Top 1076 Quotes & Sayings by Maya Angelou - Page 5

When the human race neglects its weaker members, when the family neglects its weakest one - it's the first blow in a suicidal movement. I see the neglect in cities around the country, in poor white children in West Virginia and Virginia and Kentucky - in the big cities, too, for that matter.

Growing up, my grandmother did not want worldly music in the house. Then when I went out to California, I started listening to Spanish music, mostly Mexican music. But were I in Egypt, I would listen to the music of the people, or if I was in Italy, I'd listen to Italian music.

The first decade of the twentieth century was not a great time to be born black and poor and female in St. Louis, Missouri, but Vivian Baxter was born black and poor, to black and poor parents. Later she would grow up and be called beautiful. As a grown woman she would be known as the butter-colored lady with the blowback hair.

Somehow, we have come to the erroneous belief that we are all but flesh, blood, and bones, and that's all. So we direct our values to material things.

There's something which impels us to show our inner souls. The more courageous we are, the more we succeed in explaining what we know.

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.

If I'm the people's poet, then I ought to be in people's hands - and, I hope, in their heart.

Human beings love poetry. They don't even know it sometimes... whether they're the songs of Bono, or the songs of Justin Bieber... they're listening to poetry.

I want to write so well that a person is 30 or 40 pages in a book of mine... before she realizes she's reading.

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.

I was born in St. Louis but lived there just for a few minutes in my life.

Every December, I host a tree-trimming party. I serve chili with cornbread and lots of good wine. It's a wonderful party, and it shows how much adults like to play.

I think Clinton, after getting into office and into Washington, was shocked at being bludgeoned. So he spent time trying to be all things to all people - one way guaranteed not to be successful or respected in a lion's den. You can't just play around with all those big cats - you've got to take somebody on.

When I cook for my family on Christmas, I make feijoada, a South American dish of roasted and smoked meats like ham, pork, beef, lamb, and bacon - all served with black beans and rice. It's festive but different.

I like to have guns around. I don't like to carry them.

I like to speak on matters which matter to human beings, and almost everything matters to human beings.

I'm happy to be a writer - of prose, poetry, every kind of writing. Every person in the world who isn't a recluse, hermit or mute uses words. I know of no other art form that we always use.

Give yourself time just to be with yourself.

We need Joy as we need air. We need Love as we need water. We need each other as we need the earth we share.

Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space. Invite one to stay.

At the end of the day people won't remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.

If you're going to live, leave a legacy. Make a mark on the world that can't be erased.

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!

A leader sees greatness in other people. He nor she can be much of a leader if all she sees is herself.

Each one of us has lived through some devastation, some loneliness, some weather superstorm or spiritual superstorm, when we look at each other we must say, I understand. I understand how you feel because I have been there myself. We must support each other and empathize with each other because each of us is more alike than we are unalike.

Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.

Live life as if it were created just for you.

Remember, people will judge you by your actions not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold but so does a hard-boiled egg.

You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.

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

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

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.

Light and shadow are opposite sides of the same coin. We can illuminate our paths or darken our way. It is a matter of choice.

If you are going down a road and don't like what's in front of you, and look behind you and don't like what you see, get off the road. Create a new path!

Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.

Open your eyes to the beauty around you, open your mind to the wonders of life, open your heart to those who love you, and always be true to yourself.

If you are always trying to be normal you will never know how amazing you can be.

A Woman in harmony with her spirit is like a river flowing. She goes where she will without pretense and arrives at her destination prepared to be herself and only herself

This is a wonderful day, I have never seen this one before.

Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.

Having courage does not mean that we are unafraid. Having courage and showing courage mean we face our fears. We are able to say, 'I have fallen, but I will get up.'

Continue. Be loving and be strong. Be fierce and be kind. And don't give in and don't give up.'

You should be angry. You must not be bitter. Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. It doesn't do anything to the object of its displeasure. So use that anger. You write it. You paint it. You dance it. You march it. You vote it. You do everything about it. You talk it. Never stop talking it.

When you know you are of worth, you don't have to raise your voice, you don't have to become rude, you don't have to become vulgar; you just are. And you are like the sky is, as the air is, the same way water is wet. It doesn't have to protest.

When you learn, teach, when you get, give.

Because of our routines we forget that life is an ongoing adventure.

Just do right. Right may not be expedient, it may not be profitable, but it will satisfy your soul. It brings you the kind of protection that bodyguards can’t give you. So try to live your life in a way that you will not regret years of useless virtue and inertia and timidity. Take up the battle. Take it up. It’s yours. This is your life. This is your world.

Precious jewel, you glow, you shine, reflecting all the good things in the world. Just look at yourself.

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

You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. Please remember that your difficulties do not define you. They simply strengthen your ability to overcome.

When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. People know themselves much better than you do. That's why it's important to stop expecting them to be something other than who they are

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them. Try to be a rainbow in someone else's cloud. Do not complain. Make every effort to change things you do not like. If you cannot make a change, change the way you have been thinking. You might find a new solution.

Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.

If you must look back, do so forgivingly. If you will look forward, do so prayerfully. But the wisest course would be to be present in the present gratefully.

Develop enough courage so that you can stand up for yourself and then stand up for somebody else.

Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.

You will face many defeats in your life, but never let yourself be defeated.

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who and how you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness.

You don't need another person, place or thing to make you whole. God already did that. Your job is to know it.