That knowledge humbles me, melts my bones, closes my ears, and makes my teeth rock loosely in their gums. And it also liberates me. I am a big bird winging over high mountains, down into serene valleys. I am ripples of waves on silver seas. I'm a spring leaf trembling in anticipation.
Maya Angelou
Related Now I lay down on this tree and felt a lonely sadness coming over me in waves. Slow tears ran from m... BARBARA COMYNS Thank you so much for supporting me from the day I stepped foot into the music industry. It really m... MARY J. BLIGE I Am A Big Zero But My Creativity Makes
Me A Hero DR. ARUN S SON Everyone in me is a bird I am beating all my wings ANNE SEXTON Reading has made me more open, has improved my understanding, and has made me a better artiste, but ... SONAM KAPOOR I am a mess. Like that MargieMocha, I am spilled across a floor, but there's nobody to mop me up. I ... JERRY SPINELLI A great book increases my heartbeat as if I’m prey, melts my insides in anticipation of a first ki... CARMEN DESOUSA I am alive and well, food on my table , shoes on my feet, a roof over my head? Family's good, God wi... ARTHLENE LAUDAT LAWRENCE When I look on you a moment, then I can speak no more, but my tongue falls silent, and at once a del... SAPPHO It's the first big sign of spring, and when it's in full bloom, it reminds me of Ivory dish soap. I ... KAREN NEWBERN When I am me, I can see me in my space. My desk faces the window and an ocean. The flower on my desk... JAN DENISE I am never at my best in the early morning, especially a cold morning in the Yorkshire spring with a... JAMES HERRIOT its the passion in my heart that makes me crazy
its the passion in my learning that makes me intelli... LARISSA CONSOLAGIO When I am brushing my teeth, I'm bending my leg behind me, or I'm lifting my leg up and hold... CHRISTIE BRINKLEY They must take me for a fool, or even worse, a lunatic. And no wonder ,for I am so intensely conscio... MIGUEL DE CERVANTES SAAVEDRA Every man who attacks my belief, diminishes in some degree my confidence in it, and therefore makes ... SAMUEL JOHNSON I am called a dog because I fawn on those who give me anything, I yelp at those who refuse, and I se... DIOGENES I am called a dog because I fawn on those who give me anything, I yelp at those who refuse, and I se... DIOGENES I am an author, and like many in my profession, I am also a traveling salesman, going all over in an... IAN FRAZIER I am so stressed that my dentist told me I am grinding my teeth due to stress. So, every evening, I ... ALIA BHATT I respond to many names. Sometimes I am different people. Sometimes I am the me that howls... JESSICA BATES I am a collection of thoughts and memories and likes and dislikes. I am the things that have happene... MACAULAY CULKIN I pulled on the restraints, frustrated, hurting, and completely devastated. I could feel tears slidi... ELIZABETH SCHECHTER I am very lucky that I have talented and creative people around me. Also, mediation has been a very ... RUSSELL SIMMONS I am a helicopter pilot. Something that gives me pleasure sometimes is taking my helicopter to go hi... ROBERTO CAVALLI My teeth ache, my gums hurt, and my cat is tearing me apart, wanting you in every way imaginable. Yo... N.D. JONES I close my eyes. And i scream. If my whole world is crashing down around me, then I am going to make... DAVID LEVITHAN I am lost without you. I am soulless, a drifter without a home, a solitary bird in a flight to nowhe... NICHOLAS SPARKS (It was) like a giant hand reaching down from the sky, grabbing me like a frog, and throwing me full... TOM GREEN I am confident that nobody... will accuse me of selfishness if I ask to spend time, while I am still... NELSON MANDELA Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh. BIBLE I am ready because I think I missed that responsibility by being out my senior year in high school. ... MEGHAN RYAN I am beautiful because the kindness of my heart is beautiful. I am strong because my strength i... DEBASISH MRIDHA I am not a machine. For what can a machine know of the smell of wet grass in the morning, or the sou... BERNARD BECKETT I am what the water gave me, / a smoke-ring in a jar, / the braided rope / my ladder-to-the-light, /... PASCALE PETIT I was not weak; I did not cry. But it hurt me, more in a kind of refreshing, thrilling way, than a k... ALYSHA SPEER My philosophy is: It’s none of my business what people say of me and think of me. I am what I am a... ANTHONY HOPKINS I am shamed to realize that in my marriage, my daughters never heard their father and me fight, whic... SANDRA TSING LOH Gucci for me is finished, over and gone, ... That was another chapter in my life, it's over. I am on... TOM FORD My philosophy is it's none of my business what people say of me and think of me. I am what I am,... ANTHONY HOPKINS I find that music makes people just sit and listen, firstly. Then, they seem to interpret their own ... ENYA To have the knowledge that would make my father proud is a gift that has not been handed to me on a ... GARY F EVANS... When I am on a stage, I am the focus of thousands of eyes and it gives me strength. I feel that some... LYNN FONTANNE I see nothing. We may sink and settle on the waves. The sea will drum in my ears. The white petals w... VIRGINIA WOOLF I have crazy claustrophobic dreams, weird elevator dreams where the elevator closes in and all of a ... DAVE GROHL Mama, Mama, help me get home I'm out in the woods, I am out on my own. I found me a werewo... LAUREN OLIVER I'm half of my father. Half of my hero. And I am half of my mother. Half soft sighs and half sharp e... ASHLEY POSTON You are very easily exasperated, my dear. If you're a leaf trembling on a wide, deep river, relax an... STEVEN ERIKSON I am an ass indeed; you may prove it by my long ears. I have
