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Maya Angelou
64 quotes
“We delight in the beauty of butterfly, rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don't trust people who don't love themselves and tell me "I love you." … There is an African saying which is: "Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Distinguished Annie Clark Tanner Lecture, 16th-annual Families Alive Conference, Weber State University, May 8, 1997 - Full text online at weber.edu
“Self-pity in its early stages is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) first seen 1974 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Gather Together in My Name (1974), p. 17.
“A bizarre sensation pervades a relationship of pretense. No truth seems true. A simple morning's greeting and response appear loaded with innuendo and fraught with implications. ... Each nicety becomes more sterile and each withdrawal more permanent.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) first seen 1976 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas (1976), chapter 5.
“Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in USA Today (5 March 1988)
“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now (1993) p. 12.
“There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Truth in Words (2005) by Neal Zero
“I am capable of what every other human is capable of. This is one of the great lessons of war and life.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Goal Mapping : How to Turn Your Dreams into Realities (2006) by Brian Mayne, p. 84
“Nothing can dim the light that shines from within”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "The Light We Carry" (2022) by Michelle Obama, P. 21
“There are certain artists who belong to all the people, everywhere, all the time. The list of singers, musicians, and poets must include David the harpist from the Old Testament, Aesop the Storyteller, Omar Khayyam the Tent Maker, Shakespeare the Bard of Avon, Louis Armstrong the genius of New Orleans, Om Kalsoum the soul of Egypt, Frank Sinatra, Mahalia Jackson, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Charles...Celia Cruz...All great artists draw from the same resource: the human heart, which tells us all that we are more alike than we are unalike.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Maya Angelou Letter to My Daughter (2009)
“When people show you who they are, believe them, the first time. Not the 29th time!”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Described by Oprah Winfrey as "[o]ne of the other great lessons I learned taught to me by my friend and mentor, Maya Angelou" during her commencement address delivered to Wellesley College on May 30, 1997.{{cite web
“You did in your twenties what you knew how to do, and when you knew better you did better. And you should not be judged for the person that you were, but for the person that you're trying to be and the woman that you are now.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All information belongs to everybody all the time. It should be available. It should be accessible to the child, to the woman, to the man, to the old person, to the semiliterate, to the presidents of universities, to everyone. It should be open.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Interview: How Libraries Changed Maya Angelou's Life, by Angela Montefinise, October 29, 2010
“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Shared on her Facebook page, July 4, 2011
“How important it is to recognise and consider our heroes and she-roes.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in: Kabir, Hajara Muhammad (2010). Northern women development. [Nigeria]. ISBN 978-978-906-469-4. OCLC 890820657.
“I'm an American, and most of the time proud of it. Even when I am displeased with what my country is doing, I am still an American who is displeased. And fortunately, being an American, I don't have to whimper, I don't have to whine, I have the right to protest, and I like that.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You develop courage, the most important of all the virtues, because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently. If you've seen another truth and had enough courage to change your way of thinking, to say "Hey everybody, you know what I said last week? I don't believe that anymore. A little child just straightened me out.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This a wonderful day. I've never seen this one before”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Tweet from May 17, 2013 mentioned in her obituary in the Christian Science Monitor.
“Develop enough courage so that you can stand up for yourself and then stand up for somebody else.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: in Rainbow in the Cloud: The Wisdom and Spirit of Maya Angelou (2014), p. 68
“I want to write so that the reader in Des Moines, Iowa, in Kowloon, China, in Cape Town, South Africa, can say, "You know, that's the truth. I wasn't there, and wasn't a six-foot black girl, but that's the truth.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: quoted in Every Day a Word Surprises Me & Other Quotes by Writers by Phaidon (2018) with citation
“The needs of a society determine its ethics.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You don't have to think about doing the right thing. If you're for the right thing, then you do it without thinking.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At fifteen life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I believe most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity of opportunity to be otherwise.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Life is going to give you just what you put in it. Put your whole heart in everything you do, and pray, then you can wait.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to my daughter quotes(September 19, 2026)
“When you learn, teach, when you get, give.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Maya Angelou quotes qfp( September 19, 2026)
“At the end of the day people won't remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Maya Angelou quotes qfp(September 19, 2026)
“You were a precious pearl How I loved to see you shine, You were the perfect girl. And you were mine. For a time. For a time. Just for a time.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I've got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs?”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Out of the huts of history's shame I rise Up from a past that's rooted in pain I rise I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I went to sleep last night And I arose with the dawn, I know that there are others Who're still sleeping on, They've gone away, You've let me stay, I want to thank You.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. (1982; quoted in the Introduction by Jeffrey M. Elliot)”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I can become quite angry and burning in anger, but I have never been bitter. Bitterness is a corrosive, terrible acid. It just eats you and makes you sick. (1977)”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I tell you one of the most aggravating things of all is to pick up a review of a work of mine and have a reviewer say, "She is a natural writer." That sometimes will make me so angry that I will cry, really, because my intent is to write so it seems to flow. I think it's Alexander Pope who says, "Easy writing is damn hard reading," and vice versa, easy reading is damn hard writing. Sometimes I will stay up in my room for a day trying to get two sentences that will flow, that will just seem as if they were always there. (1977)”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I still feel you should rock the boat. And if you're not in it, you should turn it over. But not unthinkingly. Protest without serious consideration is dangerous. You have to back up what you say. But once you find the truth, you ought to be prepared to stand on the street corner and use all your gifts to right the wrong. (1986)”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Glory falls around us as we sob a dirge of desolation on the Cross and hatred is the ballast of the rock”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We grow despite the horror that we feed upon our own tomorrow. We grow.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Petulant priests, greedy centurions, and one million incensed gestures stand between your love and me.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Visit us again, Savior.Your children, burdened with disbelief, blinded by a patina of wisdom, carom down this vale of fear. We cry for you although we have lost your name.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have need of a friend.There is one and only one who will give the air from his failing lungs for my body's mend.And that one is my love.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nathaniel Hawthorne says, "Easy reading is damn hard writing." I try to pull the language into such a sharpness that it jumps off the page. It must look easy, but it takes me forever to get it to look so easy.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I know when it's the best I can do. It may not be the best there is. Another writer may do it much better. But I know when it’s the best I can do. I know that one of the great arts that the writer develops is the art of saying, No. No, I’m finished. Bye. And leaving it alone. I will not write it into the ground. I will not write the life out of it. I won’t do that.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Yes. When I’m writing, I am trying to find out who I am, who we are, what we’re capable of, how we feel, how we lose and stand up, and go on from darkness into darkness.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We, unaccustomed to courage exiles from delight live coiled in shells of loneliness until love leaves its high holy temple and comes into our sight to liberate us into life.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source