Maya Angelou Quotes
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What humility does for one is it reminds us that there are people before me. I have already been paid for. And what I need to do is prepare myself so that I can pay for someone else who has yet to come but who may be here and needs me.
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At one time in my life, from the time I was seven until I was about 13, I didn't speak. I only spoke to my brother. The reason I didn't speak: I had been molested, and I told the name of the molester to my brother who told it to the family.
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It is possible and imperative that we discover a brave and startling truth.
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I never expected anyone to take care of me, but in my wildest dreams and juvenile yearnings, I wanted the house with the picket fence from June Allyson movies. I knew that was yearning like one yearns to fly.
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There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
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I know for sure that loves saves me and that it is here to save us all.
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You were a precious pearl How I loved to see you shine, You were the perfect girl. And you were mine. For a time. For a time. Just for a time.
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If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.
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I read the Bible to myself; I'll take any translation, any edition, and read it aloud, just to hear the language, hear the rhythm, and remind myself how beautiful English is.
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The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.
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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.
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Bitterness is cancer - it eats upon the host. It doesn't do anything to the object of its displeasure.
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I had given up some youth for knowledge, but my gain was more valuable than the loss.
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I know that I've been guided by God. I am obedient.
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Modesty is a learned affectation. And as soon as life slams the modest person against the wall, that modesty drops.
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You have to develop ways so that you can take up for yourself, and then you take up for someone else. And so sooner or later, you have enough courage to really stand up for the human race and say, 'I'm a representative.'
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You can't forgive without loving. And I don't mean sentimentality. I don't mean mush. I mean having enough courage to stand up and say, 'I forgive. I'm finished with it.'
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The most important thing I can tell you about aging is this: If you really feel that you want to have an off-the-shoulder blouse and some big beads and thong sandals and a dirndl skirt and a magnolia in your hair, do it. Even if you're wrinkled.
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We can learn to see each other and see ourselves in each other and recognize that human beings are more alike than we are unalike.
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I'm interested in women's health because I'm a woman. I'd be a darn fool not to be on my own side.
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I'm always disappointed when people don't live up to their potential. I know that a number of people look down on themselves and consequently on everybody who looks like them. But that, too, can change.
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I'm convinced of this: Good done anywhere is good done everywhere. For a change, start by speaking to people rather than walking by them like they're stones that don't matter. As long as you're breathing, it's never too late to do some good.
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Out of the huts of history's shame I rise Up from a past that's rooted in pain I rise I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
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Self-pity in its early stage is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.