"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."
— Maya Angelou

"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."
— Maya Angelou

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."
— Maya Angelou

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."
— Maya Angelou

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain."
— Maya Angelou

"The first time someone shows you who they are, believe them."
— Maya Angelou

"I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it."
— Maya Angelou

"Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it."
— Maya Angelou

"I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights."
— Maya Angelou

"Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness."
— Maya Angelou

""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" "
— Maya Angelou

"Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it!"
— Maya Angelou

" Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me."
— Maya Angelou

"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 of you."
— Maya Angelou

"Still I Rise


You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

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

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise."
— Maya Angelou

"Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him."
— Maya Angelou

"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've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life. I've learned that making a "living" is not the same thing as making a "life." I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. 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. I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one. I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. I've learned that I still have a lot to learn. 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."
— Maya Angelou

"Courage: the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently."
— Maya Angelou

"There's a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure truth."
— Maya Angelou

"Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art."
— Maya Angelou

"If I am not good to myself, how can I expect anyone else to be good to me?"
— Maya Angelou

"I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one."
— Maya Angelou

"I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels, lifes a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass."
— Maya Angelou

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

"When you learn, teach, when you get, give."
— Maya Angelou

"A woman's heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her.
"
— Maya Angelou

"We need much less than we think we need."
— Maya Angelou

"When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young."
— Maya Angelou

"I am a Woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal Woman,
that's me."
— Maya Angelou

"I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better."
— Maya Angelou

"Everything in the universe has a rhythm, everything dances. "
— Maya Angelou

"I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life."
— Maya Angelou

"Surviving is important. Thriving is elegant."
— Maya Angelou

"Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean."
— Maya Angelou

"Be a rainbow in someone else's cloud."
— Maya Angelou (Letter to My Daughter)

"I sustain myself with the love of family."
— Maya Angelou

"I believe that the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity is daring to dare."
— Maya Angelou

"Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet"
— Maya Angelou

"The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.
"
— Maya Angelou

"If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform a million realities."
— Maya Angelou

"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.
"
— Maya Angelou

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

"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"

"
— Maya Angelou

"Be present in all things and thankful for all things"
— Maya Angelou

"Most people don't grow up. Most people age. They find parking spaces, honor their credit cards, get married, have children, and call that maturity. What that is, is aging.
"
— Maya Angelou

"I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same thing as 'making a life'."
— Maya Angelou

"Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning."
— Maya Angelou

"You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it. "
— Maya Angelou

"Touched by an Angel

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."
— Maya Angelou

"Poetry puts starch in your backbone so you can stand, so you can compose your life."
— Maya Angelou