served him from the hour of my nativi... WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE The waves of pain that had only lapped at me before now reared high up and washed over my head, pull... STEPHENIE MEYER I am shamelessly biased about the people in my life, and it makes sense to me that other people are ... AKHIL SHARMA Edges I am a child throwing rocks into the stream. Challenging the rushing water. Rai... TOSHA MICHELLE O Lord my God, tell me what you are to me. Say to my soul, I am your salvation . Say it so tha... AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO I am now writing a book called 'Far Enough,' very loosely based on my childhood. This is dif... NANCY FARMER My silver cord - the link between my body and my spirit - was extremely sensitive. It was what allow... SAMANTHA SHANNON Every Halloween for six years, I was a Ninja Turtle, and Mikey was my favorite. The turtles really m... GREG CIPES When I was young, I was afflicted with what my aunt called “convenient deafness.” I still am. I ... GEORGE SHEEHAN My 'Home' is wherever 'I Am'..and I am everywhere, everytime,in every way.. I am my Family..I a... ABHA MARYADA BANERJEE This makes me very proud for my country but more than that I am myself proud. In Kenya my first son ... BENJAMIN LIMO My family, in a way, gives me a reference as to who I am as an individual, and my work gives me a re... ZERESENAY ALEMSEGED I can't stand having cold air blowing in my ears, so when it's cold at my house, or if I am ... ZAC BROWN From Maya Angelou I began to believe that I, too, someday, could be a writer, and I also learned how... DIRK BENEDICT I am very thankful that I have lived the life I have lived. I am thankful for my Graves' disease... GAIL DEVERS I am a leader in my own world. That's enough for me. KATE DEL CASTILLO When I dream go into a parallel universe: dreaming of my past memories that my subconscious was hold... MARIAH REBECCA ARGUELLO To me success means effectiveness in the world, that I am able to carry my ideas and values into the... MAXINE HONG KINGSTON To me success means effectiveness in the world, that I am able to carry my ideas and values into the... MAXINE HONG KINGSTON Also, I am very religious. It gave me peace of mind all my career. EMERSON FITTIPALDI I read. It's also nice for me to get involved in schoolwork, which is a totally different world ... MONICA KEENA I also like to escape inside their world, tucked behind their colorful spines. It forces me to ... KATIE KACVINSKY He is my other eyes that can see above the clouds; my other ears that hear above the winds. He is th... GENE HILL I am in agreement with everything my father taught me and nothing my mother taught me. FRIDA KAHLO In Laos, my Chinese language skills and knowledge in international trade are sure to be in great dem... DONGLING YANG For me, filmmaking is not exactly a career. I was never in it for Hollywood or anything. My films ar... PAWEL PAWLIKOWSKI A friend of mine has a big farm in the desert, and she picks up feathers and roadkill for me, then m... KESHA My fear of life is necessary to me, as is my illness. Without anxiety and illness, I am a ship witho... EDVARD MUNCH I am the most tired woman in the world. I am tired when I get up. Life requires an effort I cannot m... ANAïS NIN A big reason I'd spent my career as a writer and not a public speaker is that I am a person who ... LAURA MOSER I am a big popcorn fanatic. I love popcorn. In fact one year for my birthday, my husband bought me o... DEBBIE MACOMBER I think the ears are a strange look for me. Quite big. But I loved the hair down to my shoulders. It... BILLY BOYD If I am ever unexpectedly stopped in my car by the police, my response after pulling over in a popul... STEVEN MAGEE I'm an alien in my own world, a writer without words, a musician without a piano, a magician without... NEMA AL-ARABY I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression... BIBLE I've conducted the Boston Pops! Imagine that! Me! Maya Angelou! I've sang and danced at La S... MAYA ANGELOU My grandfather has a big influence on me; without him, I wouldn't be where I am now. ANGELIQUE KERBER I am Amaxon Corazon Junia Principia Delgado the Third, and I bent over my meal and wept luxurious te... NALO HOPKINSON Right from my childhood, I have believed in a Supreme Power. I don't know whether it has form, o... PAWAN KALYAN It is my first final of the year so I am excited to be playing in it. I am looking forward to tomorr... MARTA DOMACHOWSKA I owe 90 per cent of my life to people because