--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: You think you may not be heard. Speak…" description: "\"You think you may not be heard. Speak anyway.\" — Maya Angelou" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c2/maya-angelou-104_heard_you-think-you-may-not-be-heard-speak-any_708376.png" --- # You think you may not be heard. Speak anyway. ![“You think you may not be heard. Speak anyway.” quote by Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c2/maya-angelou-104_heard_you-think-you-may-not-be-heard-speak-any_708376.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c2/maya-angelou-104_heard_you-think-you-may-not-be-heard-speak-any_708376.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c2/maya-angelou-104_heard_you-think-you-may-not-be-heard-speak-any_708376.png) > “You think you may not be heard. Speak anyway.” [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Even if you feel unheard, you should still speak out, emphasizing courage and persistence. **In simple terms:** Speak despite feeling ignored. Key Takeaway Speak up even when unheard. Themes courage expression resilience Mood inspirational encouraging Type personal motivational When to use this quote - public speaking - advocacy - personal growth Key Concepts voice activism Questions to Reflect On - What holds you back from speaking? - How can you amplify your voice? A Different Perspective Fear may silence valuable contributions. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [You are so much more than you can see. You are so much more than you think you are. You are so much more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-are-so-much-more-than-you-can-see-you-are-so-much-more-than-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“I don’t think I heard the same ending you did. Maybe you should tell it again.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elle-lothlorien/i-don-t-think-i-heard-the-same-ending-you-did-maybe-you-should-tell/) Elle Lothlorien > [“you have a chance to actually drive her.” I don’t think I heard him right. “What?” “This”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lena-black/you-have-a-chance-to-actually-drive-her-i-don-t-think-i-heard-him/) [Lena Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lena-black/) > [When people come up to me and say, 'You made it,' I think, 'But I'm not done yet. Not everyone's heard my music.' I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mandy-moore/when-people-come-up-to-me-and-say-you-made-it-i-think-but-i-m-not/) [Mandy Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mandy-moore/) > [“Don't Expect Others to Read or Hear Your Thoughts; if You Want to be Heard, Speak Up and Speak Out!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaachynma-n-e-agu/don-t-expect-others-to-read-or-hear-your-thoughts-if-you-want-to-be-2/) [Jaachynma N.E. Agu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaachynma-n-e-agu/) > [If you want your voice to be heard, speak from your heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wes-fesler/if-you-want-your-voice-to-be-heard-speak-from-your-heart/) [Wes Fesler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wes-fesler/) > [“This is your last chance to go home, son.” It was the loudest I’d heard him speak. I froze. Cock, meet jeans. Jeans, please…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-a-rock/this-is-your-last-chance-to-go-home-son-it-was-the-loudest-i-d-heard/) [J.A. Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-a-rock/) > [I'm afraid to answer that. I've heard that when I speak, it makes American women wish to strike me with umbrellas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/i-m-afraid-to-answer-that-i-ve-heard-that-when-i-speak-it-makes/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [“When you want your message to be heard, always speak from your heart.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/molly-friedenfeld/when-you-want-your-message-to-be-heard-always-speak-from-your-heart/) [Molly Friedenfeld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/molly-friedenfeld/) > [If you want to be seen, stand up. If you want to be heard, speak up. If you want to be appreciated, shut up.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-cosby/if-you-want-to-be-seen-stand-up-if-you-want-to-be-heard-speak-up-if/) [Bill Cosby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-cosby/) > [If we want to be heard we must speak in a language the listener can understand and on a level at which the listener…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-scott-peck/if-we-want-to-be-heard-we-must-speak-in-a-language-the-listener-can/) [M. Scott Peck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-scott-peck/) > [“She heard him speak, but did not recognise the problem in his voice – only later did she realise it was that thing he’d…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carla-h-krueger/she-heard-him-speak-but-did-not-recognise-the-problem-in-his-voice/) [Carla H Krueger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carla-h-krueger/) > [If you listen you'll know. If you speak... there is no guarantee you will be heard. Speak loud enough though and no less than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/becca-b/if-you-listen-you-ll-know-if-you-speak-there-is-no-guarantee-you-will/) [Becca B](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/becca-b/) > [“Are you deaf as well as blind, woman? I’m not a carpet to walk over, and I distinctly heard myself speak. If I pinch…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-jordan/are-you-deaf-as-well-as-blind-woman-i-m-not-a-carpet-to-walk-over-and/) [Robert Jordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-jordan/) > [“Don't Expect Others To Read Or Hear your Thoughts.If You Want To Be Heard, Speak Up!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaachynma-n-e-agu/don-t-expect-others-to-read-or-hear-your-thoughts-if-you-want-to-be/) [Jaachynma N.E. Agu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaachynma-n-e-agu/) ## More by Maya Angelou > [Courage: the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/courage-the-most-important-of-all-the-virtues-because-without-courage/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [If we accept being talked to any kind of a way, then we are telling ourselves we are not quite worth the best. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/if-we-accept-being-talked-to-any-kind-of-a-way-then-we-are-telling/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/you-should-be-angry-you-must-not-be-bitter-bitterness-is-like-cancer/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [“You are very kind and very intelligent and those elements are not always found together. Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, and my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/you-are-very-kind-and-very-intelligent-and-those-elements-are-not/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [I agreed a long time ago, I would not live at any cost. If I am moved or forced away from what I think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/i-agreed-a-long-time-ago-i-would-not-live-at-any-cost-if-i-am-moved/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [You want me to do something... tell me I can't do it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/you-want-me-to-do-something-tell-me-i-can-t-do-it/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [Intelligence is a separate gift, for the benefit of students, so that they may think of themselves as intellectual and not very intelligent, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/intelligence-is-a-separate-gift-for-the-benefit-of-students-so-that/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [Life is going to give you just what you put in it. Put your whole heart in everything you do, and pray, then you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/life-is-going-to-give-you-just-what-you-put-in-it-put-your-whole/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [“You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may tread me in the very dirt But still, like dust,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/you-may-write-me-down-in-history-with-your-bitter-twisted-lies-you/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [The more you know of your history, the more liberated you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/the-more-you-know-of-your-history-the-more-liberated-you-are/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [Life offers us tickets to places which we have not knowingly asked for.