Everybody in the world wants the same thing...to be needed...a job that he/she can do well...to love somebody...Everybody...There's no mystery.

You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.

I never expected anyone to take care of me, but in my wildest dreams and juvenile yearnings, I wanted the house with the picket fence from June Allyson movies. I knew that was yearning like one yearns to fly.

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

Some critics will write 'Maya Angelou is a natural writer' - which is right after being a natural heart surgeon.

The first thing I do in the morning when I awaken is say, 'Thank you, Lord!' I'm grateful to be alive, and I'm going to try to tell the truth as well as I know and tell it as eloquently as I can so that people can hear it.

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