Maya Angelou: Doing

Maya Angelou was American author and poet. Explore interesting quotes on doing.

Maya Angelou: 494 quotes132 likes

“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.”

Shared on her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MayaAngelou/posts/10150251846629796, July 4, 2011

“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”

“What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it. Don't complain.”

Maya Angelou book Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now

Source: Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now

“Life is going to give you just what you put in it. Put your whole heart in everything you do, and pray, then you can wait.”

Maya Angelou book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Source: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

“That's what you want to do? Then nothing beats a trial but a failure. Give it everything you've got. I've told you many times, 'Cant do is like Dont Care.' Neither of them have a home.”

“You don't have to think about doing the right thing. If you're for the right thing, then you do it without thinking.”

Quoting her mother's statement after her son's birth, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969)

“You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you.”

“When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.”

“Nothing will work unless you do.”

“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.”

Paris Review Interview (1990)
Context: 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. I know that one of the great arts that the writer develops is the art of saying, No. No, I’m finished. Bye. And leaving it alone. I will not write it into the ground. I will not write the life out of it. I won’t do that.

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

Maya Angelou book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Source: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

“Ain't nothin' to it, but to do it.”

Maya Angelou quote: “If you're for the right thing, you do it without thinking.”

“If you're for the right thing, you do it without thinking.”

Maya Angelou book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Source: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

“Make every effort to change things you do not like. If you cannot make a change, change the way you have been thinking. You might find a new solution.”

Maya Angelou book Letter to My Daughter

Source: Letter to My Daughter

“I'm young as morning
and fresh as dew.
Everybody loves me
and so do you.”

Maya Angelou book I Shall Not Be Moved

Source: I Shall Not Be Moved

“I do not need to know all things. I remind myself that it is sufficient that I know what I know and know that without believing that I will always know what I know or that what I know will always be true.”

“When you do nothing you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better.”

“We may act sophisticated and worldly but I believe we feel safest when we go inside ourselves and find home, a place where we belong and maybe the only place we really do.”

Maya Angelou book Letter to My Daughter

Source: Letter to My Daughter

“In all the institutions I try to be present and accountable for all I do and leave undone. I know that eventually I shall have to be present and accountable n the presence of God. I do not wish to be found wanting.”

Maya Angelou book Letter to My Daughter

Source: Letter to My Daughter

“I make writing as much a part of my life as I do eating or listening to music.”