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/life-offers-us-tickets-to-places-which-we-have-not-knowingly-asked-for/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/every-person-needs-to-take-one-day-away-a-day-in-which-one/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/i-m-working-at-trying-to-be-a-christian-and-that-s-serious-business/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [Nathaniel Hawthorne once said that easy reading is damn hard writing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/nathaniel-hawthorne-once-said-that-easy-reading-is-damn-hard-writing/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/sunday-if-i-m-lucky-i-ll-go-to-church-or-listen-to-some-good/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) [Explore all 1,313 Maya Angelou quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) ## More Heard quotes > [If you’re a person struggling to eat and stay healthy you might have heard about Michael Jordan or Muhammad Ali, but you’ll never have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-gates/if-you-re-a-person-struggling-to-eat-and-stay-healthy-you-might-have/) [Bill Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-gates/) > [One of the deepest and strangest of all human moods is the mood which will suddenly strike us perhaps in a garden at night,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-of-the-deepest-and-strangest-of-all-human-moods-is-the-mood-which/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I want to make myself and the crowd happy by way of something different, and that makes things difficult. I'm never playing something that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tiesto/i-want-to-make-myself-and-the-crowd-happy-by-way-of-something/) [Tiesto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tiesto/) > [When I was in my twenties and just so sexually prolific, the first time I went to Machu Picchu, this guy, a spiritual teacher,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woody-harrelson/when-i-was-in-my-twenties-and-just-so-sexually-prolific-the-first/) [Woody Harrelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woody-harrelson/) > [I have heard that if you pull a bent breath through the second hole of a harmonica tuned to the key of Georgia while…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/buddy-wakefield/i-have-heard-that-if-you-pull-a-bent-breath-through-the-second-hole/) [Buddy Wakefield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/buddy-wakefield/) > [I have often heard that the novel is dead. But I see novels produced, I don't know how many a week, in France. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathalie-sarraute/i-have-often-heard-that-the-novel-is-dead-but-i-see-novels-produced-i/) [Nathalie Sarraute](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathalie-sarraute/) > ["Summer Sisters" is probably my least autobiographical book. The whole idea started with rowing down the pond. And I heard an explosion. I don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judy-blume/summer-sisters-is-probably-my-least-autobiographical-book-the-whole/) [Judy Blume](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judy-blume/) > [I was young, but to me that was underground music. I had never heard anything like Venom or any of that stuff growing up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-pajo/i-was-young-but-to-me-that-was-underground-music-i-had-never-heard/) [David Pajo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-pajo/) > [I've heard some pretty bad things in my life. I'm just one of those people I've gotten to a point where I don't want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophia-bush/i-ve-heard-some-pretty-bad-things-in-my-life-i-m-just-one-of-those/) [Sophia Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophia-bush/) > [If, for instance, they have heard something from the postman, they attribute it to a semi-official statement; if they have fallen into conversation with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evelyn-waugh/if-for-instance-they-have-heard-something-from-the-postman-they/) [Evelyn Waugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evelyn-waugh/) > [When you hear my records today hear a vanilla sounding artist with no black inflection, although I was trying to imitate what I heard.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-boone/when-you-hear-my-records-today-hear-a-vanilla-sounding-artist-with-no/) [Pat Boone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-boone/) > [Have you not heard it said full oft, A woman's nay doth stand for naught?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/have-you-not-heard-it-said-full-oft-a-woman-s-nay-doth-stand-for/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [If nothing that can be seen can either be God or represent Him to us as He is, then to find God we must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/if-nothing-that-can-be-seen-can-either-be-god-or-represent-him-to-us/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [There's not much left inside me, Max" Sometimes, all she heard were echoes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nalini-singh/there-s-not-much-left-inside-me-max-sometimes-all-she-heard-were/) [Nalini Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nalini-singh/) > [In proportion as our inward life fails, we go more constantly and desperately to the post office. You may depend on it, that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/in-proportion-as-our-inward-life-fails-we-go-more-constantly-and/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) Browse all 6,551 Heard quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "You think you may not be heard. Speak anyway.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Maya Angelou" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/you-think-you-may-not-be-heard-speak-anyway/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Heard" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/you-think-you-may-not-be-heard-speak-anyway/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c2/maya-angelou-104_heard_you-think-you-may-not-be-heard-speak-any_708376.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c2/maya-angelou-104_heard_you-think-you-may-not-be-heard-speak-any_708376.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c2/maya-angelou-104_heard_you-think-you-may-not-be-heard-speak-any_708376.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“You think you may not be heard. Speak anyway.” — Maya Angelou", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Maya Angelou", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "You think you may not be...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/you-think-you-may-not-be-heard-speak-anyway/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/you-think-you-may-not-be-heard-speak-anyway/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```