Angelou Maya Quotes & Sayings

I may never be known as a philanthropist, but I certainly am a lover of mankind, and I will give freely of my resources. — Maya Angelou

She said that I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and even more intelligent than college professors. — Maya Angelou

When you get, give. — Maya Angelou

I had to trust life, since I was young enough to believe that life loved the person who dared to live it. I — Maya Angelou

If on Judgement Day I were summoned by St. Peter to give testimony to the used-to-be sheriff's act of kindness, I would be unable to say anything in his behalf. His confidence that my uncle and every other Black man who heard of the Klan's coming ride would scurry under their houses to hide in chicken droppings was too humiliating to hear. Without waiting for Momma's thanks, he rode out of the yard, sure that things were as they should be and that he was a gentle squire, saving those deserving serfs from the laws of the land, which he condoned. — Maya Angelou

All great achievements require time. Maya Angelou — Kim Thompson-Pinder

Just because I am wheelchair-bound doesn't mean I don't get around. — Maya Angelou

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

Nature has no mercy at all. Nature says, "I'm going to snow. If you have on a bikini and no snowshoes, that's tough. I am going to snow anyway." — Maya Angelou

Don't let the man bring you down. — Maya Angelou

I am a child of God. I always carry that with me. — Maya Angelou

One person, with good purpose, can, constitute the majority. — Maya Angelou

The humorless puzzle of inequality and hate. His experience raised the question of worth and values, of aggressive inferiority and aggressive arrogance. — Maya Angelou

My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who and how you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness. Continue to allow humor to lighten the burden of your tender heart. — Maya Angelou

Your skin like dawn
Mine like dusk.
One paints the beginning
of a certain end.
The other, the end of a
sure beginning.
from Passing Time — Maya Angelou

Sometimes guns really matter. Protecting those who need protection - children, women, minorities in rough parts of town, old folks living in places where cops aren't nearby. Guns are true empowerment for the powerless. — Maya Angelou

Without willing it, I had gone from being ignorant of being ignorant to being aware of being aware. And the worst part of my awareness was that I didn't know what I was aware of. I knew I knew very little, but I was certain that the things I had yet to learn wouldn't be taught to me at George Washington High School. — Maya Angelou

Of course I could drive. Idiots and lunatics drove cars. Why not the brilliant Marguerite Johnson? — Maya Angelou

The problem I have with haters is that they see my glory, but they don't know my story ... — Maya Angelou

In all my work, in the movies I write, the lyrics, the poetry, the prose, the essays, I am saying that we may encounter many defeats - maybe it's imperative that we encounter the defeats - but we are much stronger than we appear to be and maybe much better than we allow ourselves to be. Human beings are more alike than unalike. — Maya Angelou

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

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

If we accept being talked to any kind of a way, then we are telling ourselves we are not quite worth the best. And if we have the effrontery to talk to anybody with less than courtesy, we tell ourselves and the world we are not very intelligent. — Maya Angelou

Women been gittin' pregnant ever since Eve ate that apple. — Maya Angelou

I'm very, very serious - I'm serious enough not to take myself too seriously. That means I can be completely wedded to the moment. But when I leave that moment, I want to be completely wedded to the next moment. — Maya Angelou

We need much less than we think we need. — Maya Angelou

If I'm the people's poet, then I ought to be in people's hands - and, I hope, in their heart. — Maya Angelou

A friend may be waiting behind a stranger's face. — Maya Angelou

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. — Maya Angelou

Life loves the liver of it. You must live and life will be good to you. — Maya Angelou

All knowledge is spendable currency, depending on the market. — Maya Angelou

Anyone of us can be a rainbow in somebody's clouds. I want the University of Cincinnati to be a rainbow in the clouds. The University of Cincinnati is really a possibility of hope; it is a rainbow. — Maya Angelou

As soon as healing takes place, go out and heal somebody else. — Maya Angelou

I am forced
outside myself to
mount the light and ride joined with Hope.
Through all the bright hours
I cling to expectation, until
darkness comes to reclaim me
as its own. Hope fades, day is gone
into its irredeemable place
and I am thrown back into the familiar
bonds of disconsolation.
Gloom crawls around
lapping lasciviously
between my toes, at my ankles,
and it sucks the strands of my
hair. It forgives my heady
fling with Hope. I am
joined again into its
greedy arms.
from A Plagued Journey — Maya Angelou

