Recommended Reading
- ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings‘ by Maya Angelou
- ‘Mom & Me & Mom‘ by Maya Angelou
- ‘The Complete Collected Poems‘ by Maya Angelou
- ‘Letter to My Daughter‘ by Maya Angelou
- ‘Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now‘ by Maya Angelou
Inspirational Quotes by Maya Angelou (American Poet)
If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities.
—Maya Angelou
Topics: Luck
The first time someone shows you who they are, believe them.
—Maya Angelou
You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot – it’s all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive.
—Maya Angelou
How important it is to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes.
—Maya Angelou
We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.
—Maya Angelou
I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass.
—Maya Angelou
We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.
—Maya Angelou
The honorary duty of a human being is to love.
—Maya Angelou
The most called-upon prerequisite of a friend is an accessible ear.
—Maya Angelou
Topics: Friendship
Life loves the liver of it.
—Maya Angelou
Topics: Life and Living
If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.
—Maya Angelou
Topics: Success & Failure, Accomplishment
I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it.
—Maya Angelou
You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.
—Maya Angelou
Ask For What You Want And Be Prepared To Get It.
—Maya Angelou
Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.
—Maya Angelou
At fifteen life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice.
—Maya Angelou
Topics: Despair
I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catchers mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.
—Maya Angelou
Topics: Helping
I believe that every person is born with talent.
—Maya Angelou
Topics: Belief, Talent
I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.
—Maya Angelou
Topics: Giving
Live life as if it were created just for you.
—Maya Angelou
Topics: Living
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.
—Maya Angelou
The caged bird sings with a fearful trill,
of things unknown, but longed for still,
and his tune is heard on the distant hill,
for the caged bird sings of freedom.
—Maya Angelou
You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.
—Maya Angelou
Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.
—Maya Angelou
Topics: Love
Therefore we pledge to bind ourselves to one another, to embrace our lowliest, to keep company with our loneliest, to educate our illiterate, to feed our starving, to clothe our ragged, to do all good things, knowing that we are more than keepers of our brothers and sisters. We are our brothers and sisters.
—Maya Angelou
Topics: Humanity
One must know not just how to accept a gift, but with what grace to share it.
—Maya Angelou
Topics: Gift
Jealousy in romance is like salt in food. A little can enhance the savor, but too much can spoil the pleasure and, under certain circumstances, can be life-threatening.
—Maya Angelou
Topics: Jealousy
It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.
—Maya Angelou
Topics: Parents
The needs of society determine its ethics.
—Maya Angelou
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 unshaken need for an unshakable God.
—Maya Angelou
Topics: Children
You can never go home again, but the truth is you can never leave home, so it’s all right.
—Maya Angelou
Topics: Home
There is a difference between being convinced and being stubborn. I’m not certain what the difference is, but I do know that if you butt your head against a stone wall long enough, at some point you realize the wall is stone and that your head is flesh and blood.
—Maya Angelou
There is a very fine line between loving life and being greedy for it.
—Maya Angelou
Topics: Lust For, Life
It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.
—Maya Angelou
My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return.
—Maya Angelou
Topics: Hope
The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by formal education.
—Maya Angelou
Topics: Quality, Education, Character
I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.
—Maya Angelou
Topics: Home
When you wish someone joy, you wish them peace, love, prosperity, happiness… all the good things.
—Maya Angelou
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
—Maya Angelou
Something made greater by ourselves and in turn that makes us greater.
—Maya Angelou
Topics: Work
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Langston Hughes American Poet, Writer
Annie Dillard American Writer
Amiri Baraka American Poet, Playwright
Joyce Carol Oates American Novelist
Robert W. Service Scottish Poet
Hans Christian Andersen Danish Author
George William Russell Irish Author
Nathaniel Parker Willis American Poet, Playwright
Tobias Smollett Scottish Poet
Carrie Fisher American Actress