Quotes by Rita Dove

"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."

"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."

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

"Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful."

"I think one of the things that people tend to forget is that poets do write out of life. It isn't some set piece that then gets put up on the shelf, but that the impetus, the real instigation for poetry is everything that's happening around us."

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

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

"Instead of trying to come up and pontificate on what literature is, you need to talk with children, to teachers, and make sure they get poetry in the curriculum early."

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

"There are distinct duties of a poet laureate. I plan a reading series at the Library of Congress and advise the librarian. The rest is how I want to promote poetry."