There are times in life when, instead of complaining, you do something about your complaints.
Rita DoveRead
Equality and self-determination should never be divided in the name of religious or ideological fervor.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Equality and self-determination must always coexist without being compromised by extreme beliefs.
Rita Dove's quote highlights the importance of maintaining both equality and self-determination as fundamental rights that should not be separated due to religious or ideological zeal. It suggests that extreme beliefs should not undermine the equal rights of individuals to determine their own paths, reinforcing the vision of a society where diverse identities and beliefs can coexist harmoniously.
Themes
EqualitySelf-DeterminationReligionIdeologyFreedom
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech advocating for civil rights.
More from Rita Dove
All quotes →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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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.
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If our children are unable to voice what they mean, no one will know how they feel. If they can’t imagine a different world, they are stumbling through a darkness made all the more sinister by its lack of reference points. For a young person growing up in America’s alienated neighborhoods, there can be no greater empowerment than to dare to speak from the heart — and then to discover that one is not alone in ones feelings.
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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.
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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.
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