A person is the product of their dreams. So make sure to dream great dreams. And then try to live your dream.

I believe that every person is born with talent.

If I'm here, I'll be trying to be a better human being, a better writer, a better friend and a better beloved.

Since time is the one immaterial object which we cannot influence - neither speed up nor slow down, add to nor diminish - it is an imponderably valuable gift. Each of us has a few minutes a day or a few hours a week which we could donate to an old folks home or a children's hospital ward. The elderly whose pillows we plump or whose water pitchers we refill may or may not thank us for our gift, but the gift is upholding the foundation of the universe.

Having courage does not mean we are unafraid.

Moderation in all things. And even moderation in moderation. Don't get too much moderation, you know?

Of course, there are those critics - New York critics as a rule - who say, 'Well, Maya Angelou has a new book out and of course it's good but then she's a natural writer.' Those are the ones I want to grab by the throat and wrestle to the floor because it takes me forever to get it to sing. I work at the language.