Quotes from Maya Angelou

Miss Glory went on to say that the doctor had taken all her lady organs. I reasoned that a pig organ's included the lungs, heart, and liver, so if Mrs. Cullinan was walking around without those essentials, it explained why she drank alcohol out of unmarked bottles. She was keeping herself embalmed.

When someone shows you who they are, the first time, believe them Maya Angelou

So use that anger, yes. You write it. You paint it. You dance it. You march it. You vote it. You do everything about it. You talk it. Never stop talking it."-Maya Angelou

We write for the same reason that we walk , talk, climb mountains or swim the oceans - because we can. We have some impulse within us that makes us want to explain ourselves to other human beings. That's why we paint, that's why we dare to love someone - because we have the impulse to explain who we are.

For all his theatrics, or maybe because of them, I knew he was a strong man. I had always been more comfortable around strong people.

You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide to not be reduced by them.

When people show you who they are believe them the first time

As a Black American woman, I could not sit with easy hands and an impassive face and have my future planned. Life in my country had demanded that I act for myself or face terrible consequences.

I hoped the memory of that morning would never leave me. Sunlight was itself still young, and the day had none of the insistence maturity would bring it in a few hours. In my robe and barefoot in the backyard, under cover of going to see about my new beans, I gave myself up to the gentle warmth and thanked God that no matter what evil I had done in my life He had allowed me to live to see this day.

For me sleep was difficult that night. My bed was lumpy with anger and my pillow a rock of intemperate umbrage.

Good done anywhere is good done everywhere.

The caged bird sings with A fearful trill of things unknown But longed for still and his Tune is heard on the distant hill For the caged bird sings of freedom.

Hell, girl, everybody feels sorry for you, but nobody owes you a damn thing.

I knew I was given to dramatic overstatement, or was known to waffle about repetitiously. To further complicate matters, I was sincere. Sincerity badly stated elicits mistrust.

Family isn't always blood. It's the people in your life who want you in theirs. The ones who accept you for who you are. The ones who would do anything to see you smile, and who love you no matter what.

We cannot change the past, but we can change our attitude toward it. Uproot guilt and plant forgiveness. Tear out arrogance and seed humility. Exchange love for hate—thereby, making the present comfortable and the future promising. —Maya Angelou

I rise I rise I rise

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

The more you cry, the less you'll pee, and peeing is more important.

All the strong black birds of promise who defy the odds and gods and sing their sings.

Just like the moons and certainty of tides, Still I Rise.

It is by observation that in the future they will not remember what you said, they will not remember what you did, but they will remember how you made them feel.

My audience listened, mouths agape, as I reeled my story before them. Their imaginations had been good, but mine was better. They had been amusing themselves, but I was motivated by the desire to escape.