Quotessence
Home / Books / The Heart of a Woman

The Heart of a Woman

Book by Maya Angelou · 18 quotes · African Americans, Blacks, Whites

Filter quotes by topic

AllAfrican AmericansBlacksWhitesInspirationalBlack YouthCivil RightsDecisionFreedomLifePeopleRacismThinkingAccentAfricaAfricanAfrican AmericanAfrican DiasporaAmericaBeautyBeing A Leader

The Heart of a Woman Quotes

“If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities.”

IfsLifeInspirationalRealityMotivationalBlackLeadershipLeaderVisionMillionsFantasyPositiveLuckyLuckAfrican AmericanStatisticsSolitaryGood LuckBlack HistoryWorld LeaderBeing A LeaderInspiring LeaderEffective LeadershipLeadership By Famous LeadersBest LeaderOutstanding LeadershipPowerful LeadersLeadership RolesBorn LeadersSaying Good LuckTrailblazing
Book:The Heart of a Woman
Create image

“The black mother perceives destruction at every door, ruination at each window, and even she herself is not beyond her own suspicion. She questions whether she loves her children enough- or more terribly, does she love them too much? Do her looks cause embarrassment- or even terrifying, is she so attractive her sons begin to desire her and her daughters begin to hate her. If she is unmarried, the challenges are increased. Her singleness indicates she has rejected or has been rejected by her mate. Yet she is raising children who will become mates. Beyond her door, all authority is in the hands of people who do not look or think or act like her children. Teachers, doctors, sales, clerks, policemen, welfare workers who are white and exert control over her family’s moods, conditions and personality, yet within the home, she must display a right to rule which at any moment, by a knock at the door, or a ring in the telephone, can be exposed as false. In the face of this contradictions she must provide a blanket of stability, which warms but does not suffocate, and she must tell her children the truth about the power of white power without suggesting that it cannot be challenged.”

InspirationalFamilyTruth Of LifeWomen S RightsFeminist Quotes
Book:The Heart of a Woman
Create image

“They were young black men, preying on other young black men. They had been informed, successfully, that they were worthless, and everyone who looked like them was equally without worth. Each sunrise brought a day without hope and each evening the sun set on a day lacking in achievement. Whites, who ruled the world, owned the air and food and jobs and schools and fair play, had refused to share with them any of life's necessities--and somewhere, deeper than their consciousness, they believed the whites were correct. They, the black youth, young lords of nothing, were born without value and would creep, like blinded moles, their lives long in the darkness, under the earth, chewing on roots, driven far from the light.”

Self EsteemEqualitySelf WorthAfrican AmericansBlacksWhitesBlack Youth
Book:The Heart of a Woman
Create image

“Rev. [Martin Luther] King continued, chanting, singing his prophetic litany. We were one people, indivisible in the sight of God, responsible to each other and for each other. We, the black people, the most displaced, the poorest, the most maligned and scourged, we had the glorious task of reclaiming the soul and saving the honor of the country. We, the most hated, must take hate into our hands and by the miracle of love, turn loathing into love. We, the most feared and apprehensive, must take fear and by love, change it into hope. We, who die daily in large and small ways, must take the demon death and turn it into Life. His head was thrown back and his words rolled out with the rumbling of thunder. We had to pray without ceasing and work without tiring. We had to know evil will not forever stay on the throne. That right, dashed to the ground, will rise, rise again and again.”

LoveAmericaHateCivil RightsGood And EvilAfrican AmericansBlacksWhitesMartin Luther King Jr
Book:The Heart of a Woman
Create image