreconcilable in appearance, upon a plane which apparently does not suit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-ernst/collage-is-the-noble-conquest-of-the-irrational-the-coupling-of-two/) [Max Ernst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-ernst/) > [Just as the sentence contains one idea in all its fullness, so the paragraph should embrace a distinct episode; and as sentences should follow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/just-as-the-sentence-contains-one-idea-in-all-its-fullness-so-the/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [No matter how sexually attracted a man might be toward other men, or a woman toward other women, and no matter how close the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/no-matter-how-sexually-attracted-a-man-might-be-toward-other-men-or-a/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [The tango is the man and woman in search of each other. It is the search for an embrace, a way to be together,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-carlos-copes/the-tango-is-the-man-and-woman-in-search-of-each-other-it-is-the/) Juan Carlos Copes > [Its tall chimneys throw up black smoke, impregnating everything with soot, and the miners' faces as they traveled the streets were also imbued with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/its-tall-chimneys-throw-up-black-smoke-impregnating-everything-with/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Erica Jong > [“It took me years to learn to sit at my desk for more than two minutes at a time, to put up with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/it-took-me-years-to-learn-to-sit-at-my-desk-for-more-than-two-minutes/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [Will you ever? I dont think you will ever fully understand how you've touched my life and made me who I am.I don't think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/will-you-ever-i-dont-think-you-will-ever-fully-understand-how-you-ve/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [Give advice to your children while they're young enough to believe you know what you're talking about.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/give-advice-to-your-children-while-they-re-young-enough-to-believe/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [Perhaps all artists were, in a sense, housewives: tenders of the earth household.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/perhaps-all-artists-were-in-a-sense-housewives-tenders-of-the-earth/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [I have lived my life according to this principle: If I'm afraid of it, then I must do it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/i-have-lived-my-life-according-to-this-principle-if-i-m-afraid-of-it/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [I thought to spend my declining years writing poetry and teaching - but that won't pay the Bergdorf's bill. I think I'll move to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/i-thought-to-spend-my-declining-years-writing-poetry-and-teaching-but/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [“Naomi Wolf dares to explode the myth of 'victim feminism' and pleads for allowing women to be as full of good and bad desires…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/naomi-wolf-dares-to-explode-the-myth-of-victim-feminism-and-pleads/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [I knew I was in England by the smell.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/i-knew-i-was-in-england-by-the-smell/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [The Lives of Great Men are more oft' at variance with their profess'd Phillosophies than consistent with 'em.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/the-lives-of-great-men-are-more-oft-at-variance-with-their-profess-d/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [Women's books are kind of discriminated against. If a man writes a book about his family stories, people think of it as literature. If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/women-s-books-are-kind-of-discriminated-against-if-a-man-writes-a/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [Many, many people have done a lot more sexual experimentation than I have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/many-many-people-have-done-a-lot-more-sexual-experimentation-than-i/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [“Is life much too long for an immortal?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/is-life-much-too-long-for-an-immortal/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [Don't ye know that ev'ry Soul on Earth feels itself to be an Orphan?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/don-t-ye-know-that-ev-ry-soul-on-earth-feels-itself-to-be-an-orphan/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [Critics write out of intellectual exercise, not poets. Poets write straight from the heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/critics-write-out-of-intellectual-exercise-not-poets-poets-write/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [Once I worshipped Keats for dying young. Now I think it's braver to die old.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/once-i-worshipped-keats-for-dying-young-now-i-think-it-s-braver-to/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) [Explore all 542 Erica Jong quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) ## More Coupling quotes > [Its tall chimneys throw up black smoke, impregnating everything with soot, and the miners' faces as they traveled the streets were also imbued with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/its-tall-chimneys-throw-up-black-smoke-impregnating-everything-with/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The tango is the man and woman in search of each other. It is the search for an embrace, a way to be together,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-carlos-copes/the-tango-is-the-man-and-woman-in-search-of-each-other-it-is-the/) Juan Carlos Copes > [No matter how sexually attracted a man might be toward other men, or a woman toward other women, and no matter how close the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/no-matter-how-sexually-attracted-a-man-might-be-toward-other-men-or-a/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [Just as the sentence contains one idea in all its fullness, so the paragraph should embrace a distinct episode; and as sentences should follow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/just-as-the-sentence-contains-one-idea-in-all-its-fullness-so-the/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [Collage is the noble conquest of the irrational, the coupling of two realities, irreconcilable in appearance, upon a plane which apparently does not suit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-ernst/collage-is-the-noble-conquest-of-the-irrational-the-coupling-of-two/) [Max Ernst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-ernst/) > [To find Margo Roth Spiegelman, you must become Margo Roth Spiegelman. And I had done many of the things she might have done: I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/to-find-margo-roth-spiegelman-you-must-become-margo-roth-spiegelman/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [I am a big comedy fan, having been in 'Coupling.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gina-bellman/i-am-a-big-comedy-fan-having-been-in-coupling/) [Gina Bellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gina-bellman/) > [I confess that for fifteen years my efforts in education, and my hopes of success in establishing a system of national education, have always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-cobden/i-confess-that-for-fifteen-years-my-efforts-in-education-and-my-hopes/) [Richard Cobden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-cobden/) > [And yet, in each human coupling, a thousand million sperm vie for a single egg. Multiply those odds by countless generations, against the odds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/and-yet-in-each-human-coupling-a-thousand-million-sperm-vie-for-a/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [“In the composite form, the subject maintains a steady pattern away from the coupling, merging into the assembly and turning to face a secondary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-marlowe/in-the-composite-form-the-subject-maintains-a-steady-pattern-away/) Scott Marlowe > [Very few people realise that sex is a psychic and not a physical act. The clumsy coupling of human beings is simply a biological…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-durrell/very-few-people-realise-that-sex-is-a-psychic-and-not-a-physical-act/) [Lawrence Durrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-durrell/) > [The only time I get recognised is when I go somewhere that is showing 'Coupling' on local television.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gina-bellman/the-only-time-i-get-recognised-is-when-i-go-somewhere-that-is-showing/) [Gina Bellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gina-bellman/) > [The fear of AIDS imposes on an act whose ideal is an experience of pure presentness (and a creation of the future) a relation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-fear-of-aids-imposes-on-an-act-whose-ideal-is-an-experience-of/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [There is something inhuman and vaguely pornographic about statistics... Pornography, on the other hand, with its loosely bound sequences of storyless sexual couplings often…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-allen-paulos/there-is-something-inhuman-and-vaguely-pornographic-about-statistics/) [John Allen Paulos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-allen-paulos/) > [I continue coupling a plate of silver with one of zinc, and always in the same order... and place between each of these couples…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alessandro-volta/i-continue-coupling-a-plate-of-silver-with-one-of-zinc-and-always-in/) [Alessandro Volta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alessandro-volta/) [Browse all 27 Coupling quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/coupling/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Coupling doesn't always have to do with sex ... Two people holding each other up like flying buttresses. 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