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Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou Quotes

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Famous Maya Angelou Quotes

“When my grandmother died, I realized that even if I had millions of dollars, I couldn't find her anywhere on earth. My next thought was that I would die. I looked at my life and thought, "I'm afraid to die." I concluded that whether I was afraid or not, I would die. It was one of the most important crossroads in my life, once I realized that no matter what, I would do this thing, the next step was to think, "If I am going to do the most difficult and frightening thing - dying - is it possible that I could do some difficult and impossible things that are good?"”

IfsThinkingImportantMatterEarthDiesNextDifficultStepsMillionsImpossibleDyingDiedNo Matter WhatDollarsI RealizedGrandmotherFrighteningMy GrandmotherNext StepsCrossroadsImpossible ThingsMother Died
Author:Maya Angelou
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“I believe that a negative statement is poison.I'm convinced that the negative has power. It lives. And if you allow it to perch in your house, in your mind, in your life, it can take you over. So when the rude or cruel thing is said - the lambasting, the gay bashing, the hate - I say, "Take it all out of my house!" Those negative words climb into the woodwork and into the furniture, and the next thing you know they'll be on my skin.”

IfsKnowsMindBelieveSaidHateNextHouseI BelieveGayNegativeSkinsConvincedStatementsPoisonClimbsRudeFurnitureNegative Words
Author:Maya Angelou
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“I love a statement by the apostle Paul, in the Book of Philippians in the Bible. I think the Corinthians had been writing to Paul, telling him that old men were chasing young women, nobody was tithing - and all that must have run Paul crazy. He wrote back and said, "If there be anything of good report, speak of these things." That's one of my principles.It's another discipline that I encourage myself to employ - to, as much as possible, say the courteous thing, and then be it.”

IfsThinkingMenWritingSaidBookRunningYoungSpeakPrinciplesCrazyDisciplineStatementsReportsOld ManYoung WomenChasingApostlesCourteousApostle PaulTithingCorinthians
Author:Maya Angelou
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“Being thankful helps you to be present.People commit errors because they are not present.I would encourage women and men to be present - you'll avoid falling into certain pits.For instance, if you know that a person has just lost his wife or her husband or lover, it's unlikely that you will say something that will hurt that person's feelings if you're truly paying attention. You'll make a sweeter life for yourself and for those around you if you are present.”

PeopleIfsKnowsMenPersonsHelpingFeelingsCertainFallLostHurtAttentionWifeLoversHusbandMen And WomenErrorsCommitInstancePay AttentionUnlikelyBeing ThankfulPits
Author:Maya Angelou
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“There are great parents of small children - they keep their little hair in bows - but those parents are not always good parents of young adults. As soon as their children get up to some size, it's "Shut up, sit down, you talk too much, keep your distance, I'll send you to Europe!" My mom was a terrible parent of small children but a great parent of young adults. She'd talk to me as if I had some sense.”

IfsChildrenLittlesYoungParentToo MuchHairMomTerribleAdultsEuropeDistanceYoung AdultSizeMy MomGet UpBowsShut UpTalk To MeSmall ChildGood ParentGreat Parents
Author:Maya Angelou
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“My mother had said me, "All right, you've been raised, so don't let anybody else raise you. You know the difference between right and wrong. Do right. And remember - you can always come home." And she continued to liberate me until she died. On the night she died, I went to the hospital. I told my mom, "Let me tell you about yourself. You deserved a great daughter, and you got one. And you liberated me to be one. So if it's time for you to go, you may have done everything God brought you here to do."”

IfsKnowsMaySaidDoneHomeRememberMotherNightDifferencesMomDaughterLet MeDiedRaisesRaisedMy MomComing HomeHospitalsAbout YourselfLiberatedRemember YouRemembers You
Author:Maya Angelou
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“If you want to liberate someone, love them.Not be in love with them - that's dangerous. If you're in love with your children, you're in their lives all the time. Leave them alone! Let them grow and make some mistakes. Tell them, "You can come home. My arms are here - and my mouth is too." When you really love them, you don't want to possess them. You don't say, "I love you and I want you here with me."”

