American poet (1928-2014)
Be certain that you do not die without having done something wonderful for humanity.
MAYA ANGELOU
Letter to My Daughter
History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.
MAYA ANGELOU
On the Pulse of the Morning
I was raped when I was very young. I told my brother the name of the person who had done it. Within a few days the man was killed. In my child's mind--seven and a half years old--I thought my voice had killed him. So I stopped talking for five years.
MAYA ANGELOU
interview, The Paris Review, fall 1990
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.
MAYA ANGELOU
Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now
I've learned that making a living is not the same thing as making a life.
MAYA ANGELOU
Facebook post, Mar. 3, 2013
It was wonderful to receive from my President, the Freedom Award and to know that I am a member of the group most recently bought and sold with everybody's agreement, and the people who longed for freedom. When I accepted that award, I thought of all the people who had come from all over the world to find freedom in the United States. I accepted the award for African Americans, every slave who got off every boat, every European, and every Asian who came here searching for freedom.
MAYA ANGELOU
interview, Beautifully Said Magazine, Jul. 2012
A friend may be waiting behind a stranger's face.
MAYA ANGELOU
Letter to My Daughter
I don't trust anyone who doesn't laugh.
MAYA ANGELOU
Maya Angelou: 365 Quotes and Sayings of Phenomenal Woman
Out of the huts of history's shame I rise.
MAYA ANGELOU
Phenomenal Woman
Take a month
and show some kindness
for the folks
who thought that blindness
was an illness that
affected eyes alone.
MAYA ANGELOU
"Take Time Out"
Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning.
MAYA ANGELOU
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind.
MAYA ANGELOU
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
I think a hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people.
MAYA ANGELOU
attributed, pinterest
I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.
MAYA ANGELOU
Facebook post, Mar. 4, 2013
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
A Brave and Startling Truth
Talent is like electricity. We don't understand electricity. We use it.
MAYA ANGELOU
attributed, Black Women Writers at Work
There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing.
MAYA ANGELOU
attributed, The Truth in Words
Develop enough courage so that you can stand up for yourself and then stand up for somebody else.
MAYA ANGELOU
Facebook post, Sep. 17, 2012
Never whine. Whining lets a brute know that a victim is in the neighborhood.
MAYA ANGELOU
Letter to My Daughter
I have a certain way of being in this world, and I shall not, I shall not be moved.
MAYA ANGELOU
Phenomenal Woman