Quotessence
Home / Authors / Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsInspirationalPeopleKnowsLifeThinkingPhenomenal WomanPersonsTryingHumans

Famous Maya Angelou Quotes

“If on Judgement Day I were summoned by St. Peter to give testimony to the used-to-be sheriff's act of kindness, I would be unable to say anything in his behalf. His confidence that my uncle and every other Black man who heard of the Klan's coming ride would scurry under their houses to hide in chicken droppings was too humiliating to hear. Without waiting for Momma's thanks, he rode out of the yard, sure that things were as they should be and that he was a gentle squire, saving those deserving serfs from the laws of the land, which he condoned.”

IfsMenGivingShouldWould BeLawUsedHouseWaitingBlackKindnessHeardLandUsed To BeThanksSavingGentleJudgementChickensPeterYardsUnclesSay AnythingTestimonyBehalfDroppingDeservingHumiliatingActs Of KindnessMommaSheriffsSerfsJudgement DaySt PeterSquires
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”

GivingHelpingPowerfulCompassionAcceptingGratitudeBlessedGratefulCharityAppreciationHelping OthersThanksgivingThankfulGratefulnessThankful GratitudeGratitude And AppreciationI Am GratefulThanksgiving And GratitudeThanksgiving ThanksThanksgiving GratitudeGratitude And ThanksLove And GratitudeCharity And GivingInspirational GratitudeGratitude For HelpGiving To OthersLove GratitudeGrateful ThankfulGratitude For HealthGrateful And ThankfulShowing GratitudeThanksgiving Grateful
Book:Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now
Create image

“A certain person wondered why a big strong girl like me wouldn't keep a job which paid a normal salary. I took my time to lead her and to read her every page. Even minimal people can't survive on minimal wage. A certain person wondered why I wait all week for you. I didn't have the words to describe just what you do. I said you had the motion of the ocean in your walk, and when you solve my riddles you don't even have to talk.”

PeoplePersonsSaidBigsJobsCertainGirlStrongWaitingWalksWeekNormalOceanPagesPaidSolveLike MeMy TimeSalaryRiddleStrong Girl
Book:I Shall Not Be Moved: Poems
Create image

“In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine.”

WorldLoveLifeHeartLove IsMarriageMinesCoupleRomanticTrue LoveMatesInspirational LoveWeddingSoulmateBlack WomenI Love YouLoving SomeoneSoul MateAnniversaryGetting MarriedNo LoveLove And MarriageWhen You Love SomeoneMarriage LovePhenomenal WomanRomantic Love YouYour SoulmateLove You So MuchMy True LoveRomantic I Love YouSoulmate LoveMy Soul MateRomantic WeddingLove You LikeMy SoulmateMarried LoveI Love You LikeHappy AnniversaryPerfect FitRomantic MarriageYour My SoulmateFlames And LoveSoulmates And LoveSouls In LoveBeautiful MarriageCouple LoveInspirational SoulmateSoulmates Best FriendsMarriage EngagementTouching The HeartOld Couple
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“Of all the needs (there are none imaginary) a lonely child has, the one that must be satisfied, if there is going to be hope and a hope of wholeness, is the unshaking need for an unshakable God. My pretty Black brother was my Kingdom Come.”

IfsLifeInspirationalNeedsChildrenGodMotivationalBlackBrotherLonelySatisfiedKingdomsImaginaryWholenessUnshakableKingdom ComeCaged BirdsI Know Why The Caged Bird SingsLonely Child
Book:I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Create image

“Oh, Black known and unknown poets, how often have your auctioned pains sustained us? Who will compute the lonely nights made less lonely by your songs, or by the empty pots made less tragic by your tales? If we were a people much given to revealing secrets, we might raise monuments and sacrifice to the memories of our poets, but slavery cured us of that weakness.”

PeopleIfsInspirationalMadeMightPainNightSongGivenBlackMemoriesSecretKnownSacrificePoetWeaknessLonelyEmptyRaisesSlaveryTalesTragicPotRevealingMonumentLonely Nights
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“If I could give you one thought, it would be to lift someone up. Lift a stranger up--lift her up. I would ask you, mother and father, brother and sister, lovers, mother and daughter, father and son, lift someone. The very idea of lifting someone up will lift you, as well.”

IfsGivingWellsIdeasWould BeMotherCultureAsksFatherSonBrotherLoversDiversityDaughterSocial JusticeStrangerLiftsIf I CouldBrothers And SistersLiftingMother And FatherMother And DaughterFather And SonDaughter To Father
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“Because of the routines we follow, we often forget that life is an ongoing adventure. . . Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art: to bring all our energies to each encounter, to remain flexible enough to notice and admit when what we expected to happen did not happen. We need to remember that we are created creative and can invent new scenarios as frequently as they are needed.”

LifeNeedsArtEnoughHappensAbleRememberLife IsEnergyRealizingForgetCreativeAdventureNeededPureTreatsExpectedEncountersFlexibleOngoingScenariosLife Adventure
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“The needs of a society determine its ethics, and in the Black American ghettos the hero is that man who is offered only the crumbs from his country's table but by ingenuity and courage is able to take for himself a Lucullan feast. Hence the janitor who lives in one room but sports a robin's-egg-blue Cadillac is not laughed at but admired, and the domestic who buys forty-dollar shoes is not criticized but is appreciated. We know that they have put to use their full mental and physical powers. Each single gain feeds into the gains of the body collective.”

KnowsMenLifeNeedsCountryUseBodyAbleSportsBlackRoomsHeroRacismEthicsGainsBlueTablesDollarsShoesDetermineCollectivesFortyEggsLaughedAppreciatedGhettoIngenuityRobinsCrumbsCadillacsJanitorI Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Book:I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Create image

“Until recently each generation found it more expedient to plead guilty to the charge of being young and ignorant, easier to take the punishment meted out by the older generation (which had itself confessed to the same crime short years before). The command to grow up at once was more bearable than the faceless horror of wavering purpose, which was youth.”

LifeYearsYoungPurposeFoundGrowsGrowing UpGenerationsCrimeYouthEasierHorrorPunishmentIgnorantCommandGuiltyBearableWaveringFacelessOlder GenerationI Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Book:I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Create image

“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 else'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.”

IfsThinkingWayLifeTryingMayHas BeensMightHappensEffortEventsSolutionsCloudsComplainingRainbowMaking Changes
Book:Letter to My Daughter
Create image

“Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist eternally in our absence. Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.”

IfsNeedsPersonsProblemCareJobsPastPeaceOne DayEgoSolutionsDeserveAbsencePermitVacationNo ProblemEmployers
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image