If I wanted to write, I had to be willing to develop a kind of concentration found mostly in people awaiting execution.… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
Some people cannot see a good thing when it is right here, right now. Others can sense a good thing coming when… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
People trying to separate people rather than bring us together... please. You don't just see it in America. It's all over the… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
It's very important to know the neighbor next door and the people down the street and the people in another race. — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
I admire people who dare to take the language, English, and understand it and understand the melody. — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
I am convinced that most people do not grow up ... our real selves, the children inside, are still innocent and shy… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
It's hard because people think they have something to lose and the truth is they have everything to gain in trying to… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
We are all creative, but by the time we are three of four years old, someone has knocked the creativity out of… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
The whites were really brutishly ignorant, blitheringly, so they killed people sometimes - just came into the African-American community and maimed people… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
I agree with Balzac and 19th-century writers, black and white, who say, 'I write for money.' Yes, I think everybody should be… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
I not only have the right to stand up for myself, but I have the responsibility. I can't ask somebody else to… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
The sisters and brothers that you meet give you the materials which your character uses to build itself. It is said that… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
I've had people explain to me what one of my poems meant, and I've been surprised that it means that to them.… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
I made the decision to quit show business. Give up the skintight dresses and manicured smiles. The false concern over sentimental lyrics.… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
Words are things. You must be careful, careful about calling people out of their names, using racial pejoratives and sexual pejoratives and… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
We must create a climate where people agree that human beings are more alike than unalike. The only way to do that… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
Listen carefully to what country people call mother wit. In those homely sayings are couched the collective wisdom of generations. — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
The only thing is, people have to develop courage. It is most important of all the virtues. Because without courage, you can't… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school,… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
It is only out of ignorance that people are cruel, because they really don't think it will come back. — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
When people see the laughing face, even if they're jealous of it, their burden is lightened. But do it first for yourself.… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
If I walked into the kitchen without washing my hands as a kid, I'd hear a loud 'A-hem!' from my mother or… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
I believe what I have to say is important, and I believe the people coming to hear me are important, and so… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
There is a lot of ignorance, and I don't mean intellectual ignorance. I mean people think that if you get something, it… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he handles these three things: a rainy day,… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
My greatest blessing has been the birth of my son. My next greatest blessing has been my ability to turn people into… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
When teachers or people in authority put me down or in one way or another tried to make me feel less than… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
People don't always remember what you say or even what you do, but they always remember how you make them feel. — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
I thank God I'm myself and for the life I'm given to live and for friends and lovers and beloveds, and I… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
I think we have systematically and critically harmed ourselves and many young people by advising them not to try things. — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
Most people don't grow up. Most people age. They find parking spaces, honor their credit cards, get married, have children, and call… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
It's wonderful that whenever Patsy Cline's name is mentioned, people's voices fall and they become right sentimental. And, rightly so. — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
There is a world of difference between facts and the truth. You can have so many facts that you don't deal with… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
I learned a long time ago the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side, be an advocate for… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
I think Clinton, after getting into office and into Washington, was shocked at being bludgeoned. So he spent time trying to be… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
Black people comprehend the South. We understand its weight. It has rested on our backs... I knew that my heart would break… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
Oh, Black known and unknown poets, how often have your auctioned pains sustained us? Who will compute the lonely nights made less… — Maya Angelou Copy Share 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… — Maya Angelou Copy Share Image
Courage: the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently — Maya Angelou Copy Share
If we accept being talked to any kind of a way, then we are telling ourselves we are not quite worth the best. And… — Maya Angelou Copy Share
You should be angry. You must not be bitter. Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. It doesn't do anything to the… — Maya Angelou Copy Share
“You are very kind and very intelligent and those elements are not always found together. Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, and my… — Maya Angelou Copy Share
I agreed a long time ago, I would not live at any cost. If I am moved or forced away from what I think… — Maya Angelou Copy Share
Intelligence is a separate gift, for the benefit of students, so that they may think of themselves as intellectual and not very intelligent, or… — Maya Angelou Copy Share
Life is going to give you just what you put in it. Put your whole heart in everything you do, and pray, then you… — Maya Angelou Copy Share
“You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may tread me in the very dirt But still, like dust,… — Maya Angelou Copy Share
Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and… — Maya Angelou Copy Share
I'm working at trying to be a Christian, and that's serious business. It's like trying to be a good Jew, a good Muslim, a… — Maya Angelou Copy Share
Sunday, if I'm lucky, I'll go to church or listen to some good spiritual advice on the television or on the radio. I take… — Maya Angelou Copy Share
