Quotes from Maya Angelou

The rope at my back and the pad on the floor, the smack of four hammers, new bones in my jaw, the guard in my mouth, my tongue startin' to swell. Fightin' was livin'. Boxin' was real. Fightin' was real. Livin' was … hell.

There is more to life than being a diligent maid with a permanent pussy.

Los atardeceres revelaban la dureza de la vida de los negros en el Sur, que a primeras horas de la mañana había quedado suavizada por los dones de la naturaleza: el amodorramiento, el olvido y la tenue luz del quinqué.

a big man, who was himself protected by the shield of a bad reputation

Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise.

Aunque en el barrio negro siempre había muestras de generosidad, practicarla entrañaba el dolor del sacrificio. Fuera lo que fuese lo que un negro diera a otro, casi seguro que el donante lo necesitaba tan urgentemente como el donatario. Eso hacía que el dar y recibir constituyera entre ellos un intercambio fructífero.

We often think that our affairs, great or small, must be tended continuously and in detail, or our world will disintegrate, and we will lose our places in the universe. That is not true, or if it is true, then our situations were so temporary that they would have collapsed anyway.

Momma, knowing Bailey, warned, Now Ju, be careful you don't slip up on a not true. (Nice people didn't say lie.)

Of falling leaves and melting snows, of birds In their delights Some poets sing their melodies tendering my nights sweetly.

We learned the times tables without understanding their grand principle, simply because we had the capacity and no alternative.

I'm a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal women, That's me.

It comes in black and blue, indecisive beige.

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

Nothing can dim.the light which shines within us

When you come to me, unbidden, Beckoning me To long-ago rooms, Where memories lie. Offering me, as to a child, an attic, Gatherings of days too few

It is sunrise, with Hope its arrogant rider.

We had cooked the food of a nation of racists, and despite the many opportunities, there were few stories of black servants poisoning white families. If that didn't show mercy, then I misunderstood the word.

Momma wouldn't talk right then, but later in the evening I found that my violation lay in using the phrase by the way. Momma explained that Jesus was the Way, the Truth and the Light, and anyone who says by the way is really saying, by Jesus, or by God and the Lord's name would not be taken in vain in her house.

Ma quali sono quella madre e quella figlia che si capiscono, o quanto meno guardano con indulgenza la mancanza di comprensione reciproca?

The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself.

We turned other cheeks so often our heads seemed to revolve on the end of our necks, like old stop and go signs.

when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time

If you must look back, do so forgivingly. If you must look forward, do so prayerfully. However, the wisest thing you can do is be present in the present gratefully.

Human beings are more alike than unalike, and what is true anywhere is true everywhere, yet I encourage travel to as many destinations as possible for the sake of education as well as pleasure...by demonstrating that all people cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try to understand each other, we may even become friends.