Maya Angelou: Quotes about life

“People whose history and future were threatened each day by extinction considered that it was only by divine intervention that they were able to live at all. I find it interesting that the meanest life, the poorest existence, is attributed to God's will, but as human beings become more affluent, as their living standard and style begin to ascend the material scale, God descends the scale of responsibility at a commensurate speed.”

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

“I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same thing as 'making a life'.”

“No matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.”

“I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life.”

“To those who have given up on love: I say, "Trust life a little bit.”

“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.”

“Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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'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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Live as though life was created for you.”

“There is a very fine line between loving life and being greedy for it.”