IfsWantChildrenHomeGrowsMistakeLove YouDangerousArmsMouthsOur ChildrenYour ChildrenComing HomeI Want YouOne LoveSay I Love You
Author:Maya Angelou
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“Naturally, if you love somebody, you do want to see their face every now and again, but that's not a condition of your love. People often get possession mixed up with love, and they say, "If you really loved me, you would call me." How - when life is going on? I think of you all the time, and the thought of you always lifts my spirits. But I'm not right at the phone!”

PeopleIfsThinkingWantFacesLife IsSpiritConditionsPhonesPossessionLiftsCall MeThink Of YouThoughts Of YouI Think Of You
Author:Maya Angelou
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“When I love somebody, I like him to be around; I like him to take me out to dinner; I like to look at the sunset with him. But if not, I love him and I hope he's looking at the same sun I am. Loving someone liberates the lover as well as the beloved. And that kind of love comes with age. Some of this wisdom came to me after I was 50 or 60.”

IfsWellsLooksKindAgeSunLoversDinnerBelovedSunsetTake MeLoving SomeoneI Love HimKinds Of LoveI Like Him
Author:Maya Angelou
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“In the fifties, you have your beauty as a treat. I thought that until I hit the sixties.In your sixties, life decides to reward you with certain kinds of profound appreciation, so that people name their children and schools and libraries after you! And you still have your sexuality and your sensuality. If you want your sexuality, you still have it.”

PeopleIfsWantKindChildrenStillsSchoolCertainNamesTreatsProfoundRewardsLibraryAppreciationSexualitySensualitySixty
Author:Maya Angelou
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“If you have a napkin, you need another napkin to receive back all the blessings you'll get. And you keep giving. Then you need a towel to receive all the gifts. And you continue giving. Finally, you need a tablecloth. And you continue giving - not stupidly, but you give. And when you give, you finally have to move out and get a second house, and a third house and a fourth.It is a no - fail, incontrovertible reality: If you get, give. If you learn, teach. You can't do anything with that except do it.”

IfsNeedsGivingRealityMovingHouseTeachFailingBlessingThirdsFourthTowelsNot StupidNapkinsBlessing You
Author:Maya Angelou
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“We, unaccustomed to courage exiles from delight live coiled in shells of loneliness until love leaves its high holy temple and comes into our sight to liberate us into life. Love arrives and in its train come ecstasies old memories of pleasure ancient histories of pain. Yet if we are bold, love strikes away the chains of fear from our souls. We are weaned from our timidity In the flush of love's light we dare be brave And suddenly we see that love costs all we are and will ever be. Yet it is only love which sets us free.”

IfsLoveSoulLightAgePainReligionMemoriesPleasureLonelinessHolyCostSightTrainBraveAncientDelightDareStrikesChainsTemplesLove LifeEcstasyShellsBe BraveExileOnly LoveTimidityAncient HistoryOld Memories
Author:Maya Angelou
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“The ship of my life may or may not be sailing on calm and amiable seas. The challenging days of my existence may or may not be bright and promising. Stormy or sunny days, glorious or lonely nights, I maintain an attitude of gratitude. If I insist on being pessimistic, there is always tomorrow. Today I am blessed.”

IfsMayTodayNightChallengesExistenceAttitudeSeaTomorrowGratitudeLonelyBlessedCalmShipsGloriousSailingSunnyPessimisticStormyAmiableSunny DayAttitude Of GratitudeLonely Nights
Book:Letter to My Daughter
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“Each of us has the right and the responsibility to assess the roads which lie ahead, and those over which we have traveled, and if the future road looms ominous or unpromising, and the roads back uninviting, then we need to gather our resolve and, carrying only the necessary baggage, step off that road into another direction. If the new choice is also unpalatable, without embarrassment, we must be ready to change that as well.”

IfsNeedsWellsLyingChoicesResponsibilityStepsReadyResolveTraveledEmbarrassmentBaggageOminousEmotional BaggageResponsibility To Others
Book:Rainbow in the Cloud: The Wisdom and Spirit of Maya Angelou
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“What I try to do is write. I may write for two weeks ‘the cat sat on the mat, that is that, not a rat,’.... And it might be just the most boring and awful stuff. But I try. When I’m writing, I write. And then it’s as if the muse is convinced that I’m serious and says, ‘Okay. Okay. I’ll come.”

