- At fifteen life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice.
- 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.
- All great achievements require time.
- Achievement brings its own anticlimax.
- All men are prepared to accomplish the incredible if their ideals are threatened.
- As far as I knew white women were never lonely, except in books. White men adored them, Black men desired them and Black women worked for them.
- Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.
- Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.
- One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.
- Effective action is always unjust.
- How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!
- I answer the heroic question "Death, where is they sting?" with "It is here in my heart and mind and memories."
- I believe we are still so innocent. The species are still so innocent that a person who is apt to be murdered believes that the murderer, just before he puts the final wrench on his throat, will have enough compassion to give him one sweet cup of water.
- If we lose love and self respect for each other, this is how we finally die.
- If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.
- It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.
- Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: "I'm with you kid. Let's go."
- Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.
- My life has been one great big joke, a dance that's walked a song that's spoke, I laugh so hard I almost choke when I think about myself.
- Nothing will work unless you do.
- Self-pity in its early stages is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.
- Some critics will write 'Maya Angelou is a natural writer' - which is right after being a natural heart surgeon.
- The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and even belligerance. It is seldom accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors, and deserves respect if not enthusiastic acceptance.
- The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by formal education.
- There is a very fine line between loving life and being greedy for it.
- There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing.
- We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.
- We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.
- Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.
Maya Angelou Quotes
By Jessica McElrath, About.com
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