Quotessence
Home / Authors / Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsInspirationalPeopleKnowsLifeThinkingPhenomenal WomanPersonsTryingHumansBlack WomenWritingGivingInspiringWantChildrenMayWorldNeedsAfrican American

Famous Maya Angelou Quotes

“Human beings are more alike than unalike. Whether in Paris, Texas, or Paris, France, we all want to have good jobs where we are needed and respected and paid just a little more than we deserve. We want healthy children, safe streets, to be loved and have the unmitigated gall to accept love. If we are religious, we want a place to perpetuate God. If not, we want a good lecture every once in a while. And everyone wants someplace to party on Saturday nights.”

IfsWantHumansChildrenLittlesJobsNightReligiousHuman BeingsPartyAcceptingStreetsNeededHealthySafeDeservePaidFranceParisTexasSaturdayGood JobLecturesSaturday NightHealthy Children
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“I believe that people want the scent of love, more than anything else. And I don't mean sentimentality, I don't mean mush. I mean that idea, that human beings are more alike than we are different. And that means that I can love you. I don't mean support you in bad things you do, that I can understand because you're a human being.”

PeopleWantBelieveHumansMeanI CanIdeasDifferentI BelieveHuman BeingsSupportLove YouBad ThingsScentSentimentalitySupport You
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“Oh, the holiness of always being the injured party. The historically oppressed can find not only sanctity but safety in the stateof victimization. When access to a better life has been denied often enough, and successfully enough, one can use the rejection as an excuse to cease all efforts. After all, one reckons, "they" don't want me, "they" accept their own mediocrity and refuse my best, "they" don't deserve me.”

WantHas BeensEnoughUsePartyEffortAcceptingDeserveSafetyRefuseExcuseAccessCeaseRejectionHolinessMediocrityDeniedWant MeOppressedBetter LifeInjuredSanctityVictimization
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“I like good food. People want a certain taste, but when they're offered something else, they'll overeat. If they really are looking for chicken and someone gives them pork chops, they'll say, "I will have another." And that's because their satisfaction is not reached. So I thought I would make great food, but eat less of it. I tried it and I've taken off over 40 pounds.”

PeopleIfsWantGivingCertainTakenTasteSatisfactionPoundsChickensPorkGood FoodGreat FoodPork Chops
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“My people couldn't have survived slavery without having hope that it would get better. And there's some songs from the 19th and 18th century that say [sings], "By and by, by and by, I will lay down, this heavy load." And I mean, so many songs that spoke of hope and understand it better by and by. Amazing songs. So that the slaves, just knowing that he, she, did not have the right legally to walk within one inch away from where the slave owner dictated, and yet the same person, wrote and sang with fervor, "If the lord wants somebody, here am I, send me." It's amazing.”

PeopleIfsWantMeanPersonsSongWalksLordKnowingCenturySlaveryLaysSlaveHeavyGet BetterOwnersSpokesInchesLoadSurvivedHaving Hope18th CenturyFervorSlave OwnersHeavy LoadsAmazing Song
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“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
Create image

“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
Create image

“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
Create image

“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
Create image

“We write for the same reason that we walk, talk, climb mountains or swim the oceans — because we can. We have some impulse within us that makes us want to explain ourselves to other human beings. That’s why we paint, that’s why we dare to love someone- because we have the impulse to explain who we are. Not just how tall we are, or thin… but who we are internally… perhaps even spiritually. There’s something, which impels us to show our inner-souls. The more courageous we are, the more we succeed in explaining what we know.”

KnowsWantLifeWritingHumansSoulReasonShowsHuman BeingsWalksSucceedMountainOceanPaintDareImpulseWho We AreClimbsCourageousSwimTallExplainingLove Someone
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“We are all creative, but by the time we are three of four years old, someone has knocked the creativity out of us. Some people shut up the kids who start to tell stories. Kids dance in their cribs, but someone will insist they sit still. By the time the creative people are ten or twelve, they want to be like everyone else.”

PeopleWantYearsStillsStoriesKidsCultureThreeJusticeCreativityCreativeFourTenDiversitySocial JusticeFour YearsTwelveShut UpCreative People
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image

“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
Create image

“What I think it really means is: I'm a teacher. I am a teacher. I teach all the time, as you do and as all of you do-whether we know it or not, whether we take responsibility for it or not. I hold nothing back because I want to see that light go off. I like to see the children say, 'I never thought of that before.' And I think, 'I've got them!'”

ThinkingKnowsWantMeanChildrenLightResponsibilityTeachTeacherTaking ResponsibilityReally Mean
Author:Maya Angelou
Create image