164 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

Under adversity, under oppression, the words begin to fail, the easy words begin to fail. In order to convey things accurately, the human being is almost forced to find the most precise words possible, which is a precondition for literature.

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

The poetry that sustains me is when I feel that, for a minute, the clouds have parted and I've seen ecstasy or something

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.

All of us have moments in our childhood where we come alive for the first time. And we go back to those moments and think, This is when I became myself.

One definition of eternity is that we are not alone on this planet, that there are those who've gone before and those who will come, and that there is a community of spirits.

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.