I am a public figure, but 10 per cent is private to m... PRIYANKA CHOPRA My father used to be a fisherman, so it always makes me feel close to him when I am there on the wat... IRINA SHAYK He allows me to have my own program and supports me and makes me feel like I am appreciated and resp... JIM COLBORN Everything that went on in my life... it was super important for me to have Camden first. And by tha... VANESSA LACHEY I AM NOT SCARED OF ANYTHING BECAUSE, I AM IN THE SHADOW OF MY KNOWLEDGE MARKHANDEYA I raise my left arm and twist my neck down to rip off the pill on my sleeve. Instead my teeth sink i... SUZANNE COLLINS Am I tough? Am I strong? Am I hard-core? Absolutely. Did I whimper with pathetic delight when ... JAMES PATTERSON Some of us are drawn to mountains the way the moon draws the tide. Both the great forests and the mo... JOAN HALIFAX I am in the prime of my womanhood, nunga-nungas poised and trembling (attractively). Lips puckered u... LOUISE RENNISON Because I am interested in the growth and development of early hominids, I play with my kids, you kn... ZERESENAY ALEMSEGED I’m erased. I’m gone. I’m nothing. And then the world is free to flow into me like water into ... JERRY SPINELLI I am normally afraid of birds and have never dreamt of any bird in my life. INGMAR BERGMAN
More Maya Angelou
In a magazine, one can get - from cover to cover - 15 to 20 different ideas about life and how to li... MAYA ANGELOU Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud. MAYA ANGELOU Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper ... MAYA ANGELOU Encouragement to all women is - let us try to offer help before we have to offer therapy. That is to... MAYA ANGELOU My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some com... MAYA ANGELOU There is a very fine line between loving life and being greedy for it. MAYA ANGELOU Shakespeare - I was very influenced - still am - by Shakespeare. I couldn't believe that a white... MAYA ANGELOU Though I do manage to mumble around in about seven or eight languages, English remains the most beau... MAYA ANGELOU The hope, the hope that lives in the breast of the black American, is just so tremendous that it ove... MAYA ANGELOU In a long meter hymn, a singer - they call it 'lays out a line.' And then the whole church j... MAYA ANGELOU I think a number of the leaders are, whether you like it or not, in the hip-hop generation. And when... MAYA ANGELOU I like to have guns around. I don't like to carry them. MAYA ANGELOU If I'm the people's poet, then I ought to be in people's hands - and, I hope, in their h... MAYA ANGELOU I became the kind of parent my mother was to me. MAYA ANGELOU I admire people who dare to take the language, English, and understand it and understand the melody. MAYA ANGELOU I know that one of the great arts that the writer develops is the art of saying, 'No. No, I'... MAYA ANGELOU I was born in St. Louis but lived there just for a few minutes in my life. MAYA ANGELOU I like to speak on matters which matter to human beings, and almost everything matters to human bein... MAYA ANGELOU I was very blessed to have family and friends, but particularly family, who told me I was not only a... MAYA ANGELOU Living in a state of terror was new to many white people in America, but black people have been livi... MAYA ANGELOU I was a dancer for many years. I was a premier dancer with 'Porgy and Bess,' the opera. And ... MAYA ANGELOU I've read everything Thomas Wolfe ever wrote; my brother and I memorized whole chapters of '... MAYA ANGELOU All men are prepared to accomplish the incredible if their ideals are threatened. MAYA ANGELOU All information belongs to everybody all the time. It should be available. It should be accessible t... MAYA ANGELOU I speak a number of languages, but none are more beautiful to me than English. MAYA ANGELOU I liked to write from the time I was about 12 or 13. I loved to read. And since I only spoke to my b... MAYA ANGELOU Growing up, my grandmother did not want worldly music in the house. Then when I went out to Californ... MAYA ANGELOU The more you know of your history, the more liberated you are. MAYA ANGELOU Self-pity in its early stage is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become u... MAYA ANGELOU One of my lungs is half gone, and the other half, because I smoked for years, has a lesion. So I can... MAYA ANGELOU I would be a liar, a hypocrite, or a fool - and I'm not any of those - to say that I don't w... MAYA ANGELOU I got my own back. MAYA ANGELOU If you want what you're saying heard, then take your time and say it so that the listener will a... MAYA ANGELOU I agree with Balzac and 19th-century writers, black and white, who say, 'I write for money.'