I can see in the acorn the oak tree. I see the growth, the rebuilding, the restoring. I see that is the American psyche. There is so much we can draw understanding from. One of the lessons is the development of courage. Because without courage, you can't practice any of the other virtues consistently. — Maya Angelou

The truth will lead me to all. — Maya Angelou

A wise woman wishes to be no one's enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone's victim. — Maya Angelou

You should never make someone a priority who views you as an option. — Maya Angelou

I think that that's the wisest thing - to prevent illness before we try to cure something. — Maya Angelou

Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God. — Maya Angelou

If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform a million realities. — Maya Angelou

At 50, I began to know who I was. It was like waking up to myself. — Maya Angelou

If you're going to live, leave a legacy. Make a mark on the world that can't be erased. — Maya Angelou

Never let white folks know what you really think. If you're sad, laugh. If you're bleeding inside, dance. — Maya Angelou

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. — Maya Angelou

We need the courage to say obesity is not funny and vulgarity is not amusing. — Maya Angelou

The fog wasn't simply the steamy vapors off the bay caught and penned in by hills, but a soft breath of anonymity that shrouded and cushioned the bashful traveler. — Maya Angelou

Look for the beauty in things. — Maya Angelou

All of us knows, not what is expedient, not what is going to make us popular, not what the policy is, or the company policy - but in truth each of us knows what is the right thing to do. And that's how I am guided. — Maya Angelou

I find it very difficult to let a friend or beloved go into that country of no return. I answer the heroic question, "Death, where is thy sting?" with "It is here in my heart, and my mind, and my memories. — Maya Angelou

You dwell in whitened castles
with deep and poisoned moats
and cannot hear the curses
which fill your children's throats. — Maya Angelou

Miss Kirwin was that rare educator who was in love with information. I will always believe that her love of teaching came not so much from her liking for students but from her desire to make sure that some of the things she knew would find repositories so that they could be shared again. — Maya Angelou

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. — Maya Angelou

The minister's voice was a pendulum. Swinging for left and down and right and down and left and-"How can you claim to be my brother, and hate me? Is that Charity? How can you claim to be my sister and despise me? Is that supposed to be Charity? How can you claim to be my friend and misuse and wrongfully abuse me? Is that Charity?...'now abideth faith, hope and charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. — Maya Angelou

Don't bring negative to my door. — Maya Angelou

It is impossible to struggle for civil rights, equal rights for blacks, without including whites. Because equal rights, fair play, justice, are all like the air: we all have it, or none of us has it. That is the truth of it. — Maya Angelou

You can never go home again, but the truth is you can never leave home, so it's all right. — Maya Angelou

Achievement brings its own anticlimax. — Maya Angelou

It's very important to know the neighbor next door and the people down the street and the people in another race. — Maya Angelou

That child would stumble over the pattern in a rug. — Maya Angelou

Still I'll rise. — Maya Angelou

Cooking certain dishes, like roast pork, reminds me of my mother. — Maya Angelou

Hope for the best, be prepared for the worse. Life is shocking, but you must never appear to be shocked. For no matter how bad it is it could be worse and no matter how good it is it could be better. — Maya Angelou

Everyone grows old but not everyone grows up. — Maya Angelou

A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. — Maya Angelou

Rainbows are people whose lives are bright, shining examples for others. — Maya Angelou

It may be enough, however, to have it said that we survive in exact relationship to the dedication of our poets (include preachers, musicians, and blues singers). — Maya Angelou

The knowledge that we had the power to upset that goddess made us look at each other conspiratorially and smile. It also made her human. — Maya Angelou

Of all the needs (there are none imaginary) a lonely child has, the one that must be satisfied, if there is going to be hope and a hope of wholeness, is the unshaking need for an unshakable God. My pretty Black brother was my Kingdom Come. — Maya Angelou

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. — Maya Angelou

I would be stupid not to be on my own side. But I'm a human being, too. And I'm on the side of human beings, rather than on the side of crocodiles. — Maya Angelou

When someone shows you who they are, you should believe them. — Maya Angelou

The most noble
cause known to man
is the liberation
of the human mind
and spirit. — Maya Angelou

I love a Hebrew National hot dog with an ice-cold Corona - no lime. If the phone rings, I won't answer until I'm done. — Maya Angelou

