Maya Angelou
American poet, memoirist, civil rights activist, and one of the defining literary voices of the late twentieth century. Born in 1928 in St. Louis, she lived through years of mute silence after childhood trauma, then through dancing, singing, journalism, and revolutionary work — corresponding with Malcolm X in Ghana, working on the Selma to Montgomery March with King — before her seven-volume autobiography (beginning with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in 1969) made her one of the most-read American writers. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010, recited On the Pulse of Morning at Bill Clinton's inauguration in 1993, and produced poetry — Phenomenal Woman, Still I Rise — that has become contemporary scripture for several generations of readers. She died in 2014 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
quotes in library
Quotes by Maya Angelou
108 quotes“Words mean more than what is set down on paper.”
“It is a person's responsibility to take care of his soul.”
“In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours.”
“You give. Receiving means there's a giver. The givers know who they are.”
“Everything in the universe has a rhythm. Find yours.”
“My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry.”
“Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space at the same time.”
“Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. Anger is more like fire.”
“There is no greater burden than carrying an unforgiven enemy.”
“Stand up straight and realize who you are. You tower above your circumstances.”
“Wouldn't take nothing for my journey now.”
“There is a place in you that is loved by God.”
“You can't really know where you are going until you know where you have been.”
“Be present in all things and thankful for all things.”
“Courage is the most important of all the virtues.”
“Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency.”
“Tell the truth to people. Most of the time it is what they need.”
“Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.”
“The storyteller's job at a festival is to remind people of who they are when they're at their best.”
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