Quotes by Maya Angelou
I wrote some of the worst poetry west from the Mississippi River, but I wrote. And I finally sometimes got it right.
I know for sure that loves saves me and that it is here to save us all.
I do like to have guns around. I don't like to carry them. But I like - if somebody is going to come into my house and I have not put out the welcome mat, I want to stop them.
The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.
We can learn to see each other and see ourselves in each other and recognize that human beings are more alike than we are unalike.
Black people comprehend the South. We understand its weight. It has rested on our backs... I knew that my heart would break if ever I put my foot down on that soil, moist, still, with old hurts. I had to face the fear/loathing at its source or it would consume me whole.
Cooking certain dishes, like roast pork, reminds me of my mother.
I read the Bible to myself; I'll take any translation, any edition, and read it aloud, just to hear the language, hear the rhythm, and remind myself how beautiful English is.
In all my work, I try to say - 'You may be given a load of sour lemons, why not try to make a dozen lemon meringue pies?'
Elimination of illiteracy is as serious an issue to our history as the abolition of slavery.
My greatest blessing has been the birth of my son. My next greatest blessing has been my ability to turn people into children of mine.
I could fall in love with a sumo wrestler if he told stories and made me laugh. Obviously, it would be easier if someone was African-American and lived next door and went to the same church. Because then I wouldn't have to translate.
I don't think there's such a thing as autobiographical fiction. If I say it happened, it happened, even if only in my mind.
Early on, I was so impressed with Charles Dickens. I grew up in the South, in a little village in Arkansas, and the whites in my town were really mean, and rude. Dickens, I could tell, wouldn't be a man who would curse me out and talk to me rudely.
Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.
Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.
Education helps one case cease being intimidated by strange situations.
All great achievements require time.
If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform a million realities.
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 mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors.
If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.
If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain.
I believe we are still so innocent. The species are still so innocent that a person who is apt to be murdered believes that the murderer, just before he puts the final wrench on his throat, will have enough compassion to give him one sweet cup of water.
Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: ''I'm with you kid. Let's go.''
