Maya Angelou: Trending quotes

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Maya Angelou: 494 quotes132 likes

“We are missing Michael.
But we do know we had him, and we are the world.”

Maya Angelou book Letter to My Daughter

We Had Him (2009)
Source: Letter to My Daughter

“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.”

Maya Angelou And Still I Rise

"Still I Rise"
Source: And Still I Rise (1978)

“He thrived with passion and compassion, humor and style. We had him whether we know who he was or did not know, he was ours and we were his.”

Maya Angelou book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

We Had Him (2009)
Source: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Context: Though we are many, each of us is achingly alone, piercingly alone.
Only when we confess our confusion can we remember that he was a gift to us and we did have him.
He came to us from the creator, trailing creativity in abundance.
Despite the anguish, his life was sheathed in mother love, family love, and survived and did more than that.
He thrived with passion and compassion, humor and style. We had him whether we know who he was or did not know, he was ours and we were his.

“I did then what I knew best, when I knew better, I did better. Maya Angelo”

Maya Angelou

Variant: I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.

“Glory falls around us
as we sob
a dirge of
desolation on the Cross
and hatred is the ballast of
the rock
which lies upon our necks
and underfoot.”

Maya Angelou book Letter to My Daughter

"Glory Falls"
I Shall Not Be Moved (1990)
Source: Letter to My Daughter

“Faith is the evidence of the unseen.”

Maya Angelou

“Love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.
A Brave and Startling Truth.”

Maya Angelou book A Brave and Startling Truth

A Brave and Startling Truth (1995)

“Each time I write a book, every time I face that yellow pad, the challenge is so great. I have written eleven books, but each time I think, ‘Uh oh, they’re going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody and they’re going to find me out.”

Maya Angelou

“We grow despite the
horror that we feed
upon our own
tomorrow.
We grow.”

Maya Angelou book I Shall Not Be Moved

"Glory Falls"
I Shall Not Be Moved (1990)

“Years ago I read a man named Machado de Assis who wrote a book called Dom Casmurro. Machado de Assis is a South American writer — black father, Portuguese mother — writing in 1865, say. I thought the book was very nice. Then I went back and read the book and said, Hmm. I didn’t realize all that was in that book. Then I read it again, and again, and I came to the conclusion that what Machado de Assis had done for me was almost a trick: he had beckoned me onto the beach to watch a sunset. And I had watched the sunset with pleasure. When I turned around to come back in I found that the tide had come in over my head. That’s when I decided to write.”

Maya Angelou

Paris Review Interview (1990)

“Petulant priests, greedy
centurions, and one million
incensed gestures stand
between your love and me.”

Maya Angelou book I Shall Not Be Moved

"Savior"
I Shall Not Be Moved (1990)

“I am capable of what every other human is capable of. This is one of the great lessons of war and life.”

Maya Angelou

As quoted in Goal Mapping : How to Turn Your Dreams into Realities (2006) by Brian Mayne, p. 84

“The needs of a society determine its ethics.”

Maya Angelou book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969); often misquoted as "The needs of society determine its ethics", and with less context than the full statement: "The needs of a society determine its ethics, and in the Black American ghettos the hero is that man who is offered only the crumbs from his country's table but by ingenuity and courage is able to take for himself a Lucullan feast." The title of Angelou's book comes from the poem "Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar.

“It is possible and imperative that we discover
A brave and startling truth.”

Maya Angelou book A Brave and Startling Truth

A Brave and Startling Truth (1995)

“My dear, when people show you who they are, why don't you believe them? Why must you be shown 29 times before you can see who they really are? Why can't you get it the first time?”

Maya Angelou

As quoted by Oprah Winfrey.
Oprah Winfrey's paraphrase:
When people show you who they are, believe them.
Source: [When people show you who they are, believe them, http://www.oprah.com/oprahs-lifeclass/when-people-show-you-who-they-are-believe-them-video, 2016-01-19, Oprah's Lifeclass, Oprah, Winfrey, Oprah Winfrey Network, 2011-10-26, 1, 13, 90, en-us, Oprah Winfrey]
Source: [Book club finale, http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/One-of-Dr-Maya-Angelous-Most-Important-Lessons_1, 2016-01-19, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Oprah, Winfrey, 1997-06-18, 45, en-us, Oprah Winfrey]

“If we are bold, love strikes away the chains of fear from our souls.”

Maya Angelou book A Brave and Startling Truth

A Brave and Startling Truth (1995)

“You were a precious pearl
How I loved to see you shine,
You were the perfect girl.
And you were mine.
For a time.
For a time.
Just for a time.”

Maya Angelou And Still I Rise

"Just for a Time"
And Still I Rise (1978)