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Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou Quotes

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Famous Maya Angelou Quotes

“All people in the world - who are not hermits or mutes - speak words. They speak different languages, but they speak words. They say, "How are you" or "I'm not feeling well" all over the world. These common words - these common elements that we have between us - the writer has to take some verbs and nouns and pronouns and adjectives and adverbs and arrange them in a way that sound fresh.”

PeopleWorldWayWellsDifferentFeelingsSpeakLanguageSoundCommonElementsVerbsAdjectivesNounsHermitsDifferent LanguagesPronounsAdverbsNot Feeling WellAdjectives And Adverbs
Author:Maya Angelou
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“I go to a hotel and try to get there by 5:30 in the morning. I keep a dictionary, a thesaurus, a bible, a deck of playing cards, a bottle of sherry, and stacks of yellow sticky pads. I shut myself in for six, seven hours. I have an arrangement with the hotel that no one may go in my room. After three or four months, they might slip notes under my door like, "Dear Ms. Angelou, please let us change the linens. We think they might be molding." It's probably true. I let them in if they promise not to touch anything other then the bed.”

IfsThinkingTryingMayMightThreeHoursRoomsMorningFourDoorsMonthsPleasePromiseBedSixNotesSevenDearCardsHotelBottlesYellowSlipsArrangementsDictionaryDeckPadsStickyLinenPlaying CardsMoldingSherryThesaurusAngelou
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“My doctor told me that I really should lose some weight. "You're mildly obese," he said. And I thought, "Well, who couldn't afford to lose 20 or 30 pounds?" He said, "Well, a person in your category." I said, "What is that category, doctor?" He said, "Well, you're what I call upwardly middle aged." And I said, "I forgive you for everything."”

ShouldWellsPersonsSaidLosesMiddleDoctorsWeightForgivingPoundsCategoriesMiddle AgesMiddle AgedObeseI Forgive You
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“I like good food. People want a certain taste, but when they're offered something else, they'll overeat. If they really are looking for chicken and someone gives them pork chops, they'll say, "I will have another." And that's because their satisfaction is not reached. So I thought I would make great food, but eat less of it. I tried it and I've taken off over 40 pounds.”

PeopleIfsWantGivingCertainTakenTasteSatisfactionPoundsChickensPorkGood FoodGreat FoodPork Chops
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“In the 16th century, [Niccolò] Machiavelli - in an attempt to get back in the good graces of the powerful - wrote a slim volume called The Prince. In that book he showed the powers that be how to control the people. That book is a statement: separate and rule, divide and conquer. That's five hundred years ago and it still works, because we allow ourselves to be lead around with holes through our noses.”

PeopleYearsStillsBookPowerfulFiveGraceCenturyHundredYears AgoHolesStatementsConquerNosesGet BackDividesVolumeSlimDivide And Conquer
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“I think that each of us is so much alike, and yet at the same time we are so different, and I have a feeling that if you encountered difficulty, and I with my age encountered the same difficulty, I would respond one way, and you would respond another. Neither would be right or wrong. It's just that each of us is courageous, and that's what I encourage, courage, and the courage to see, and the courage to say to oneself what one has seen. Don't be in denial.”

IfsThinkingWayDifferentFeelingsWould BeAgeDifficultyOneselfOne WayDenialCourageous
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“My people couldn't have survived slavery without having hope that it would get better. And there's some songs from the 19th and 18th century that say [sings], "By and by, by and by, I will lay down, this heavy load." And I mean, so many songs that spoke of hope and understand it better by and by. Amazing songs. So that the slaves, just knowing that he, she, did not have the right legally to walk within one inch away from where the slave owner dictated, and yet the same person, wrote and sang with fervor, "If the lord wants somebody, here am I, send me." It's amazing.”

PeopleIfsWantMeanPersonsSongWalksLordKnowingCenturySlaveryLaysSlaveHeavyGet BetterOwnersSpokesInchesLoadSurvivedHaving Hope18th CenturyFervorSlave OwnersHeavy LoadsAmazing Song
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“If you have a person enslaved, the first thing you must do is to convince yourself that the person is subhuman. And won't mind the enslavement. The second thing you must do is convince your allies that the person is subhuman so that you have some support. But the third and the unkindest cut of all is to convince that person that he, she, is not quite a first class citizen.”

IfsMindFirstsPersonsClassSupportCuttingCitizensThirdsConvinceAlliesFirst ClassEnslavement
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“We can see, from California to New York, from Maine to Florida, Seattle to New Mexico - everywhere there are women's groups. Everywhere there are women who have gotten together to examine global warming, and women who have gotten together to prepare each other for single parenting - there are women who have come together to be supportive to those whose mates are in prison, male or female, partners are in prison. All sorts of gatherings of women. I mean, I'm just celebrating my 80th year on this planet, and I look back 50 years ago and there was nothing like that.”

YearsLooksMeanTogetherGroupsNew YorkPlanetsFemaleYears AgoPrisonMalesPartnersCelebrateCaliforniaGlobal WarmingMatesMexicoFloridaSupportiveGatheringSeattleMaineSingle ParentNew Mexico
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“Look what you've already come through! Don't deny it. You've already come through some things, which are very painful. If you've been alive until you're 35, you have gone through some pain. It cost you something. And you've come through it. So at least look at that. And have a sense to look at yourself and say, "Well, wait a minute. I'm stronger than I thought I was."”

IfsWellsLooksPainWaitingGoneAliveMinutesCostStrongerPainfulDenyLook At Yourself
Author:Maya Angelou
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“Indeed we have souls. And if a person is religious, I think it's good, it helps you a bit. But if you're not, at least you can have the sense that there is a condition inside you which looks at the stars with amazement and awe. That listens to water with a river flowing, or water falling in rain and is lifted up by that and listens to a wonderful singer, wonderful musicians, listens to maybe Duke Ellington or Frank Sinatra or listens to Odetta and Mary J. Blige. Yes, and thinks whoo! And thinks, yes, hmm, all right now. My soul has been washed. I feel better, I feel stronger.”

IfsThinkingFeelsLooksPersonsHas BeensSoulHelpingFallStarsBitsWaterReligiousWonderfulConditionsRight NowMusicianRainRiversStrongerSingersMy SoulAweFrankMaryFeel BetterDukesAmazementHmmMary J Blige
Author:Maya Angelou
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