Maya Angelou Quotes
Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told, "I'm with you kid. Let's go."
I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
You can never go home again, but the truth is you can never leave home, so it's all right.
The first time someone shows you who they are, believe them.
Everything in the universe has a rhythm, everything dances.
Nothing will work unless you do.
There is a very fine line between loving life and being greedy for it.
Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst, and unsurprised by anything in between.
Be a rainbow in someone else's cloud.
Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.
Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.
If we lose love and self respect for each other, this is how we finally die.
A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.
If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain.
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art.
You may shoot me with your words,
you may cut me with your eyes,
you may kill me with your hatefulness,
but still, like air, I'll rise!
Self-pity in its early stage is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.
We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.
Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.
You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.
Nature has no mercy at all. Nature says, "I'm going to snow. If you have on a bikini and no snowshoes, that's tough. I am going to snow anyway."
The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by formal education.
I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass.
When you know better you do better.
It's in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise.
I couldn't tell fact from fiction,
Or if the dream was true
My only sure prediction
In this world was you.
I'd touch your features inchly. Beard love and dared the cost, The sented spiel reeled me unreal And I found my senses lost.
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
There is a difference between being convinced and being stubborn. I'm not certain what the difference is, but I do know that if you butt your head against a stone wall long enough, at some point you realize the wall is stone and that your head is flesh and blood.
I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.
I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.
I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life.
I've learned that making a "living" is not the same thing as making a "life."
I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.
I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.
I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.
I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.
I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.
I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.
I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.
Blacks should be used to play whites. For centuries we had probed their faces, the angles of their bodies, the sounds of their voices, and even their odors. Often our survival had depended on the accurate reading of a white man's chuckle or the disdainful wave of a white woman's hand.
Strictly speaking, one cannot legislate love, but what one can do is legislate fairness and justice. If legislation does not prohibit our living side by side, sooner or later your child will fall on the pavement and I'll be the one to pick her up. Or one of my children will not be able to get into the house and you'll have to say, "Stop here until your mom comes here." Legislation affords us the chance to see if we might love each other.
