Maya Angelou Quotes

“Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity of opportunity to be otherwise.”

“All men are prepared to accomplish the incredible if their ideals are threatened.”

“When I want to think about what would be the right thing to do, the fair thing to do, the wise thing to do, I can just think of my grandmother. I can always hear her say, "Now sister, you know what's right. Just do right!"”

“I make writing as much a part of my life as I do eating or listening to music.”

“I've conducted the Boston Pops! Imagine that! Me! Maya Angelou! I've sang and danced at La Scala!”

“Love is a condition so powerful; it may be that which pulls the stars in the firmament. It may be that which pushes and urges the blood in the veins. Courage: you have to have courage to love somebody because you risk everything-ever ything.”

“...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.”

“The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.”

“Love costs all we areand will ever be.Yet it is only lovewhich sets us free.A Brave and Startling Truth.”

“What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it. Don't complain.”

“No one can take the place of a friend, no one.”

“People have to feel needed. Frequently, we just offer a job and 'perks.' We don't always offer people a purpose. When people feel there is a purpose and that they're needed, there's not much else to do except let them do the work.”

“Each of us, famous or infamous, is a role model for somebody, and if we aren't, we should behave as though we are -- cheerful, kind, loving, courteous. Because you can be sure someone is watching and taking deliberate and diligent notes.”

“It's still scary every time I go back to the past. Each morning, my heart catches. When I get there, I remember how the light was, where the draft was coming from, what odors were in the air. When I write, I get all the weeping out.”

“If you do not like anything, alter it. If you can not change it, adjust your mindset. Will not complain.”

“We allow our ignorance to prevail upon us and make us think we can survive alone, alone in patches, alone in groups, alone in races, even alone in genders.”

“How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!”

“We have it in us to be splendid.”

“Don't hesitate to learn the most painful aspects of our history, understand it.”

“All knowledge is spendable currency, depending on the market.”

“You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.”

“Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.”

“Martin Luther King was a human being with a brilliant mind, a powerful heart, and insight, and courage and also with a sense of humor. So he was accessible.”

“I don't think there's such a thing as autobiographical fiction. If I say it happened, it happened, even if only in my mind.”

“Living in a state of terror was new to many white people in America, but black people have been living in a state of terror in this country for more than 400 years.”