Maya Angelou born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Angelou is best known for her series of seven autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences
When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.
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, then I go forward to the next place.
Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.
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.
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
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.
Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.
History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.
Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.
The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.
We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.
The more you know of your history, the more liberated you are.
Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.
Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.