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" 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. "

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" 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. "

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

" As an African-American, as a woman, I think that I've been sensitized to the way in which history privileges the white male and the way in which certain aspects of history, the things that we are taught in school, the things that are handed down, never, never entered the picture though they might have been very important. "

" Nothing is too small. Nothing is too, quote-unquote, ordinary or insignificant. Those are the things that make up the measure of our days, and they're the things that sustain us. And they're the things that certainly can become worthy of poetry. "

" I've always been intrigued by the way history works, the way we decide what is mentioned. "

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

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

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

" Libraries are where it all begins. "

" If they don't read, if they don't love reading; if they don't find themselves compulsively reading, I don't think they're really a writer. "

" It's unfortunate that sometimes in schools, there's this need to have things quantified and graded. "

" 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. "

" 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 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. "

" People write me from all over the country, asking me, and sometimes even telling me, what they think a poet laureate should do. I found that immensely valuable. "

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

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

" 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. "

" I write short stories, and I wrote a play. "

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

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

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

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

" It's the combination of the intimate and the public that I find so exciting about being poet laureate. "

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

" In working on a poem, I love to revise. Lots of younger poets don't enjoy this, but in the process of revision I discover things. "