If we live long enough, we may even get over war. I imagine a time when somebody will mention the word war and everyone in the room will start to laugh. And what do you mean war? — Maya Angelou

Life is a gift, and i try to respond with grace and courtesy. — Maya Angelou

Childhood's logic never asks to be proved (all conclusions are absolute). — Maya Angelou

I would be a liar, a hypocrite, or a fool - and I'm not any of those - to say that I don't write for the reader. I do. But for the reader who hears, who really will work at it, going behind what I seem to say. So I write for myself and that reader who will pay the dues. — Maya Angelou

The woman who truly intends to live a good life is already living phenomenally since intent is part of the achievement. — Maya Angelou

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

Seek patience and passion in equal amounts. Patience alone will not build the temple. Passion alone will destroy its walls. — Maya Angelou

We French, we have never, never, never had slavery, so we feel we don't understand the American racism. Maybe — Maya Angelou

Depending on who I am talking about or who's talking through me - if the person is a kind of hip-hop, or rhythm and blues person, or if the person is a kind of old-fashion gothic, meaning gothic attitude, then that will determine what form the poem will take. — Maya Angelou

Some entertainers have tried to make art of coarseness, but in their public crudeness they have merely revealed their own vast senses of personal inferiority. When they heap mud upon themselves and allow their tongues to wag with vulgarity, they expose their belief that they are not worth loving and in fact are unlovable. When we as an audience indulge then in their profanity, we are like the audience at the Roman Colosseum being thrilled as the raging lions kill the unarmed Christians. We not only participate in the humiliation of the entertainers, but we are brought low by sharing in the obscenity. We need to have the courage to say obesity is not funny and vulgarity is not amusing. Insolent children and submissive parents are not the characters we want to admire and emulate. Flippancy and sarcasm are not qualities which we need to include in our daily conversations. — Maya Angelou

If you happen to fall in love with someone in another race, it's more difficult, because you have to translate yourself. — Maya Angelou

Information helps you to see that you're not alone. That there's somebody in Mississippi and somebody in Tokyo who all have wept, who've all longed and lost, who've all been happy. So the library helps you to see, not only that you are not alone, but that you're not really any different from everyone else. — Maya Angelou

Whenever I began to question whether God exists, I looked up to the sky and surely there, right there, between the sun and moon, stands my grandmother, singing a long meter hymn, a song somewhere between a moan and a lullaby and I know faith is the evidence of things unseen. And all I have to do is continue trying to be a Christian. — Maya Angelou

Wouldn't take nothing for my journey now. — Maya Angelou

My work is to be honest. My work is to try to think clearly, then have the courage to make sure that what I say is the truth. — Maya Angelou

Open your eyes to the beauty around you, open your mind to the wonders of life, open your heart to those who love you, and always be true to yourself. — Maya Angelou

When teachers or people in authority put me down or in one way or another tried to make me feel less than equal to what they thought I should be - my mother was on my side. It was amazing. — Maya Angelou

Shine on me, sunshine Rain on me, rain Fall softly, dewdrops And cool my brow again. Storm, blow me from here With your fiercest wind Let me float across the sky 'Til I can rest again. Fall gently, snowflakes Cover me with white Cold icy kisses and Let me rest tonight. Sun, rain, curving sky Mountain, oceans, leaf and stone Star shine, moon glow You're all that I can call my own. — Maya Angelou

My obsession with pineapples nearly drove me mad. I dreamt of the days when I would be grown and able to buy a whole carton for myself alone. Although — Maya Angelou

I admire people who dare to take the language, English, and understand it and understand the melody. — Maya Angelou

People have to feel needed. Frequently, we just offer a job and 'perks.' We don't always offer people a purpose. When people feel there is a purpose and that they're needed, there's not much else to do except let them do the work. — Maya Angelou

Stand up straight and realize who you are, that you tower over your circumstances. You are a child of God. Stand up straight. — Maya Angelou

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

If we lose love and self respect for each other,this is how we finally die — Maya Angelou

Creativity or talent, like electricity, is something I don't understand but something I'm able to harness and use. While electricity remains a mystery, I know I can plug into it and light up a cathedral or a synagogue or an operating room and use it to help save a life. Or I can use it to electrocute someone. Like electricity, creativity makes no judgment. I can use it productively or destructively. The important thing is to use it. You can't use up creativity. The more you use it, the more you have. — Maya Angelou

Life sometimes gives you a second chance. — Maya Angelou