IfsWritingTryingMayTwoMightStuffWeekSeriousCatOkayBoringConvincedAwfulBoredSatMuseRatsTwo WeeksWriter's BlockPhenomenal Woman
Author:Maya Angelou
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“There were people who went to sleep last night, poor and rich and white and black, but they will never wake again. And those dead folks would give anything at all for just five minutes of this weather or ten minutes of plowing. So you watch yourself about complaining. What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it.”

PeopleIfsThinkingWayGivingLastsNightBlackSleepWhitePoorWatchesRichFiveMinutesTenFolksComplainingWeatherLife LessonFive MinutesLast NightCan't ChangePlowing
Author:Maya Angelou
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“Let's tell the truth to people. When people ask, 'How are you?' have the nerve sometimes to answer truthfully. You must know, however, that people will start avaoiding you because, they, too, have knees that pain them and heads that hurt and they don't want to know about yours. But think of it this way: If people avoid you, you will have more time to meditate and do fine research on a cure for whatever truly afflicts you.”

PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsWayWantSometimesPainAsksHurtAnswersHonestyFineResearchSelf WorthCuresKneesTelling The TruthMore TimeNerves
Book:Letter to My Daughter
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“If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. Don't be surly at home, then go out in the street and start grinning 'Good morning' at total strangers.”

PeopleIfsLoveLifeGivingHomeHumorFunnyChoicesFamilyMorningCourageStreetsStrengthSmilePositivityStrangerLoved OnesEmpowering WomenFamily LoveGood MorningI SmileWomen Empowering WomenYour SmileGrinningJust SmileMy SmileRandom Acts Of KindnessKeep SmilingPhenomenal WomanBest SmileJust Keep SmilingFunny Good MorningSurlyAll SmilesEmpowering LoveYou Made Me SmileFunny SmileSmile To The WorldMake People SmileKickass WomenSmile Love
Book:The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou
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“To be left alone on the tightrope of youthful unknowing is to experience the excruciating beauty of full freedom and the threat of eternal indecision. Few, if any, survive their teens. Most surrender to the vague but murderous pressure of adult conformity. It becomes easier to die and avoid conflict than to maintain a constant battle with the superior forces of maturity.”

IfsInspirationalDiesLeftForceEasierBattleConflictEternalAdultsPressureConstantThreatSurrenderSuperiorsMaturityConformityTeensVagueLeft AloneIndecisionUnknowing
Book:I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
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“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
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“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
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“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
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“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
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“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
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“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
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“I am grateful to have been loved and to be loved now and to be able to love, because that liberates. Love liberates. It doesn't just hold - that's ego. Love liberates. It doesn't bind. Love says, 'I love you. I love you if you're in China. I love you if you're across town. I love you if you're in Harlem. I love you. I would like to be near you. I'd like to have your arms around me. I'd like to hear your voice in my ear. But that's not possible now, so I love you. Go.'”

IfsHas BeensAbleVoiceLove IsInspiringCompassionLove YouArmsEgoEarsTownsGratefulChinaThoughtfulLoving LifeSay I Love YouHarlemI Am Grateful
Author:Maya Angelou
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“I do not believe that the accident of birth makes people sisters and brothers. It makes them siblings. Gives them mutuality of parentage. Sisterhood and brotherhood are conditions people have to work at. It's a serious matter. You compromise, you give, you take, you stand firm, and you're relentless...And it is an investment. Sisterhood means if you happen to be in Burma and I happen to be in San Diego and I'm married to someone who is very jealous and you're married to somebody who is very possessive, if you call me in the middle of the night, I have to come.”

PeopleIfsGivingBelieveMeanMatterHappensNightHumanityMiddleConditionsSeriousBrotherBirthMarriedInvestmentAccidentsCompromiseFirmCall MeJealousBrotherhoodBrothers And SistersSiblingRelentlessSisterhoodMiddle Of The NightPossessiveStand FirmBurmaSan Diego
Author:Maya Angelou
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