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Maya Angelou

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Each of us has the right and the responsibility to assess the roads which lie ahead, and those over which we have traveled, and if the future road looms ominous or unpromising, and the roads back uninviting, then we need to gather our resolve and, carrying only the necessary baggage, step off that road into another direction. If the new choice is also unpalatable, without embarrassment, we must be ready to change that as well.
From Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now
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Make every effort to change things you do not like. If you cannot make a change, change the way you have been thinking. You might find a new solution.
From Letter to My Daughter
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We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.

Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love's light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.
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Ah, Momma. I had never looked at death before, peered into its yawning chasm for the face of a beloved. For days my mind staggered out of balance. I reeled on a precipice of knowledge that even if I were rich enough to travel all over the world, I would never find Momma. If I were as good as God’s angels and as pure as the Mother of Christ, I could never have Momma’s rough slow hands pat my cheek or braid my hair.

Death to the young is more than that undiscovered country; despite its inevitability, it is a place having reality only in song or in other people's grief.
From Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas
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I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.

(Popular misquote of "You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.")
From Letter to My Daughter
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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.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I sustain myself with the love of family.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I hope you always find a reason to smile.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Wouldn't take nothing for my journey now.
From Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now
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Life is going to give you just what you put in it. Put your whole heart in everything you do, and pray, then you can wait.
From I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
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What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it. Don't complain.
From Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
People whose history and future were threatened each day by extinction considered that it was only by divine intervention that they were able to live at all. I find it interesting that the meanest life, the poorest existence, is attributed to God's will, but as human beings become more affluent, as their living standard and style begin to ascend the material scale, God descends the scale of responsibility at a commensurate speed.
From I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
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My life has been one great big joke,
A dance that's walked,
A song that's spoke,
I laugh so hard I almost choke,
When I think about myself.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
That's what you want to do? Then nothing beats a trial but a failure. Give it everything you've got. I've told you many times, 'Cant do is like Dont Care.' Neither of them have a home.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Try to be a rainbow in someone else's cloud.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I had given up some youth for knowledge, but my gain was more valuable than the loss
From I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I find relief from the questions only when I concede that I am not obliged to know everything. I remind myself it is sufficient to know what I know, and that what I know, may not always be true.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for.
From Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now
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Can I do it? I'd rather not try and fail."

"That's stupid talk, Maya. Every try will not succeed. But if you're going to live, live at all, your business is trying. And if you fail once, so what? Old folks say, Every shuteye ain't sleep and every goodbye ain't gone. You fail, you get up and try again.
From The Heart of a Woman
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I’m grateful for being here, for being able to think, for being able to see, for being able to taste, for appreciating love – for knowing that it exists in a world so rife with vulgarity, with brutality and violence, and yet love exists. I’m grateful to know that it exists.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I answer the heroic question, 'Death, where is thy sting?' with 'It is in my heart and mind and memories.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I find it very difficult to let a friend or beloved go into that country of no return. I answer the heroic question, "Death, where is thy sting?" with "It is here in my heart, and my mind, and my memories.
From Letter to My Daughter
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Each of us has the right and the responsibility to assess the roads which lie ahead, and those over which we have traveled, and if the future road looms ominous or unpromising, and the roads back uninviting, then we need to gather our resolve and, carrying only the necessary baggage, step off that road into another direction. If the new choice is also unpalatable, without embarrassment, we must be ready to change that as well.
From Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Make every effort to change things you do not like. If you cannot make a change, change the way you have been thinking. You might find a new solution.
From Letter to My Daughter
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.

Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love's light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Ah, Momma. I had never looked at death before, peered into its yawning chasm for the face of a beloved. For days my mind staggered out of balance. I reeled on a precipice of knowledge that even if I were rich enough to travel all over the world, I would never find Momma. If I were as good as God’s angels and as pure as the Mother of Christ, I could never have Momma’s rough slow hands pat my cheek or braid my hair.

Death to the young is more than that undiscovered country; despite its inevitability, it is a place having reality only in song or in other people's grief.
From Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.

