Maya Angelou citations

Page 5

“Nous nous délectons de la beauté du papillon, mais nous admettons rarement les changements qu’il a subi pour atteindre cette beauté.”

“La clef du succès, c'est de s’aimer soi-même, d’aimer ce que l'on fait et d’aimer la façon dont on le fait.”

“Il faut avoir assez de courage pour faire confiance à l'amour une fois de plus et toujours une fois de plus.”

“The main thing in one's own private world is to try to laugh as much as you cry.”

“Each of us, famous or infamous, is a role model for somebody, and if we aren't, we should behave as though we are -- cheerful, kind, loving, courteous. Because you can be sure someone is watching and taking deliberate and diligent notes.”

“I dreamt we walked together along the shore. We made satisfying small talk and laughed. This morning I found sand in my shoe and a seashell in my pocket. Was I only dreaming?”

“Women should be tough, tender, laugh as much as possible, and live long lives.”

“Ain't nothin' to it, but to do it.”

“I believe most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity of opportunity to be otherwise.”

“One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We cannot be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.”

“The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.”

“As soon as healing takes place, go out and heal somebody else.”

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

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

“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.”

“Don't let the man bring you down.”

“I’ve got a magic charm
That I keep up my sleeve,
I can walk the ocean floor
And never have to breathe.”

“We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.”

“I hope that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.”

“Ritie, don't worry 'cause you ain't pretty. Plenty pretty women I seen digging ditches or worse. You smart. I swear to God, I rather you have a good mind than a cute behind.”

“Strong women- precious jewels all- their humanness is evident in their accessibility. We are able to enter into the spirit of these women and rejoice in their warmth and courage.”

“We allow our ignorance to prevail upon us and make us think we can survive alone, alone in patches, alone in groups, alone in races, even alone in genders.”

“To be left alone on the tightrope of youthful unknowing is to experience the excruciating beauty of full freedom and the threat of eternal indecision.”

“The best candy shop a child can be left alone in, is the library”

“It is this belief in a power larger than myself and other than myself which allows me to venture into the unknown and even the unknowable.”

“History, despite its wrenching pain cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage need not be lived again.”

“How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!”

“We love and lose in China,
we weep on England's moors,
and laugh and moan in Guinea,
and thrive on Spanish shores.
We seek success in Finland,
are born and die in Maine.
In minor ways we differ,
in major we're the same.”

“We are all human; therefore, nothing human can be alien to us.”

“We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”

“Making a decision to write was a lot like deciding to jump into a frozen lake.”

“It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.”