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Last Updated on April 9, 2023 by Team FinderWheel
Maya Angelou was an American author, poet, and civil rights activist who inspired and touched the lives of millions of people around the world. With her powerful words and unwavering spirit, she left an indelible mark on the literary world and fought tirelessly for justice and equality. In this article, we will explore the life and work of Maya Angelou and present 100 of her most inspiring and memorable quotes.
A Brief Introduction to Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1928. She had a difficult childhood and faced numerous challenges, including poverty, racism, and sexual abuse. However, she was determined to overcome these obstacles and used her experiences to create powerful works of literature and activism.
Throughout her career, Angelou wrote numerous books, including her groundbreaking memoir “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” (1969), as well as several volumes of poetry, essays, and plays. She was a celebrated speaker and was awarded numerous honors for her work, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.
The Life and Work of Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou was a woman of many talents and was widely regarded as one of the most important voices of her generation. Throughout her life, she used her writing and speaking to address important social and political issues, including poverty, racism, and women’s rights.
Her works are infused with her personal experiences and the struggles she faced throughout her life. Through her words, she gave voice to the experiences of marginalized communities and inspired people around the world to stand up for what is right.
Angelou was known for her passionate speeches and her powerful writing, which often drew upon her own life experiences to make larger points about the world around us. Her work remains a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and continues to inspire and touch the lives of millions of people around the world.
100 Inspiring Quotes by Maya Angelou
Here are a few of her most famous quotes:
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- “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.”
- “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
- “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.”
- “The first time someone shows you who they are, believe them.”
- “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 out and kick ass.”
- “We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”
- “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”
- “You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot–it’s all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive.”
- “A friend may be waiting behind a stranger’s face.”
- “I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t laugh.”
- “If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. Don’t be surly at home, then go out in the street and start grinning ‘Good morning’ at total strangers.”
- “Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.”
- “Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.”
- “Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for.”
- “Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”
- “I believe that the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity is daring to dare.”
- “Obscurity and a competence—that is the life that is best worth living.”
- “The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.”
- “If voting made any difference they wouldn’t let us do it.”
- “Success is loving life and daring to live it.”
- “I have a higher and grander standard of principle than George Washington. He could not lie; I can, but I won’t.”
- “If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform a million realities.”
- “When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”
- “Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.”
- “I’ve learned that making a ‘living’ is not the same thing as ‘making a life’.”
- “There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable.”
- “What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. Don’t complain.”
- “To those who have given up on love: I say, “Trust life a little bit.”
- “The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”
- “There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such a thing is an impossibility. Inside of the dullest exterior there is a drama, a comedy, and a tragedy.”
- “All right, then, I’ll go to hell.”
- “When someone shows you who they are believe them; the first time.”
- “Nothing will work unless you do.”
- “Be present in all things and thankful for all things.”
- “Surviving is important. Thriving is elegant.”
- “Of all God’s creatures, there is only one that cannot be made slave of the leash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve the man, but it would deteriorate the cat.”
- “All great achievements require time.”
- “Surviving is important. Thriving is elegant.”
- “There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing.”
- “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.”
- “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”
- “I believe that the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity is daring to dare.”
- “First best is falling in love. Second best is being in love. Least best is falling out of love. But any of it is better than never having been in love.”
- “The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven not man’s.”
- “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
- “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”
- “Some people cannot see a good thing when it is right here, right now. Others can sense a good thing coming when it is days, months, or miles away.”
- “No matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.”
- “If Christ were here there is one thing he would not be—a Christian.”
- “My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return.”
- “In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.”
- “Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.”
- “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
- “You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.”
- “It’s the fire in my eyes, And the flash of my teeth, The swing in my waist, And the joy in my feet. I’m a woman Phenomenally.”
- “I’ve learned that making a ‘living’ is not the same thing as ‘making a life’.”
- “Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for.”
- “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.”
- “I sustain myself with the love of family.”
- “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!”
- “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
- “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 out and kick ass.”
- “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.”
- “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”
- “The Bible has noble poetry in it… and some good morals and a wealth of obscenity, and upwards of a thousand lies.”
- “When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”
- “The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter.”
- “The problem I have with haters is that they see my glory, but they don’t know my story…”
- “Living well is an art that can be developed: a love of life and ability to take great pleasure from small offerings and assurance that the world owes you nothing and that every gift is exactly that, a gift.”
- “First best is falling in love. Second best is being in love. Least best is falling out of love. But any of it is better than never having been in love.”
- “Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst, and unsurprised by anything in between.”
- “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”
- “Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.”
- “If I am not good to myself, how can I expect anyone else to be good to me?”
- “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.”
- “I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.”
- “Be present in all things and thankful for all things.”
- “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.”
- “We need much less than we think we need.”
- “There are many humorous things in the world; among them, the white man’s notion that he is less savage than the other savages.”
- “There’s a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure truth.”
- “Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it thousands of times.”
- “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”
- “Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.”
- “I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life.”
- “If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.”
- “Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art.”
- “Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning.”
- “Anything that works against you can also work for you once you understand the Principle of Reverse.”
- “Most people don’t grow up. Most people age. They find parking spaces, honor their credit cards, get married, have children, and call that maturity. What that is, is aging.”
- “A woman who is convinced that she deserves to accept only the best challenges herself to give the best. Then she is living phenomenally.”
- “It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.”
- “If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. Don’t be surly at home, then go out in the street and start grinning ‘Good morning’ at total strangers.”
- “I sustain myself with the love of family.”
- “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.”
- “Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it!”
- “Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.”
- “We need much less than we think we need.”
- “Stepping onto a brand-new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation, which is not nurturing to the whole woman.”
- “Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.”
- “Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to.”
- “The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.”
- “Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.”
- “I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.”
- “Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.”
- “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”
- “Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.”
- “Be a rainbow in somebody else’s cloud.”
- “My books are water; those of the great geniuses is wine. Everybody drinks water.”
- “Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning.”
- “Everything in the universe has a rhythm, everything dances.”
- “I want to thank you, Lord, for life and all that’s in it. Thank you for the day and for the hour, and the minute.”
- “When we find someone who is brave, fun, intelligent, and loving, we have to thank the universe.”
- “When we find someone who is brave, fun, intelligent, and loving, we have to thank the universe.”
- “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”
- “Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to.”
- “I am a Woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal Woman, that’s me.”
- “It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart: the one to slander you and the other to get the news to you.”
- “In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine.”
- “The problem I have with haters is that they see my glory, but they don’t know my story…”
- “Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.”
Conclusion of Maya Angelou Quotes
Maya Angelou was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist known for her powerful and inspiring quotes. Her words touched on themes such as self-love, perseverance, determination, equality, and freedom. She encouraged people to be their authentic selves, to rise above adversity, and to never give up on their dreams. Her messages were impactful, and continue to inspire people around the world to this day. In conclusion, Maya Angelou’s quotes are a testament to her wisdom, strength, and her unwavering commitment to making a positive difference in the world.
