Maya Angelou

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

“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.”

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

“The sisters and brothers that you meet give you the materials which your character uses to build itself. It is said that some people are born great, others achieve it, some have it thrust upon them. In truth, the ways in which your character is built have to do with all three of those. Those around you, those you choose, and those who choose you.”

“I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.”

“Everything in the universe has a rhythm, everything dances. ”

“Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.”

“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 allow our ignorance to prevail upon us and make us think we can survive alone, alone in patches, alone in groups, alone in races, even alone in genders.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Nothing will work unless you do.”

“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.”

“Mother's life flowed radiant. Flourescent-tipped waves on incoming tides.”

“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.”

“Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.”

“I’ve got a magic charmThat I keep up my sleeve,I can walk the ocean floorAnd never have to breathe.”

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

“I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.”

“I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same thing as 'making a life'.”

“History, despite its wrenching pain cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage need not be lived again.”

“A woman's heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her.”

“Life loves the liver of it.”

“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.”

“The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind. ”

“Strong women- precious jewels all- their humanness is evident in their accessibility. We are able to enter into the spirit of these women and rejoice in their warmth and courage.”

“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.”

“When members of a society wish to secure that society's rich heritage they cherish their arts and respect their artists. The esteem with which we regard the multiple cultures offered in our country enhances our possibilities for healthy survival and continued social development.”

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

“The caged bird sings with a fearful trill,of things unknown, but longed for still, and his tune is heard on the distant hill, for the caged bird sings of freedom.”

“Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning.”

“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.”

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

“I am overwhelmed by the grace and persistence of my people.”

“I sustain myself with the love of family.”

“We need to remember that we are all created creative and can invent new scenarios as frequently as they are needed.”

“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.”

“If funkytown was a trailerpark, this guy would be a double-wide.”

“Out of the huts of history's shameI riseUp from a past that's rooted in painI riseI'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.Leaving behind nights of terror and fearI riseInto a daybreak that's wondrously clearI riseBringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,I am the dream and the hope of the slave.I riseI riseI rise.”

“If I am not good to myself, how can I expect anyone else to be good to me?”

“The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by formal education. ”

“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.”

“Be present in all things and thankful for all things.”

“Surviving is important. Thriving is elegant.”

“We need much less than we think we need.”

“Poetry puts starch in your backbone so you can stand, so you can compose your life.”

“We love and lose in China, we weep on England's moors, and laugh and moan in Guinea, and thrive on Spanish shores. We seek success in Finland, are born and die in Maine. In minor ways we differ, in major we're the same.”

“You dwell in whitened castles with deep and poisoned moats and cannot hear the curses which fill your children's throats.”

“Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's sizeBut when I start to tell them,They think I'm telling lies.I say,It's in the reach of my armsThe span of my hips,The stride of my step,The curl of my lips.I'm a womanPhenomenally.Phenomenal woman,That's me.”

“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.”