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.
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Quotes by Maya Angelou
118 quotes“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”
“I learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
“The storyteller's job at a festival is to remind people of who they are when they're at their best.”
“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.”
“Try to be a rainbow in someone else's cloud.”
“If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.”
“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
“You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.”
“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.”
“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.”
“And still I rise.”
“I am a woman, phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, that's me.”
“There is a kind of strength that is almost frightening in black women.”
“It is in the rain that the sun comes back.”
“You can only become truly accomplished at something you love.”
“Don't make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing.”
“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.”
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