Top 62 Quotes by Rita Dove

The American Dream is a phrase we'll have to wrestle with all of our lives. It means a lot of things to different people. I think we're redefining it now.

To practice your scales, so to speak, in order play the symphony, is what you have to do as a young poet.

Equality and self-determination should never be divided in the name of religious or ideological fervor.

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!

My father is a chemist, my mother was a homemaker. My parents instilled in us the feeling that learning was the most exciting thing that could happen to you, and it never ends.

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.

To write for PC reasons, because you think you ought to be dealing with this subject, is never going to yield anything that is really going to matter to anyone else. It has to matter to you.

It really wasn't until I was in college when I began to write more and more, and I realized I was scheduling my entire life around my writing.

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.

It makes me furious to hear haters of all skin colors - especially Christian, Jewish, and Muslim fundamentalists - deride other people because of their different beliefs and lifestyles.