Maya Angelou Quotes

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

Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.

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.

Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.

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.

I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it.

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.

We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated.

I believe that each of us comes from the creator trailing wisps of glory.

I work really hard at trying to see the big picture and not getting stuck in ego. I believe we’re all put on this planet for a purpose, and we all have a different purpose… When you connect with that love and that compassion, that’s when everything unfolds.

Maya Angelou Quotes part 2

Everything in the universe has a rhythm, everything dances.

Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.

We need much less than we think we need.

Forgive yourself for not knowing what you didn’t know before you learned it.

One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.

If you’re always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.

I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.

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

The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.

A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.

You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.

I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t laugh.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take but by the moments that take your breath away.

The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unjoined with arrogance.

It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.

You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off you.

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.

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.

No matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst, and unsurprised by anything in between.

If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love.

Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.

A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.

If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.

Life loves the liver of it.

There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing.

I am a Woman, Phenomenally. Phenomenal Woman, that’s me.

We can learn to see each other and see ourselves in each other and recognize that human beings are more alike than we are unalike.

Each time a woman stands up for herself, she stands up for all women.

Whining is not only graceless, but can be dangerous. It can alert a brute that a victim is in the neighborhood.

I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.

I don’t know if I continue, even today, always liking myself. But what I learned to do many years ago was to forgive myself. It is very important for every human being to forgive herself or himself because if you live, you will make mistakes- it is inevitable. But once you do and you see the mistake, then you forgive yourself and say, ‘well, if I’d known better, I’d have done better,’ that’s all.

A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.

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.

Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency.

My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy.

It is this belief in a power larger than myself and other than myself which allows me to venture into the unknown and even the unknowable.