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Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou Quotes

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Famous Maya Angelou Quotes

“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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“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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“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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“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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“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
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“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
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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've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage and tangled Christmas tree lights. I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same thing as 'making a life'. I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. 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 some things back.”

WayNeedsHeartPersonsHandsLightAbleThreeLostDecisionTreeYogaHandleI've LearnedI Have LearnedThree ThingsRainyRainy DayOpen HeartTangledRight DecisionThings I've LearnedCatchersChristmas TreeLuggageMaking A LivingMake The Right Decision
Author:Maya Angelou
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“The white American man makes the white American woman maybe not superfluous but just a little kind of decoration. Not really important to turning around the wheels of the state. Well the black American woman has never been able to feel that way. No black American man at any time in our history in the United States has been able to feel that he didn't need that black woman right against him, shoulder to shoulder-in that cotton field, on the auction block, in the ghetto, wherever.”

MenWayNeedsFeelsWellsKindLittlesHas BeensImportantStatesAbleCultureBlackJusticeWhiteUnitedHistoryUnited StatesFieldsDiversitySocial JusticeShouldersBlockWheelsBlack WomenGhettoCottonSuperfluousDecorationAmerican WomanAuctionsWomen RightCotton Fields
Author:Maya Angelou
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“In today's climate in our country, which is sickened with the pollution of pollution, threatened with the prominence of AIDS, riddled with burgeoning racism, rife with growing huddles of the homeless, we need art and we need art in all forms. We need all methods of art to be present, everywhere present, and all the time present.”

NeedsArtCountryTodayAmericaFormTimeFightingGrowingRacismMethodClimateAidsOur CountryPollutionHomelessThreatenedHivHiv AidsProminenceWorld Aids DayAids Day
Author:Maya Angelou
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“In order to be a mentor, and an effective one, one must care. You must care. You don't have to know how many square miles are in Idaho, you don't need to know what is the chemical makeup of chemistry, or of blood or water. Know what you know and care about the person, care about what you know and care about the person you're sharing with.”

KnowsNeedsPersonsCareOrderWaterKnow HowBloodMilesMakeupChemistryChemicalsSquaresMentorMentoringIdaho
Author:Maya Angelou
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“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.”

LifeInspirationalNeedsGivingWisdomHandsAbleWomenInspiringCompassionLearningInspirational LifeLife PhilosophyReturnTrainingParentingCharityAfrican AmericanI've LearnedNever ForgetI Have LearnedStrong WomenVolunteerBlack WomenGiving BackEmpoweredEmpowering WomenSecond ChanceServing OthersPhenomenalForget YouPowerful WomenOpen HeartSassyTangledDonationEmpowered WomenWomen Empowering WomenInspirational WomenWise WomenInspirational Strong WomenDonateThings I've LearnedCatchersInspirational CharityStrong Women And LoveI Am StrongPhenomenal WomanI Am WomanStrong InspirationalGenerosity And GivingGiven A ChanceEmpowering LoveChances In LifeOrgan DonationVolunteer AppreciationVolunteer ServiceVolunteers Making A DifferenceGiven A Second ChanceVolunteering And ServiceInspiring VolunteerKickass WomenForget The PainBeing Strong In LifeInspirational Thank You
Author:Maya Angelou
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“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.”

InspirationalNeedsChildrenBookHelpingHappinessFormReadingEducationAttitudeLearningHabitOptimismImportanceLibraryReading BooksContinuingLiteracyGood BookBook ReadingChildren's BooksBooks And ReadingGreat EducationalLibrary BooksReading HabitsOld BooksChildren BookEducation And LiteracyLibraries Books And ReadingReading And LiteracyBook ReadersBooks For KidsLibraries And ReadingSchool LibraryReading AloudReading For KidsGreat ReadingChildren ReadingImportance Of ReadingInspirational ReadingLiteracy And ChildrenLiteracy For ChildrenChildren About ReadingReading Good BooksReading Books To ChildrenGood ReadingReading InspirationalInspiring ReadingInspirational ChildrenReading Teacher
Author:Maya Angelou
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