Quotes from Maya Angelou

Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for.

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 some things back.

If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.

Anything that works against you can also work for you once you understand the Principle of Reverse.

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.

Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can't take their eyes off you.

There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing.

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.

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

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.

A woman who is convinced that she deserves to accept only the best challenges herself to give the best. Then she is living phenomenally.

To be left alone on the tightrope of youthful unknowing is to experience the excruciating beauty of full freedom and the threat of eternal indecision. Few, if any, survive their teens. Most surrender to the vague but murderous pressure of adult conformity. It becomes easier to die and avoid conflict than to maintain a constant battle with the superior forces of maturity.

If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform a million realities.

Had I known that the heart breaks slowly, dismantling itself into unrecognizable plots of misery... had I known yet I would have loved you, your brash and insolent beauty, your heavy comedic face and knowledge of sweet delights, but from a distance I would have left you whole and wholly for the delectation of those who wanted more and cared less.

Success is loving life and daring to live it.

Whining is not only graceless, but can be dangerous. It can alert a brute that a victim is in the neighborhood.

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'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.

Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops. Weakened by my soulful cries. 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.

We spend precious hours fearing the inevitable. It would be wise to use that time adoring our families, cherishing our friends and living our lives.

My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy.

I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.

While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are also God's creation.

No one can take the place of a friend, no one.

When you wish someone joy, you wish them peace, love, prosperity, happiness... all the good things.