Rita Dove's Quotes

What is ironic is that Allen Ginsberg's importance was in its twilight for so many years that it took his death to bring it to the front page. He electrified an entire world!

Without imagination we can go nowhere. And imagination is not restricted to the arts. Every scientist I have met who has been a success has had to imagine.

There are times in life when, instead of complaining, you do something about your complaints.

If we really want to be full and generous in spirit, we have no choice but to trust at some level.

You have to imagine it possible before you can see something. You can have the evidence right in front of you, but if you can't imagine something that has never existed before, it's impossible.

Being true to yourself really means being true to all the complexities of the human spirit.

When we are touched by something it's as if we're being brushed by an angel's wings.

I loved to write when I was a child. I wrote, but I always thought it was something that you did as a child, then you put away childish things.

I prefer to explore the most intimate moments, the smaller, crystallized details we all hinge our lives on.

My favorite poets may not be your bread and butter. I have more favorite poems than favorite poets.

Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful.

The sound of the mandolin is a very curious sound because it's cheerful and melancholy at the same time, and I think it comes from that shadow string, the double strings.

Being Poet Laureate made me realize I was capable of a larger voice. There is a more public utterance I can make as a poet.

For many years, I thought a poem was a whisper overheard, not an aria heard.

I believe people may have a predisposition for artistic creativity. It doesn't mean they're going to make it.

I carry a notebook with me everywhere. But that's only the first step.

I didn't know writers could be real live people, because I never knew any writers.

I have a high guilt quotient. A poem can go through as many as 50 or 60 drafts. It can take from a day to two years-or longer.

I keep the drafts of each poem in color-coded folders. I pick up the folders according to how I feel about that color that day.

I loved to read, but I always thought that the dream was too far away. The person who had written the book was a god, it wasn't a person.

I see a resurgence of interest in poetry. I am less optimistic about the prospects for the arts when it comes to federal funding.

I think children have talent and insight, but it gets beaten out of them.

I think reading Shakespeare's plays when I was young was extremely important. He had the ability to make utter strangers come alive.

I thought, after the Pulitzer, at least nothing will surprise me quite that much in my life. And another one happened. It was quite amazing.

I try to show what it is about language and music that enthralls, because I think those are the two elements of poetry.

I was apprehensive. I feared every time I talked about poetry, it would be filtered through the lens of race, sex, and age.

I write short stories, and I wrote a play.

I think women are used to stepping up and getting the job done when you need to.

Life gets more interesting as it goes on. It becomes fuller because there is perspective there.

TV is terrific. It's really fast paced which I find difficult.

I have to say my background was mostly theatre, which I love, and it took a long time to feel comfortable there. That's probably true of anyone's career.

It's a question of dropping the armor and getting up and doing the work you want to do. And film at first is frightening because you are like, 'What's that camera doing?' But then it becomes family and therefore a really wonderful experience.