Inspiring Quotes by Maya Angelou
(Page 6 of 6)

The truth is, no one of us can be free until everybody is free.

We can learn to see each other and see ourselves in each other and recognize that human beings are more alike than we are unalike.

We have to confront ourselves. Do we like what we see in the mirror? And, according to our light, according to our understanding, according to our courage, we will have to say yea or nay -- and rise!

I wrote some of the worst poetry west from the Mississippi River, but I wrote. And I finally sometimes got it right.

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've still not written as well as I want to. I want to write so that the reader in Des Moines, Iowa, in Kowloon, China, in Cape Town, South Africa, can say, 'You know, that's the truth. I wasn't there, and I wasn't a six-foot black girl, but that's the truth.'

I never expected anyone to take care of me, but in my wildest dreams and juvenile yearnings, I wanted the house with the picket fence from June Allyson movies. I knew that was yearning like one yearns to fly.

Cooking certain dishes, like roast pork, reminds me of my mother.

Don't let the incidents which take place in life bring you low. And certainly don't whine. You can be brought low, that's OK, but don't be reduced by them. Just say, 'That's life.'

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 something back.

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

Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.

I'm very, very serious -- I'm serious enough not to take myself too seriously. That means I can be completely wedded to the moment. But when I leave that moment, I want to be completely wedded to the next moment.

Independence is a heady draught, and if you drink it in your youth, it can have the same effect on the brain as young wine does. It does not matter that its taste is not always appealing. It is addictive and with each drink you want more.

Self-pity in its early stage is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.

I like chicken a lot because chicken is generous -- that is to say, it's obedient. It will do whatever you tell it to do.

I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it.

Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: 'I'm with you kid. Let's go.'

Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity of opportunity to be otherwise.

A wise woman wishes to be no one's enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone's victim.

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.

I have a son, who is my heart. A wonderful young man, daring and loving and strong and kind.

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 have only one smile in you give it to the people you love.