... MAYA ANGELOU Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continui... MAYA ANGELOU I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. MAYA ANGELOU Don't let the incidents which take place in life bring you low. And certainly don't whine. Y... MAYA ANGELOU We have to confront ourselves. Do we like what we see in the mirror? And, according to our light, ac... MAYA ANGELOU I have a feeling that I make a very good friend, and I'm a good mother, and a good sister, and a... MAYA ANGELOU I refuse to allow any man-made differences to separate me from any other human beings. MAYA ANGELOU During bad circumstances, which is the human inheritance, you must decide not to be reduced. You hav... MAYA ANGELOU I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you... MAYA ANGELOU In so many ways, segregation shaped me, and education liberated me. MAYA ANGELOU Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry,... MAYA ANGELOU My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some p... MAYA ANGELOU If I walked into the kitchen without washing my hands as a kid, I'd hear a loud 'A-hem!'... MAYA ANGELOU When a person is going through hell, and she encounters someone who went through hellish hell and su... MAYA ANGELOU Fighting for one's freedom, struggling towards being free, is like struggling to be a poet or a ... MAYA ANGELOU Elimination of illiteracy is as serious an issue to our history as the abolition of slavery. MAYA ANGELOU Once you appreciate one of your blessings, one of your senses, your sense of hearing, then you begin... MAYA ANGELOU While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone ... MAYA ANGELOU The sadness of the women's movement is that they don't allow the necessity of love. See, I d... MAYA ANGELOU Whenever I want to laugh, I read a wonderful book, 'Children's Letters to God.' You can ... MAYA ANGELOU Eating is so intimate. It's very sensual. When you invite someone to sit at your table and you w... MAYA ANGELOU My greatest blessing has been the birth of my son. My next greatest blessing has been my ability to ... MAYA ANGELOU You have to develop ways so that you can take up for yourself, and then you take up for someone else... MAYA ANGELOU Nothing succeeds like success. Get a little success, and then just get a little more. MAYA ANGELOU The best comfort food will always be greens, cornbread, and fried chicken. MAYA ANGELOU Nothing will work unless you do. MAYA ANGELOU Love is like a virus. It can happen to anybody at any time. MAYA ANGELOU You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them. MAYA ANGELOU I was married a few times, and one of my husbands was jealous of me writing. MAYA ANGELOU If we accept being talked to any kind of a way, then we are telling ourselves we are not quite worth... MAYA ANGELOU There's a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure the truth. MAYA ANGELOU Whatever you want to do, if you want to be great at it, you have to love it and be able to make sacr... MAYA ANGELOU Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any... MAYA ANGELOU Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: 'I'm with you kid. Let's go.' MAYA ANGELOU Until blacks and whites see each other as brother and sister, we will not have parity. It's very... MAYA ANGELOU I have great respect for the past. If you don't know where you've come from, you don't k... MAYA ANGELOU Bitterness is cancer - it eats upon the host. It doesn't do anything to the object of its disple... MAYA ANGELOU I'm working at trying to be a Christian, and that's serious business. It's like trying t... MAYA ANGELOU Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity of opportunity to be otherwise. MAYA ANGELOU We all need the waters of the Mercy River. Though they don't run deep, there's usually enough, just ... MAYA ANGELOU The loss of young first love is so painful that it borders on the ludicrous. MAYA ANGELOU When things were very bad his soul just crawled behind his heart and curled up and went to sleep MAYA ANGELOU Language. I loved it. And for a long time I would think of myself, of my whole body, as an ear. MAYA ANGELOU Out of the huts of history's shame I rise Up from a past that's rooted in pain I rise... MAYA ANGELOU What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change ... MAYA ANGELOU We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achie... MAYA ANGELOU The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned... MAYA ANGELOU Let's tell the truth to people. When people ask, 'How are you?' have the nerve sometimes to answer t... MAYA ANGELOU I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it. (Popular misquo... MAYA ANGELOU If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. Don't be surly at home, then go o... MAYA ANGELOU When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed. MAYA ANGELOU I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will... MAYA ANGELOU I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better. MAYA ANGELOU When Great Trees Fall When great trees fall, rocks on distant hills shudder, li... MAYA ANGELOU Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any oth... MAYA ANGELOU Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time. MAYA ANGELOU I don't trust people who don't love themselves and tell me, 'I love you.' ... There is an African sa... MAYA ANGELOU Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet. MAYA ANGELOU Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the br... MAYA ANGELOU A woman's heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her. MAYA ANGELOU I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go... MAYA