Maya Angelou Quotes

Modesty is a learned affectation. And as soon as life slams the modest person against the wall, that modesty drops.

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

Laugh...It's the sweetest thing one can do for oneself and one's fellow human beings.

Life is a glorious banquet, a limitless and delicious buffet.

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.

I want all my senses engaged. Let me absorb the world's variety and uniqueness.

To those who are given much, much is expected.

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

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

Wouldn't take nothing for my journey now.

Eating is so intimate. It's very sensual. When you invite someone to sit at your table and you want to cook for them, you're inviting a person into your life.

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

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!

Whatever you want to do, if you want to be great at it, you have to love it and be able to make sacrifices for it.

All great artists draw from the same resource: the human heart, which tells us that we are all more alike than we are unalike.

When it looks like the sun isn't going to shine any more, God puts a rainbow in the clouds. Each one of us has the possibility, the responsibility, the probability to be the rainbow in the clouds.

I keep hitting the escape button but I am still here!

If we are bold, love strikes away the chains of fear from our souls.

In an unfamiliar culture, it is wise to offer no innovations, no suggestions, or lessons.

The most difficult thing in the world, it seems to me, is to realize that I am a child of God; to keep that in my mind all the time.

I am serious, so I laugh a lot. You need to laugh. You don't laugh enough. I don't trust anyone who doesn't laugh.

I have a son, who is my heart. A wonderful young man, daring and loving and strong and kind.

My hope is that we develop enough courage to develop courage. To try to have, try to learn to treat each other fairly, with generosity and kindness.

I think music is one of the hero/sheroes of the African-American existence.

My life has been long, and believing that life loves the liver of it, I have dared to try many things, sometimes trembling, but daring still.

When we find someone who is brave, fun, intelligent, and loving, we have to thank the universe.

My encouragement to you is to go tomorrow to the library.

When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature.

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

You can only become great at something you are willing to sacrifice for

The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself. If we don't have that we never grow, we never learn, and sure as hell we should never teach.

I do like to have guns around. I don't like to carry them. But I like - if somebody is going to come into my house and I have not put out the welcome mat, I want to stop them.

I think a number of the leaders are, whether you like it or not, in the hip-hop generation. And when they understand enough, they'll do wonders. I count on them.

To grow up is to stop putting blame on parents.

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

Sunday, if I'm lucky, I'll go to church or listen to some good spiritual advice on the television or on the radio. I take three or four baths to try to cleanse myself, so I'm fresh for Monday.

I want to be a good human being. I'm doing my best, and I'm working at it.

Love is that condition in the human spirit so profound that it allows me to survive, and better than that, to thrive with passion, compassion, and style.

I like to know what's happening.

One of the saddest things in the world is to see a cynical young person.

Nathaniel Hawthorne once said that easy reading is damn hard writing.

If men are God's gift to women, then God must really love gag gifts.

I have risked everything to tell the truth. Tell the truth

Yet it is only love which sets us free.

Life sometimes gives you a second chance.

Being physically close to extreme power causes one to experience a giddiness, an intoxication.

The intensity with which young people live demands that they "blank out" as often as possible.

In Stamps the segregation was so complete that most Black children didn't really, absolutely know what whites looked like.

My heart is so heavy when I see the reality of the Indian reservation and as an American, I know I am, too, responsible.

Whining is just unbecoming.