Maya Angelou Quotes

259 Sourced Quotes

I know when it's the best I can do. It may not be the best there is. Another writer may do it much better. But I know when it's the best I can do. I know that one of the great arts that the writer develops is the art of saying, No. No, I'm finished. Bye. And leaving it alone. I will not write it into the ground. I will not write the life out of it. I won't do that.

Maya Angelou
I am capable of what every other human is capable of. This is one of the great lessons of war and life.

Maya Angelou
When things were very bad his soul just crawled behind his heart and curled up and went to sleep

Maya Angelou
She comprehended the perversity of life, that in the struggle lies the joy.

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

Maya Angelou
Never, never let a person know you're frightened. And a group of them... absolutely never. Fear brings out the worst in everybody.

Maya Angelou
I believe that one can never leave home. I believe that one carries the shadows, the dreams, the fears and dragons of home under one's skin, at the extreme corners of one's eyes and possibly in the gristle of the earlobe.

Maya Angelou
The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind.

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

Maya Angelou
The loss of young first love is so painful that it borders on the ludicrous.

Maya Angelou
One must learn to care for oneself first, so that one can then dare to care for someone else.

Maya Angelou
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.

Maya Angelou
A certain person wondered why a big strong girl like me wouldn't keep a job which paid a normal salary. I took my time to lead her and to read her every page. Even minimal people can't survive on minimal wage. A certain person wondered why I wait all week for you. I didn't have the words to describe just what you do. I said you had the motion of the ocean in your walk, and when you solve my riddles you don't even have to talk.

Maya Angelou
Life loves to be taken by the lapel and be told, I am with you kid. Let's go!

Maya Angelou
When we come to it
We, this people, on this wayward, floating body
Created on this earth, of this earth
Have the power to fashion for this earth
A climate where every man and every woman
Can live freely without sanctimonious piety
And without crippling fear When we come to it
We must confess that we are the possible
We are the miraculous, the true wonders of this world
That is when, and only when
We come to it.

Maya Angelou
Politicians must set their aims for the high ground and according to our various leanings, Democratic, Republican, Independent, we will follow. Politicians must be told if they continue to sink into the mud of obscenity, they will proceed alone.

Maya Angelou
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.

Maya Angelou
The plague of racism is insidious, entering into our minds as smoothly and quietly and invisibly as floating airborne microbes enter into our bodies to find lifelong purchase in our bloodstreams.

Maya Angelou
You only are free when you realize you belong no place - you belong every place - no place at all. The price is high. The reward is great.

Maya Angelou
Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.

Maya Angelou
I walk into a room Just as cool as you please, And to a man, The fellows stand or Fall down on their knees.

Maya Angelou
But what mother and daughter understand each other, or even have the sympathy for each other's lack of understanding?

Maya Angelou
Human beings are more alike than unalike, and what is true anywhere is true everywhere, yet I encourage travel to as many destinations as possible for the sake of education as well as pleasure.

Maya Angelou
If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat. It is an unncessary insult.

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

Maya Angelou
In all the institutions I try to be present and accountable for all I do and leave undone. I know that eventually I shall have to be present and accountable n the presence of God. I do not wish to be found wanting.

Maya Angelou
The ship of my life may or may not be sailing on calm and amiable seas. The challenging days of my existence may or may not be bright and promising. Stormy or sunny days, glorious or lonely nights, I maintain an attitude of gratitude. If I insist on being pessimistic, there is always tomorrow. Today I am blessed.

Maya Angelou
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Maya Angelou
We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.

Maya Angelou
There is a kind of strength that is almost frightening in Black women. It's as if a steel rod runs right through the head down to the feet.

Maya Angelou