ANGELOU When someone shows you who they are believe them; the first time. MAYA ANGELOU We need much less than we think we need. MAYA ANGELOU The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise. MAYA ANGELOU What sets one Southern town apart from another, or from a Northern town or hamlet, or city high-rise... MAYA ANGELOU If on Judgement Day I were summoned by St. Peter to give testimony to the used-to-be sheriff's act o... MAYA ANGELOU You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encoun... MAYA ANGELOU Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: I'm with you kid. Let's go. MAYA ANGELOU Life loves the liver of it. MAYA ANGELOU A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. MAYA ANGELOU I answer the heroic question Death where is thy sting? It is here in my heart and mind and memories MAYA ANGELOU ...there is a difference between being convinced and being stubborn. I MAYA ANGELOU We allow our ignorance to prevail upon us and make us think we can survive alone, alone in patches, ... MAYA ANGELOU If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. Don't be surly at home, then go o... MAYA ANGELOU Each of us has the right and the responsibility to asses the road which lie ahead and those over whi... MAYA ANGELOU Since time is the one immaterial object which we cannot influence -- neither speed up nor slow down,... MAYA ANGELOU I believe that every person is born with talent. MAYA ANGELOU A bizarre sensation pervades a relationship of pretense. No truth seems true. A simple morning's gre... MAYA ANGELOU Something made greater by ourselves and in turn that makes us greater. MAYA ANGELOU The sadness of the women's movement is that they don't allow the necessity of love. See, I don't per... MAYA ANGELOU A woman who is convinced that she deserves to accept only the best challenges herself to give the be... MAYA ANGELOU The white American man makes the white American woman maybe not superfluous but just a little kind o... MAYA ANGELOU Education helps one case cease being intimidated by strange situations. MAYA ANGELOU The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and ... MAYA ANGELOU It is only out of ignorance that people are cruel, because they really don MAYA ANGELOU My life has been one great big joke, a dance that's walked a song that's spoke, I laugh so hard I al... MAYA ANGELOU Nature has no mercy at all. Nature says, I'm going to snow. If you have on a bikini and no snowshoes... MAYA ANGELOU At fifteen life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honorable as resistanc... MAYA ANGELOU I find it interesting that the meanest life, the poorest existence, is attributed to God's will, but... MAYA ANGELOU My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have th... MAYA ANGELOU All of childhood's unanswered questions must finally be passed back to the town and answered there. ... MAYA ANGELOU Of all the needs (there are none imaginary) a lonely child has, the one that must be satisfied, if t... MAYA ANGELOU Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives. MAYA ANGELOU The need for change bulldozed road down the center of my mind. MAYA ANGELOU If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complai... MAYA ANGELOU If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded. MAYA ANGELOU I believe we are still so innocent. The species are still so innocent that a person who is apt to be... MAYA ANGELOU I answer the heroic question "Death, where is they sting?" with "It is here in my heart and mind and... MAYA ANGELOU We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the thr... MAYA ANGELOU If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain... MAYA ANGELOU I do not believe that the accident of birth makes people sisters and brothers. It makes them sibling... MAYA ANGELOU The thorn from the bush one has planted, nourished and pruned pricks more deeply and draws more bl... MAYA ANGELOU Nature has no mercy at all. Nature says, "I'm going to snow. If you have on a bikini and no snowshoe... MAYA ANGELOU If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. Don't be surly at home, then go ... MAYA ANGELOU The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amaze... MAYA ANGELOU If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities. MAYA ANGELOU You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don't make money your goal. Instead, p... MAYA ANGELOU I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad itseems today, life does go on, and it will be ... MAYA ANGELOU Stepping onto a brand-new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation, w... MAYA ANGELOU I believe talent is like electricity. We don't understand electricity. We use it. You can plug into ... MAYA ANGELOU When you wish someone joy, you wish them peace,love, prosperity, happiness... all the good things. MAYA ANGELOU If men are God's gift to women, then God must really love gag gifts MAYA ANGELOU A woman's beauty is not a gift to man - only a bribe MAYA ANGELOU There's a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure the truth. MAYA ANGELOU Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: "I'm with you kid. Let's go." MAYA