Quotes by Maya Angelou

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

Living in a state of terror was new to many white people in America, but black people have been living in a state of terror in this country for more than 400 years.

Maya Angelou

I'm very, very serious - I'm serious enough not to take myself too seriously. That means I can be completely wedded to the moment. But when I leave that moment, I want to be completely wedded to the next moment.

Maya Angelou

If I walked into the kitchen without washing my hands as a kid, I'd hear a loud 'A-hem!' from my mother or grandmother. Now I count on other people to do the same.

Maya Angelou

Shakespeare - I was very influenced - still am - by Shakespeare. I couldn't believe that a white man in the 16th century could so know my heart.

Maya Angelou

It's so tedious writing cookbooks or writing the recipes because I've never been much of a measurer. But to write a book, you have to measure everything.

Maya Angelou

I created myself. I have taught myself so much.

Maya Angelou

The language of all the interpretations, the translations, of the Judaic Bible and the Christian Bible, is musical, just wonderful. I read the Bible to myself; I'll take any translation, any edition, and read it aloud, just to hear the language, hear...

Maya Angelou

You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.

Maya Angelou

Most people don't grow up. Most people age. They find parking spaces, honor their credit cards, get married, have children, and call that maturity. What that is, is aging.

Maya Angelou

The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.

Maya Angelou

Be present in all things and thankful for all things.

Maya Angelou

This is a wonderful day, I have never seen this one before.

Maya Angelou

When you wish someone joy, you wish them peace, love, prosperity, happiness... all the good things.

Maya Angelou

I believe that the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity is daring to dare.

Maya Angelou

I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same thing as 'making a life'.

Maya Angelou

Stepping onto a brand-new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation, which is not nurturing to the whole woman.

Maya Angelou

There were people who went to sleep last night, poor and rich and white and black, but they will never wake again. And those dead folks would give anything at all for just five minutes of this weather or ten minutes of plowing. So you watch yourself ...

Maya Angelou

Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.

Maya Angelou

When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.

Maya Angelou

And my seven-year-old world humpty-dumptied, never to be put back together again.

Maya Angelou

The customs are as formalised as an eighteenth-century minuet, and a child at the race's knee learns the moves and twirls by osmosis and observation.

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