There are times in life when, instead of complaining, you do something about your complaints.
Rita DoveRead
The First Book: Go ahead, it won't bite. Well... maybe a little. More a nip, like. A tingle. It's pleasurable, really. You see, it keeps on opening. You may fall in. Sure, it's hard to get started; remember learning to use knife and fork? Dig in: you'll never reach bottom. It's not like it's the end of the world -- just the world as you think you know it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the joy and exploration that comes with reading.
Rita Dove's quote suggests that engaging with a book can be both intimidating and thrilling. It likens the experience of reading to a delicious exploration where the reader constantly uncovers new depths of knowledge and perspective, much like learning to use new tools. The metaphor highlights that although beginning this journey may be daunting, the rewards of discovery and new insights are both pleasurable and limitless.
Themes
BooksReadingExplorationKnowledgeLearning
In practice
Example use cases
In a book club meeting to encourage new members.
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.
Rita DoveRead
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.
Rita DoveRead
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.
Rita DoveRead
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.
Rita DoveRead
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.
Rita DoveRead
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The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.
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