About Maya Angelou:

Maya Angelou is best known for her series of seven autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Wouldn't take nothing for my journey now.

Maya Angelou

Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist etern...

Maya Angelou

Since time is the one immaterial object which we cannot influence—neither speed up nor slow down, add to nor diminish—it is an imponderably valuable gift.

Maya Angelou

I have great respect for the past. If you don't know where you've come from, you don't know where you're going. I have respect for the past, but I'm a person of the moment. I'm here, and I do my best to be completely centered at the place I'm at, the...

Maya Angelou

If we accept being talked to any kind of a way, then we are telling ourselves we are not quite worth the best. And if we have the effrontery to talk to anybody with less than courtesy, we tell ourselves and the world we are not very intelligent.

Maya Angelou

The best comfort food will always be greens, cornbread, and fried chicken.

Maya Angelou

I find in my poetry and prose the rhythms and imagery of the best - I mean, when I'm at my best - of the good Southern black preachers. The lyricism of the spirituals and the directness of gospel songs and the mystery of blues are in my music or in m...

Maya Angelou

How wonderful it is to be an American. We have known the best of times and the worst of times.

Maya Angelou

For a person who grew up in the '30s and '40s in the segregated South, with so many doors closed without explanation to me, libraries and books said, 'Here I am, read me.' Over time I have learned I am at my best around books.

Maya Angelou

A wise woman wishes to be no one's enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone's victim.

Maya Angelou

I have a son, who is my heart. A wonderful young man, daring and loving and strong and kind.

Maya Angelou

My grandmother took me to church on Sunday all day long, every Sunday into the night. Then Monday evening was the missionary meeting. Tuesday evening was usher board meeting. Wednesday evening was prayer meeting. Thursday evening was visit the sick. ...

Maya Angelou

Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.

Maya Angelou

If we don't plant the right things, we will reap the wrong things. It goes without saying. And you don't have to be, you know, a brilliant biochemist and you don't have to have an IQ of 150. Just common sense tells you to be kind, ninny, fool. Be kin...

Maya Angelou

A cynical young person is almost the saddest sight to see, because it means that he or she has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing.

Maya Angelou

Until blacks and whites see each other as brother and sister, we will not have parity. It's very clear.

Maya Angelou

Independence is a heady draught, and if you drink it in your youth, it can have the same effect on the brain as young wine does. It does not matter that its taste is not always appealing. It is addictive and with each drink you want more.

Maya Angelou

Whenever I'm around some who is modest, I think, 'Run like hell and all of fire.' You don't want modesty, you want humility.

Maya Angelou

How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!

Maya Angelou

There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing.

Maya Angelou

The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.

Maya Angelou

Author Bio

NameMaya Angelou
DescriptionAmerican author and poet
BornApril 4, 1928
DiedMay 28, 2014
CountryUnited States Of America
ProfessionPoet; Actor; Dancer; Film Producer; Television Producer; Playwright; Film Director; Professor; Screenwriter; Writer; Essayist; Songwriter; Autobiographer
WorksI Know Why The Caged Bird Sings; On The Pulse Of Morning
AwardsMarian Anderson Award; National Women's Hall Of Fame

Quotes by Maya Angelou

About Maya Angelou:

Author Bio