Maya Angelou Quotes

When the storyteller tells the truth, she reminds us that human beings are more alike than unalike... A story is what it's like to be a human being-to be knocked down and to miraculously arise. Each one of us has arisen, awakened. We do rise.

It's good to remember that in crises, natural crises, human beings forget for awhile their ignorances, their biases, their prejudices. For a little while, neighbors help neighbors and strangers help strangers.

I know that I've been guided by God. I am obedient.

The children to whom we read simple stories may or may not show gratitude, but each boon we give strengthens the pillars of the world.

What I think it really means is: I'm a teacher. I am a teacher. I teach all the time, as you do and as all of you do-whether we know it or not, whether we take responsibility for it or not. I hold nothing back because I want to see that light go off. I like to see the children say, 'I never thought of that before.' And I think, 'I've got them!'

I believe that quality level is determined primarily by the actual design of the product itself, not by quality control in the production process.

It is sad but true that sometimes we need the tragedy to help us to see how human we are and how we are more alike than we are different.

Be present in all things and thankful for all things.

Ain't nothin' to it, but to do it.

You can never be great at anything unless you love it.

Just as hope rings through laughter, it can also shine through tears.

The future is plump with promise.

Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art.

I like to go back and read poems that I wrote fifty years ago, twenty years ago, and sometimes they surprise me - I didn't know I knew that then. Or maybe I didn't know it then, and I know more now.

I suggest that the great art belongs to all people, all the time--that indeed it is made for the people, by the people, to the people.

When I want to think about what would be the right thing to do, the fair thing to do, the wise thing to do, I can just think of my grandmother. I can always hear her say, "Now sister, you know what's right. Just do right!"

You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you.

You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.

Every day I awaken I am grateful. My intent is to be totally present in that day. And laugh as much as possible.

If you happen to fall in love with someone in another race, it's more difficult, because you have to translate yourself.

I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.

All great achievements require time.

I write because I am a Black woman, listening attentively to her people.

If we live long enough, we may even get over war. I imagine a time when somebody will mention the word war and everyone in the room will start to laugh. And what do you mean war?

The public library building, in my view, is just a little lower than the church, the cathedral, the temple, the synagogue and the mosque. Within those walls and along those stacks, I have found security and assurance.

Hold those things that tell your history and protect them.

Life loves the person who dares to live it.

It is only out of ignorance that people are cruel, because they really don't think it will come back.

For a person who grew up in the '30s and '40s in the segregated South, with so many doors closed without explanation to me, libraries and books said, 'Here I am, read me.' Over time I have learned I am at my best around books.

Reality has changed chameleonlike before my eyes so many times that I have learned, or am learning, to trust almost anything except what appears to be so.

That's the biggest gift I can give anybody: 'Wake up, be aware of who you are, what you're doing and what you can do to prevent yourself from becoming ill.'

If I am not good to myself, how can I expect anyone else to be good to me?

The desire to reach hearts is wise

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

I would be stupid not to be on my own side. But I'm a human being, too. And I'm on the side of human beings, rather than on the side of crocodiles.

Putting down on paper what you have to say is an important part of writing, but the words and ideas have to be shaped and cleaned, cleaned as severely as a dog cleans a bone, cleaned until there's not a shred of anything superfluous.

Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.

I have a feeling that I make a very good friend, and I'm a good mother, and a good sister, and a good citizen. I am involved in life itself - all of it. And I have a lot of energy and a lot of nerve.

Anger is like fire. It burns all clean.

I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.

If you have a person enslaved, the first thing you must do is to convince yourself that the person is subhuman. And won't mind the enslavement. The second thing you must do is convince your allies that the person is subhuman so that you have some support. But the third and the unkindest cut of all is to convince that person that he, she, is not quite a first class citizen.

Let me tell so much truth. I want to tell the truth in my work. The truth will lead me to all.

The best candy shop a child can be left alone in, is the library

You may not get what you paid for, but you will pay for what you get.

Creativity or talent, like electricity, is something I don't understand but something I'm able to harness and use.

We do the best we can with what we know, and when we know better, we do better.

I'm a spring leaf trembling in anticipation.

I'm a writer and writers either have good memories or nothing at all.