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Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou Quotes

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Famous Maya Angelou Quotes

“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.”

“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

“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.”

“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.”

“My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors.”

“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.”

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

“Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.”

“Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.”

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

“It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.”

“I'm not sure if resilience is ever achieved alone. Experience allows us to learn from example. But if we have someone who loves us-I don't mean who indulges us, but who loves us enough to be on our side-then it's easier to grow resilience, to grow belief in self, to grow self-esteem. And it's self-esteem that allows a person to stand up.”

“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”

“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.”

“One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.”