Maya Angelou Quotes

"The choices we make lead to the actual lives we live."

"When people show you who they are, believe them the first time."

"You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have."

"I force myself to get up early so I can have the house to myself before the chaos starts."

"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again."

"You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes... But still, like air, I’ll rise."

"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style."

"The horizon leans forward, offering you space to place new steps of change."

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."

"Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness."

"Listening is a very important part of life."

"Faith is the evidence of the unseen."

"I don't trust people who don't love themselves and tell me, 'I love you.' There is an African saying which is: Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt."

"The truth is the only thing worth having, and in a civilized culture, like ours, one has as much chance of finding the truth as of finding an honest man."

"I have a hotel room in every town I've ever lived in... I go in at 6:30 in the morning and I work until 12:30."

"When you learn, teach, when you get, give."

"Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope."

"A friend may be waiting behind a stranger's face."

"You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them."

"There's a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure the truth."

"When you know better, you do better."

"The writer's life is a life of self-imposed isolation, for you cannot hear the characters speak if the world is shouting at you."

"Nothing will work unless you do."

"You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you."

"Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently."

"I sustain myself with the love of family."

"I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back."

"If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded."

"I am a Human Being, nothing human can be alien to me."

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

"Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet."

"I respect myself and insist upon it from everybody. And because I do it, I then respect everybody, too."

"Nothing can dim the light which shines from within."