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Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou Quotes

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Famous Maya Angelou Quotes

“Just do right. Right may not be expedient, it may not be profitable, but it will satisfy your soul. It brings you the kind of protection that bodyguards can’t give you. So try to live your life in a way that you will not regret years of useless virtue and inertia and timidity. Take up the battle. Take it up. It’s yours. This is your life. This is your world.”

WorldWayGivingTryingYearsKindMaySoulVirtueRegretBattleProtectionYour SoulUselessLive Your LifeProfitableInertiaTimidityBodyguard
Author:Maya Angelou
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“We need to remember to teach our children that solitude can be a much-to-be-desired condition. Not only is it acceptable to be alone; at times it is positively to be wished for.....In the silence we listen to ourselves. Then we ask questions of ourselves. We describe ourselves to ourselves, and in the quietude we may even hear the voice of God.”

NeedsMayChildrenRememberAsksVoiceSilenceTeachConditionsSolitudeOur ChildrenAcceptablePositivelyVoice Of God
Author:Maya Angelou
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“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
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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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“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”

KnowsMayStillsFactsSpiritualFailureEmpowermentDeterminationAdversityWho You ArePerseveranceDefeatPersistenceMoving OnEncountersHard TimesHardshipKeep GoingWomen EmpowermentDefeatedStrong WomenPersistBlack WomenDifficult TimesEmpowering WomenBad DayPersevereOvercoming AdversityBeing A WomanPowerful WomenEmpowered WomenWomen Empowering WomenInspirational WomenPerserveranceSuccessful WomenInspirational Strong WomenBeing A Strong WomanDetermination And PersistenceStrong Women And LoveGreat PerseveranceI Am StrongGreat DeterminationPhenomenal WomanStrong InspirationalTough ThingsPersistence InspirationalAdversity In LifeBeing Independent WomanGetting Through Tough TimesStrong Powerful WomenStrength And PerseveranceGoing Gets ToughImages Of Strong WomenBlack Women InspirationalGoing StrongStrong IndependentBlack MotivationalPersonal EmpowermentConfident WomanDefeated YouTough WomenEncouragement For WomenMake People Feel Better
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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“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
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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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“...We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated. That sounds goody two-shoes, I know, but I believe that a diamond is the result of extreme pressure and time. Less time is crystal. Less than that is coal. Less than that is fossilized leaves. Less than that it's just plain dirt. In all my work, in the movies I write, the lyrics the poetry, the prose, the essays, I am saying that we may encounter many defeats - maybe it's imperative that we encounter the defeats - but we are much stronger than we appear to be and maybe much better than we allow ourselves to be.”

KnowsWritingBelieveMayTwoMotivationalI BelieveSoundResultsDeterminationStrongerPressureShoesDefeatExtremesEncountersProseDiamondDefeatedDirtCoalEssaysImperativesCrystalsGoody Two Shoes
Author:Maya Angelou
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“Since time is the one immaterial object which we cannot influence - neither speed up nor slow down, add to nor diminish - it is an imponderably valuable gift. Each of us has a few minutes a day or a few hours a week which we could donate to an old folks home or a children's hospital ward. The elderly whose pillows we plump or whose water pitchers we refill may or may not thank us for our gift, but the gift is upholding the foundation of the universe.”

MayChildrenWarHomeTimeUniverseWaterHoursWeekInfluenceMinutesObjectsFoundationAddFolksValuableSpeedHospitalsTime ManagementDiminishSlow DownElderlyPillowPitcherDonateRefillsThank UFolks Home
Book:Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now
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“When asked how she knows when her writing is where she wants it to be: "I know when it's the best I can do. It may not be the best there is. Another writer may do it much better. But I know when it's the best I can do. I know that one of the great arts that the writer develops is the art of saying, 'No. No, I'm finished. Bye.' And leaving it alone. I will not write it into the ground. I will not write the life out of it. I won't do that."”

KnowsWantWritingMayArtI CanCan DoLeavingFinishedLife ChangingBeing The BestGreat ArtByeSaying NoI Can Do It
Author:Maya Angelou
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“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”

InspirationalMayBlackInspiringBusinessCourageStrengthVictoryLosingDefeatAfrican AmericanEncountersNurseDefeatedBlack WomenNot Giving UpBlack HistoryStay StrongBeing StrongSingle MomTapestryWise WomenGiving Up Is Not An OptionMakes You StrongerNever SurrenderPhenomenal WomanBlack History InspirationalLove And CourageBlack Women InspirationalBlack InspirationalDefeated YouRemembering HerGoody Two Shoes
Author:Maya Angelou
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“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.”

PeopleIfsLifeTryingMayIdeasDiesCultureWorryLaughingJourneyCryThis WorldAdventureTravelRacismLaughterWanderAround The WorldBigotryTime TravelIntroducingTraveledTravelerFunny TravelAdventurousTravellerTravel WritingGreat TravelInspiring TravelTravel The WorldTravel AdventureBigotsDemonstratingAdventure And TravelSeeing The WorldOther CulturesNomadLife Is An AdventurePhotography And TravelDream WorldInspirational AdventureRoads TraveledLife AdventureAdventure And LifeWant To TravelBackpackingTravel AbroadNomadicTravel JourneyRoads And JourneysNext AdventureTravel ExperienceRoad LifeTravel And CultureCosta RicaForeign TravelAdventurous SoulsDiscovery And TravelInspiration To OthersUnderstanding Each Other
Book:Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now
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“When we decide to be happy we accept the responsibility to bring happiness to someone else. Some decide that happiness and glee are the same thing, they are not. When we choose happiness we accept the responsibility to lighten the load of someone else and to be a light on the path to another who may be walking in darkness.”

MayLightMotivationalResponsibilityAcceptingDarknessPathWalkingHappyLoadBeing HappyLight And DarkGleeDo Unto OthersHappiness Is A Choice
Author:Maya Angelou
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