Quotessence
Home / Authors / Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsInspirationalPeopleKnowsLifeThinkingPhenomenal WomanPersonsTryingHumansBlack WomenWritingGivingInspiringWantChildrenMayWorldNeedsAfrican American

Famous Maya Angelou Quotes

“I'm working at trying to be a Christian and that's serious business. It's like trying to be a good Jew, a good Muslim, a good Buddhist, a good Shintoist, a good Zoroastrian, a good friend, a good lover, a good mother, a good buddy—it's serious business. It's not something where you think, Oh, I've got it done. I did it all day, hotdiggety. The truth is, all day long you try to do it, try to be it, and then in the evening if you're honest and have a little courage you look at yourself and say, Hmm. I only blew it eighty-six times. Not bad.”

IfsThinkingTryingLooksLittlesLongDoneChristianMotherChristianityHonestSeriousLoversTruth IsSixJewBuddhistEveningGood FriendEightyBuddyLook At YourselfGood MotherHmmGood LoveSerious BusinessGood LoversGood Buddhist
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“Without defeats, how do you really know who the hell you are? If you never had to stand up to something - to get up, to be knocked down, and to get up again - life can walk over you wearing football cleats. But each time you do get up, you're bigger, taller, finer, more beautiful, more kind, more understanding, more loving. Each time you get up, you're more inclusive. More people can stand under your umbrella.”

PeopleIfsKnowsKindBeautifulUnderstandingGrowthWalksHellFootballBiggerDown AndDefeatGet UpOver YouShortcomingsUmbrellaKnocked DownCleats
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“Human beings are more alike than unalike. Whether in Paris, Texas, or Paris, France, we all want to have good jobs where we are needed and respected and paid just a little more than we deserve. We want healthy children, safe streets, to be loved and have the unmitigated gall to accept love. If we are religious, we want a place to perpetuate God. If not, we want a good lecture every once in a while. And everyone wants someplace to party on Saturday nights.”

IfsWantHumansChildrenLittlesJobsNightReligiousHuman BeingsPartyAcceptingStreetsNeededHealthySafeDeservePaidFranceParisTexasSaturdayGood JobLecturesSaturday NightHealthy Children
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“Strictly speaking, one cannot legislate love, but what one can do is legislate fairness and justice. If legislation does not prohibit our living side by side, sooner or later your child will fall on the pavement and I'll be the one to pick her up. Or one of my children will not be able to get into the house and you'll have to say, "Stop here until your mom comes here." Legislation affords us the chance to see if we might love each other.”

IfsLoveChildrenDoeMightAbleLawFallHouseSidesCan DoJusticeChanceMomPicksRelationOur ChildrenMy ChildrenYour ChildrenFairnessSooner Or LaterLegislationRace RelationsLove Each OtherYour MomPavement
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“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
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“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
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“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
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“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
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“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
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“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
Create image

“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
Create image