ANGELOU My grandmother took me to church on Sunday all day long, every Sunday into the night. Then Monday ev... MAYA ANGELOU I promised myself that I would write as well as I can, tell the truth, not to tell everything I know... MAYA ANGELOU I'm a religious woman. And I feel I have responsibility. I have no modesty at all. I'm even ... MAYA ANGELOU Modesty is a learned affectation. And as soon as life slams the modest person against the wall, that... MAYA ANGELOU As far as I knew white women were never lonely, except in books. White men adored them, Black men de... MAYA ANGELOU If you will have a person enslaved, the first thing you must do is convince yourself that the person... MAYA ANGELOU The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amaze... MAYA ANGELOU To take a few nouns, and a few pronouns, and adverbs and adjectives, and put them together, ball the... MAYA ANGELOU The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned... MAYA ANGELOU We are braver and wiser because they existed, those strong women and strong men... We are who we are... MAYA ANGELOU I thank God I'm myself and for the life I'm given to live and for friends and lovers and bel... MAYA ANGELOU If you have only one smile in you give it to the people you love. MAYA ANGELOU It is impossible to struggle for civil rights, equal rights for blacks, without including whites. Be... MAYA ANGELOU The language of all the interpretations, the translations, of the Judaic Bible and the Christian Bib... MAYA ANGELOU I read the Bible to myself; I'll take any translation, any edition, and read it aloud, just to h... MAYA ANGELOU I think Clinton, after getting into office and into Washington, was shocked at being bludgeoned. So ... MAYA ANGELOU Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness. MAYA ANGELOU All great artists draw from the same resource: the human heart, which tells us that we are all more ... MAYA ANGELOU We can learn to see each other and see ourselves in each other and recognize that human beings are m... MAYA ANGELOU I'm grateful to intelligent people. That doesn't mean educated. That doesn't mean intell... MAYA ANGELOU You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lines. You may trod me in the very dirt, ... MAYA ANGELOU I love the melodies in the Old Testament, how preachers highlight them when they read from the Scrip... MAYA ANGELOU When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. MAYA ANGELOU I know that when I pray, something wonderful happens. Not just to the person or persons for whom I... MAYA ANGELOU You are the sum total of everything you've ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot -... MAYA ANGELOU I learned a long time ago the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side, be an advocate for myself ... MAYA ANGELOU If we lose love and self respect for each other, this is how we finally die. MAYA ANGELOU It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is... MAYA ANGELOU If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. MAYA ANGELOU All great achievements require time. MAYA ANGELOU Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean. MAYA ANGELOU You can't forgive without loving. And I don't mean sentimentality. I don't mean mush. I ... MAYA ANGELOU I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it. MAYA ANGELOU Most people don't grow up. It's too damn difficult. What happens is most people get older. T... MAYA ANGELOU There's something which impels us to show our inner souls. The more courageous we are, the more ... MAYA ANGELOU I have a son, who is my heart. A wonderful young man, daring and loving and strong and kind. MAYA ANGELOU I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people ... MAYA ANGELOU It's one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody. MAYA ANGELOU We write for the same reason that we walk, talk, climb mountains or swim the oceans - because we can... MAYA ANGELOU I am grateful to be a woman. I must have done something great in another life. MAYA ANGELOU I work very hard, and I play very hard. I'm grateful for life. And I live it - I believe life lo... MAYA ANGELOU I'm just someone who likes cooking and for whom sharing food is a form of expression. MAYA ANGELOU I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself. MAYA ANGELOU The thing to do, it seems to me, is to prepare yourself so you can be a rainbow in somebody else'... MAYA ANGELOU Information helps you to see that you're not alone. That there's somebody in Mississippi and... MAYA ANGELOU Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessi... MAYA ANGELOU One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we can... MAYA ANGELOU If we don't plant the right things, we will reap the wrong things. It goes without saying. And y... MAYA ANGELOU History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived... MAYA ANGELOU I'm convinced of this: Good done anywhere is good done everywhere. For a change, start by speaki... MAYA ANGELOU What humility does for one is it reminds us that there are people before me. I have already been pai... MAYA ANGELOU Cooking certain dishes, like roast pork, reminds me of my mother. MAYA ANGELOU