Maya Angelou Quotes

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“I sustain myself with the love of family.”

“Be present in all things and thankful for all things.”

“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”

“The problem I have with haters is that they see my glory, but they don't know my story…”

“Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning.”

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”

“It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.”

“I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.”

“All great achievements require time.”

“I believe that the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity is daring to dare.”

“Nothing will work unless you do.”

“I want to thank you, Lord, for life and all that's in it.

Thank you for the day and for the hour, and the minute.”

“The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”

“When we come to it
We must confess that we are the possible
We are the miraculous, the true wonders of this world
That is when, and only when
We come to it.”

“Yes. When I’m writing, I am trying to find out who I am, who we are, what we’re capable of, how we feel, how we lose and stand up, and go on from darkness into darkness.”

“We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.”

“I know when it’s the best I can do. It may not be the best there is. Another writer may do it much better. But I know when it’s the best I can do.”

“Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise”

“A bizarre sensation pervades a relationship of pretense. No truth seems true.”

“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.”

“Visit us again, Savior.

Your children, burdened with
disbelief, blinded by a patina
of wisdom,
carom down this vale of
fear. We cry for you
although we have lost
your name.”

“Each nicety becomes more sterile and each withdrawal more permanent.”

“I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.”

“Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for.”

“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 some things back.”

“In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours.
In all the world, there is no love for you like mine.”

“If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.”

“Some people cannot see a good thing when it is right here, right now. Others can sense a good thing coming when it is days, months, or miles away.”

“It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.”

“There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing.”

“Anything that works against you can also work for you once you understand the Principle of Reverse.”

“A woman who is convinced that she deserves to accept only the best challenges herself to give the best. Then she is living phenomenally.”

“If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform a million realities.”

“Success is loving life and daring to live it.”

“Living well is an art that can be developed: a love of life and ability to take great pleasure from small offerings and assurance that the world owes you nothing and that every gift is exactly that, a gift.”

“We spend precious hours fearing the inevitable. It would be wise to use that time adoring our families, cherishing our friends and living our lives.”

“My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy.”

“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.”

“Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can't take their eyes off you.”

“If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.”

“While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are also God's creation.”

“No one can take the place of a friend, no one.”

“Talent is like electricity. We don't understand electricity. We use it.”

“To those who are given much, much is expected.”

“Love life. Engage in it. Give it all you've got. Love it with a passion because life truly does give back, many times over, what you put into it.”

“I believe that one can never leave home. I believe that one carries the shadows, the dreams, the fears and the dragons of home under one's skin, at the extreme corners of one's eyes and possibly in the gristle of the earlobe.”

“My life has been one great big joke,
A dance that's walked,
A song that's spoke,
I laugh so hard I almost choke,
When I think about myself.”

“Poetry puts starch in your backbone so you can stand, so you can compose your life.”

“While one may encounter many defeats, one must not be defeated.”