Quotessence
Home / Authors / Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsInspirationalPeopleKnowsLifeThinkingPhenomenal WomanPersonsTryingHumansBlack WomenWritingGivingInspiringWantChildrenMayWorldNeedsAfrican American

Famous Maya Angelou Quotes

“After that exercise, the ship of my life might or might not be sailing on calm seas. The challenging days of my existence might or might not be bright and promising. From that encounter on, whether my days are stormy or sunny and if my nights are glorious or lonely, I maintain an attitude of gratitude. If pessimism insists on occupying my thoughts, I remember there is always tomorrow. Today I am blessed.”

LifeInspirationalInspirational Quotes
Book:Mom & Me & Mom
Create image

“Love. And again, see I don't mean, I think love is that condition in the human spirit so profund, that it allows us to forgive, and it may be the energy which keeps the stars in the firmament, I'm not sure. It may be the energy which keeps the blood running smoothly through our veins. I'm not sure, but it's something beyond the explanation. It can be used for anything you can explain. Any good thing you can explain.”

LoveLifeUniverseEnergyForgivness
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“When Great Trees Fall When great trees fall, rocks on distant hills shudder, lions hunker down in tall grasses, and even elephants lumber after safety. When great trees fall in forests, small things recoil into silence, their senses eroded beyond fear. When great souls die, the air around us becomes light, rare, sterile. We breathe, briefly. Our eyes, briefly, see with a hurtful clarity. Our memory, suddenly sharpened, examines, gnaws on kind words unsaid, promised walks never taken. Great souls die and our reality, bound to them, takes leave of us. Our souls, dependent upon their nurture, now shrink, wizened. Our minds, formed and informed by their radiance, fall away. We are not so much maddened as reduced to the unutterable ignorance of dark, cold caves. And when great souls die, after a period peace blooms, slowly and always irregularly. Spaces fill with a kind of soothing electric vibration. Our senses, restored, never to be the same, whisper to us. They existed. They existed. We can be. Be and be better. For they existed.”

LifeWritingSoulDeathPoetryPeacePoetPoemPoemsWritersPoetsTreesSoulsMaya AngelouAmerican WritersI Shall Not Be MovedWhen Great Trees Fall
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.”

PeopleWayLifeInspirationalPersonsLightThreeLostInspiringTreeParentingHandleChristmasLive LifeI've LearnedThoughtfulI Have LearnedThree ThingsLoving LifeRainyRainy DayOpen HeartTangledThings I've LearnedChristmas TreeLuggageForget EverythingRaining DayLearned PersonChristmas LightsForget The Pain
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style”

LifeInspirationalHumorLife IsPassionInspiringPowerfulCompassionStyleInspirational LifeLife PhilosophyEmpathyMissionsAfrican AmericanLive LifeMoving OnMeaning Of LifeThriveSympathyLiving My LifeEnjoy LifeBlack WomenSurvivingMy PassionPhenomenalWise WomenLife Worth LivingLive With PassionFollow Your PassionCelebrate LifeMissions In LifeFollowing DreamsPhenomenal WomanPassion For LifeCourage To LovePassion And SuccessLife Is GreatLove And CourageAim Of LifeDreams And PassionInspirational PassionLife And PassionRemembering HerWill To Survive
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“I am convinced that most people do not grow up...We marry and dare to have children and call that growing up. I think what we do is mostly grow old. We carry accumulation of years in our bodies, and on our faces, but generally our real selves, the children inside, are innocent and shy as magnolias.”

PeopleThinkingLifeYearsChildrenRealSelfBodyFacesGrowsGrowing UpGrowingDareConvincedInnocentShyAccumulationReal SelfMagnolias
Book:Letter to My Daughter
Create image

“I find it interesting that the meanest life, the poorest existence, is attributed to God's will, but as human beings become more affluent, as their living standard and style begin to ascend the material scale, God descends the scale of responsibility at commensurate speed.”

LifeHumansGodHuman BeingsInterestingExistenceResponsibilityStyleMaterialsStandardsSpeedScalesGods WillGodlyPoorestDivine InterventionCagedAffluentCaged BirdsI Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Book:The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou
Create image

“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
Create image

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”

LifeInspirationalMayHappensFreedomDecisionInspiringPowerfulCompassionEventsPositivePositive ThinkingMemorablePositive AttitudeBeing YourselfAbout YourselfBe YouSelf DeterminationJust BeingLife And LoveReducingReductionBe True To YourselfTrue To YourselfPhenomenalJust Be YourselfJust Being YouPhenomenal WomanNot Being YourselfRemembering Her
Book:Letter to My Daughter
Create image

“In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine.”

WorldLoveLifeHeartLove IsMarriageMinesCoupleRomanticTrue LoveMatesInspirational LoveWeddingSoulmateBlack WomenI Love YouLoving SomeoneSoul MateAnniversaryGetting MarriedNo LoveLove And MarriageWhen You Love SomeoneMarriage LovePhenomenal WomanRomantic Love YouYour SoulmateLove You So MuchMy True LoveRomantic I Love YouSoulmate LoveMy Soul MateRomantic WeddingLove You LikeMy SoulmateMarried LoveI Love You LikeHappy AnniversaryPerfect FitRomantic MarriageYour My SoulmateFlames And LoveSoulmates And LoveSouls In LoveBeautiful MarriageCouple LoveInspirational SoulmateSoulmates Best FriendsMarriage EngagementTouching The HeartOld Couple
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“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
Create image

“Because of the routines we follow, we often forget that life is an ongoing adventure. . . Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art: to bring all our energies to each encounter, to remain flexible enough to notice and admit when what we expected to happen did not happen. We need to remember that we are created creative and can invent new scenarios as frequently as they are needed.”

LifeNeedsArtEnoughHappensAbleRememberLife IsEnergyRealizingForgetCreativeAdventureNeededPureTreatsExpectedEncountersFlexibleOngoingScenariosLife Adventure
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“The needs of a society determine its ethics, and in the Black American ghettos the hero is that man who is offered only the crumbs from his country's table but by ingenuity and courage is able to take for himself a Lucullan feast. Hence the janitor who lives in one room but sports a robin's-egg-blue Cadillac is not laughed at but admired, and the domestic who buys forty-dollar shoes is not criticized but is appreciated. We know that they have put to use their full mental and physical powers. Each single gain feeds into the gains of the body collective.”

KnowsMenLifeNeedsCountryUseBodyAbleSportsBlackRoomsHeroRacismEthicsGainsBlueTablesDollarsShoesDetermineCollectivesFortyEggsLaughedAppreciatedGhettoIngenuityRobinsCrumbsCadillacsJanitorI Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Book:I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Create image

“Until recently each generation found it more expedient to plead guilty to the charge of being young and ignorant, easier to take the punishment meted out by the older generation (which had itself confessed to the same crime short years before). The command to grow up at once was more bearable than the faceless horror of wavering purpose, which was youth.”

LifeYearsYoungPurposeFoundGrowsGrowing UpGenerationsCrimeYouthEasierHorrorPunishmentIgnorantCommandGuiltyBearableWaveringFacelessOlder GenerationI Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Book:I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Create image

“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
Create image