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

We need Joy as we need air. We need Love as we need water. We need each other as we need the earth we share.

The thing to do, it seems to me, is to prepare yourself so you can be a rainbow in somebody else's cloud. Somebody who may not look like you. May not call God the same name you call God - if they call God at all. I may not dance your dances or speak your language. But be a blessing to somebody. That's what I think.

Try to live your life in a way that you will not regret years of useless virtue and inertia and timidity.

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

Loving someone liberates the lover as well as the beloved. And that kind of love comes with age.

No human being can be more human than another human being. I liberate you from my ignorance.