(Popular misquote of "You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.")
From Letter to My Daughter
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I sustain myself with the love of family.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I hope you always find a reason to smile.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Wouldn't take nothing for my journey now.
From Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Life is going to give you just what you put in it. Put your whole heart in everything you do, and pray, then you can wait.
From I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it. Don't complain.
From Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
People whose history and future were threatened each day by extinction considered that it was only by divine intervention that they were able to live at all. I find it interesting that the meanest life, the poorest existence, is attributed to God's will, but as human beings become more affluent, as their living standard and style begin to ascend the material scale, God descends the scale of responsibility at a commensurate speed.
From I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
My life has been one great big joke,
A dance that's walked,
A song that's spoke,
I laugh so hard I almost choke,
When I think about myself.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
That's what you want to do? Then nothing beats a trial but a failure. Give it everything you've got. I've told you many times, 'Cant do is like Dont Care.' Neither of them have a home.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Try to be a rainbow in someone else's cloud.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I had given up some youth for knowledge, but my gain was more valuable than the loss
From I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I find relief from the questions only when I concede that I am not obliged to know everything. I remind myself it is sufficient to know what I know, and that what I know, may not always be true.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for.
From Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Can I do it? I'd rather not try and fail."

"That's stupid talk, Maya. Every try will not succeed. But if you're going to live, live at all, your business is trying. And if you fail once, so what? Old folks say, Every shuteye ain't sleep and every goodbye ain't gone. You fail, you get up and try again.
From The Heart of a Woman
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I’m grateful for being here, for being able to think, for being able to see, for being able to taste, for appreciating love – for knowing that it exists in a world so rife with vulgarity, with brutality and violence, and yet love exists. I’m grateful to know that it exists.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I answer the heroic question, 'Death, where is thy sting?' with 'It is in my heart and mind and memories.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I find it very difficult to let a friend or beloved go into that country of no return. I answer the heroic question, "Death, where is thy sting?" with "It is here in my heart, and my mind, and my memories.
From Letter to My Daughter
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Each of us has the right and the responsibility to assess the roads which lie ahead, and those over which we have traveled, and if the future road looms ominous or unpromising, and the roads back uninviting, then we need to gather our resolve and, carrying only the necessary baggage, step off that road into another direction. If the new choice is also unpalatable, without embarrassment, we must be ready to change that as well.
From Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Make every effort to change things you do not like. If you cannot make a change, change the way you have been thinking. You might find a new solution.
From Letter to My Daughter
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.

Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love's light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Ah, Momma. I had never looked at death before, peered into its yawning chasm for the face of a beloved. For days my mind staggered out of balance. I reeled on a precipice of knowledge that even if I were rich enough to travel all over the world, I would never find Momma. If I were as good as God’s angels and as pure as the Mother of Christ, I could never have Momma’s rough slow hands pat my cheek or braid my hair.

Death to the young is more than that undiscovered country; despite its inevitability, it is a place having reality only in song or in other people's grief.
From Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.

(Popular misquote of "You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.")
From Letter to My Daughter
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I sustain myself with the love of family.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I hope you always find a reason to smile.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Wouldn't take nothing for my journey now.
From Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Life is going to give you just what you put in it. Put your whole heart in everything you do, and pray, then you can wait.
From I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it. Don't complain.
From Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
People whose history and future were threatened each day by extinction considered that it was only by divine intervention that they were able to live at all. I find it interesting that the meanest life, the poorest existence, is attributed to God's will, but as human beings become more affluent, as their living standard and style begin to ascend the material scale, God descends the scale of responsibility at a commensurate speed.
From I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
My life has been one great big joke,
A dance that's walked,
A song that's spoke,
I laugh so hard I almost choke,
When I think about myself.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
That's what you want to do? Then nothing beats a trial but a failure. Give it everything you've got. I've told you many times, 'Cant do is like Dont Care.' Neither of them have a home.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Try to be a rainbow in someone else's cloud.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I had given up some youth for knowledge, but my gain was more valuable than the loss
From I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I find relief from the questions only when I concede that I am not obliged to know everything. I remind myself it is sufficient to know what I know, and that what I know, may not always be true.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for.
From Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Can I do it? I'd rather not try and fail."

"That's stupid talk, Maya. Every try will not succeed. But if you're going to live, live at all, your business is trying. And if you fail once, so what? Old folks say, Every shuteye ain't sleep and every goodbye ain't gone. You fail, you get up and try again.
From The Heart of a Woman
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I’m grateful for being here, for being able to think, for being able to see, for being able to taste, for appreciating love – for knowing that it exists in a world so rife with vulgarity, with brutality and violence, and yet love exists. I’m grateful to know that it exists.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I answer the heroic question, 'Death, where is thy sting?' with 'It is in my heart and mind and memories.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I find it very difficult to let a friend or beloved go into that country of no return. I answer the heroic question, "Death, where is thy sting?" with "It is here in my heart, and my mind, and my memories.
From Letter to My Daughter
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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