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Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou Quotes

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Famous Maya Angelou Quotes

“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.”

“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.”

“Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise. I rise. I rise.”

“In diversity there is beauty and there is strength.”

“Remember this: When you cross my doorstep, you have already been raised. With what you have learned...you know the difference between right and wrong. Do right. Don't anybody raise you from the way you have been raised. Know you will have to make adaptations, in love, in relationships, in friends, in society, in work, but don't let anybody change your mind.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.”