I have heard it said that winter, too, will pass, that spring is a sign that summer is due at last. See, all we have to do is hang on.

You are the sum total of everything you've seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot- it's all right there.

Stormy or sunny days, glorious or lonely nights, I maintain an attitude of gratitude.

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.

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.

I go to a hotel and try to get there by 5:30 in the morning. I keep a dictionary, a thesaurus, a bible, a deck of playing cards, a bottle of sherry, and stacks of yellow sticky pads. I shut myself in for six, seven hours. I have an arrangement with the hotel that no one may go in my room. After three or four months, they might slip notes under my door like, "Dear Ms. Angelou, please let us change the linens. We think they might be molding." It's probably true. I let them in if they promise not to touch anything other then the bed.

All great acheivements require time.