Maya Angelou was a trailblazer in poetry, music, memoirs, and activism. Her words continue to inspire and impact people everywhere. Her work is full of wisdom, understanding, and a strong message of hope and determination. Maya Angelou’s quotes on self-love, achievement, and never giving up are unforgettable and still widely shared today.
If you’re looking for inspiration, comfort, or a fresh outlook, Maya Angelou’s quotes are a treasure trove. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of her most well-known and impactful quotes and discover what they teach us about life and the world around us.
Who is Maya Angelou:
Maya Angelou was an American novelist, poet, and civil rights activist. She is best known for her best-selling book, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” which covers her upbringing and early adulthood, including her experiences with racism and sexual assault. The book is widely regarded as a modern African American literary masterpiece.
Here are some details about her:
- Maya Angelou was born on April 4, 1928, in Marguerite Annie Johnson.
- She was a member of the Harlem Writers Guild in the 1950s and was involved in the Civil Rights Movement, working with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.
- Angelou had a successful career as an actress, including parts in theatre and cinema, in addition to her writing and activism.
- She also wrote numerous other memoirs, including “Gather Together in My Name,” “Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas,” and “The Heart of a Woman.”
- She died on May 28, 2014, but her activism and writing continue to inspire and impact people worldwide.
A Collection of Maya Angelou Quotes
You can ask forgiveness of others, but in the end, the real forgiveness is in one’s own self.
Listen to yourself and in that quietude, you might hear the voice of God.
Nothing will work unless you do.
If you have only one smile in you give it to the people you love.
Be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud.
Try to live your life in a way that you will not regret years of useless virtue and inertia and timidity. Take up the battle, take it up! It’s yours, this is your life, this is your world.
You can only become truly accomplished at something you love.
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Love life. Engage in it. Give it all you’ve got. Love it with a passion because life truly does give back, many times over, what you put into it.
Love is like a virus. It can happen to anybody at any time.
I believe that the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity, is daring to dare.
Some people cannot see a good thing when it is right here, right now. Others can sense a good thing coming when it is days, months, or miles away.
Peace my brother, peace my sister, peace my soul.
Develop enough courage so that you can stand up for yourself and then stand up for somebody else.
I believe that every person is born with talent.
Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, and penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.
Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible.
This is a beautiful day, I’ve never seen this one before.
At 50, I began to know who I was. It was like waking up to myself.
When I forgive other people, I let them go, I free them from my ignorance. And as soon as I do, I feel lighter, brighter, and better.
Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.
We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.
You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lines. You may trod me in the very dirt, but still, like dust, I’ll rise.
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.
If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.
I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t laugh.
Let the brain go to work, let it meet the heart and you will be able to forgive.
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
When we decide to be happy we accept the responsibility to bring happiness to someone else.
I know for sure that loves to save me and that it is here to save us all.
You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.
I have a certain way of being in this world, and I shall not, I shall not be moved.
While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else is also God’s creation.
Be certain that you do not die without having done something wonderful for humanity.
Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it!
I’m grateful to be of use. I will not be misused or abused, but I will be of use to anybody.
When you know you are of worth — not asking it but knowing it — you walk into a room with a particular power.
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.
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.
You don’t have to think about doing the right thing. If you’re for the right thing, then you do it without thinking.
Never whine. Whining lets a brute know that a victim is in the neighborhood.
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Grace is like a lake of drinkable water right outside your door. But you stay inside and die of thirst.
The first time someone shows you who they are, believe them.
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.
I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one.
Maya Angelou Quotes On Success, Self-love & Life
Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.
We are not our brother’s keeper; we are our brother and we are our sister. We must look past complexion and see community.
Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.
One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency.
The honorary duty of a human being is to love.
If you’re always trying to be normal you will never know how amazing you can be.
A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.
If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.
Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.
Seek patience and passion in equal amounts. Patience alone will not build the temple. Passion alone will destroy its walls.
I had to trust life since I was young enough to believe that life loved the person who dared to live it.
Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.
My life has been one great big joke, a dance that’s walked, a song that’s spoken, I laugh so hard I almost choke when I think about myself.
The best candy shop a child can be left alone in is the library.
My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who and how you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness.
History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.
Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good.
If you are always trying to be normal you will never know how amazing you can be.
Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.
Whatever you want to do, if you want to be great at it, you have to love it and be able to make sacrifices for it.
It’s very important to know the neighbor next door and the people down the street and the people of another race.
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities.
Hate has caused a lot of problems in the world but has not solved one yet.
If you’re going to live, leave a legacy. Make a mark on the world that can’t be erased.
Determine to live life with flair and laughter.[/alert-warning]
It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.
I am grateful to have been loved and to be loved now and to be able to love because love liberates. Love liberates it doesn’t just hold, that’s ego, love liberates!
If you are always trying to be normal you will never know how amazing you can be.
I work very hard, and I play very hard. I’m grateful for life. And I live it – I believe life loves the liver of it. I live it.
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.
The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.
I believe that the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity, is daring to dare.
It is impossible to struggle for civil rights and equal rights for blacks, without including whites. Because equal rights, fair play, and justice, are all like the air; we all have it or none of us has it.
You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I’ll rise!
We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.
When you know you are of worth — not asking it but knowing it — you walk into a room with a particular power.
We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.
Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that the quicker we will be able to treat life as art.
I respect myself and insist upon it from everybody. And because I do it, I then respect everybody, too.
If you have done the best you can do and if you have gotten all you could extract from something — you have given all you had to give, then the time has come when you can do no more than say thank you and move on.
Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space. Invite one to stay.
Open your eyes to the beauty around you, open your mind to the wonders of life, open your heart to those who love you, and always be true to yourself.
It’s not where your dreams take you, it’s where you take your dreams.
When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.
The children to whom we read simple stories may or may not show gratitude, but each boon we give strengthens the pillars of the world.
I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it.
It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.
Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.
You don’t have to think about doing the right thing. If you’re for the right thing, then you do it without thinking.
The honorary duty of a human being is to love.
If someone shows you who they really are, believe them.
Home is a refuge not only from the world, but a refuge from my worries, my troubles, and my concerns.
On stormy or sunny days, glorious or lonely nights, I maintain an attitude of gratitude.
List of some Awards and Achievements by Maya Angelou:
- Presidential Medal of Freedom (2011) by President Barack Obama.
- Lincoln Medal (2008)
- National Medal of Arts (2000)
- NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Literary Work” (1994, 2000)
- Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album (1994, 2002, 2011)
- Poet laureate of Arkansas (1983–1992)
- Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets (1999–2001)
- Received over 50 honorary degrees from colleges and universities.