Maya Angelou Quotes

Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.

Nothing will work unless you do.

Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.

A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.

We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.

The love of the family, the love of one person can heal. It heals the scars left by a larger society. A massive, powerful society.

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.

She said, 'No, you learned that you have power - power and determination. I love you and I am proud of you. With those two things, you can go anywhere and everywhere.

The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.

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.

Stepping onto a brand-new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation, which is not nurturing to the whole woman.

Won't it be wonderful when black history and native American history and Jewish history and all of U.S. history is taught from one book. Just U.S. history.

If more Africans had eaten missionaries, the continent would be in better shape.

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.

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.

Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.

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

Wouldn't take nothing for my journey now.

First best is falling in love. Second best is being in love. Least best is falling out of love. But any of it is better than never having been in love.

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.

The more you know of your history, the more liberated you are.

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.

Take the blinders from your visiontake the padding from your earsand confess you've heard me crying and admit you've seen my tears.

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

At fifteen life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice.

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

The“b” word and the “n” word are like poison, whether you take poison from a vial or pour it into Bavarian crystal, it is still poison.

We have to confront ourselves. Do we like what we see in the mirror? And, according to our light, according to our understanding, according to our courage, we will have to say yea or nay - and rise!

Sugar cane reach up to GodAnd every baby cryingShame the blanket of my nightAnd all my days are dying

If you must look back, do so forgivingly. If you must look forward, do so prayerfully. However, the wisest thing you can do is be present in the present... gratefully.

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.

My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more intelligent and more educated than college professors.

All my ways of being are musical and mysterious.Yet I embrace you openly.Ripe with expectancy.

I found it hard to think of leaving my books. They had been my elevators out of the midden, and to whom could I entrust such close friends?

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.

Don't let the man bring you down.

In an unfamiliar culture, it is wise to offer no innovations, no suggestions, or lessons. The epitome of sophistication is utter simplicity.

Be present in all things and thankful for all things.

Courage is the most important of all virtues because without it we can't practice any other virtue with consistency.

I'm just someone who likes cooking and for whom sharing food is a form of expression.

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

They may have forgotten how badly they treated you, or they may pretend that they have forgotten. But watch: They will come back to you.

Trust your brain to suggest a solution, then have the courage to follow through.

I want you to write down your blessings.

I don't believe an accident of birth makes people sisters or brothers. It makes them siblings, gives them mutuality of parentage. Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition people have to work at.

While the rest of the world has been improving technology, Ghana has been improving the quality of man's humanity to man.

Our stories come from our lives and from the playwright's pen, the mind of the actor, the roles we create, the artistry of life itself and the quest for peace.

I am a WomanPhenomenally.Phenomenal Woman, that's me.

I am never proud to participate in violence, yet I know that each of us must care enough for ourselves that we can be ready and able to come to our own defense when and wherever needed.