"Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt and live like it's heaven on Earth."
— Mark Twain

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."
— Dr. Seuss

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

"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much."
— Oscar Wilde

"Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why we call it 'The Present'."
— Eleanor Roosevelt

"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

"Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people."
— Eleanor Roosevelt

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

"When love is not madness it is not love."
— Pedro Calderón de la Barca

"I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride; so I love you because I know no other way."
— Pablo Neruda (100 Love Sonnets/Cien Sonetos De Amor)

"They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for."
— Thomas Edward Bodett

"Being a woman is a terribly difficult task, since it consists principally in dealing with men."
— Joseph Conrad

"I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naïve or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman."
— Anaïs Nin

"All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does, and that is his."
— Oscar Wilde (The Importance of Being Earnest)

"Lock up your libraries if you like, but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind."
— Virginia Woolf (A Room of One's Own)

"In politics, If you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman."
— Margaret Thatcher

"Why are women... so much more interesting to men than men are to women?"
— Virginia Woolf

"No woman really wants a man to carry her off; she only wants him to want to do it."
— Elizabeth Peters

"What would men be without women? Scarce, sir...mighty scarce."
— Mark Twain

"I like men who have a future and women who have a past."
— Oscar Wilde

"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."
— Mark Twain

"The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple."
— Oscar Wilde

"A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."
— Mark Twain

"The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off."
— Gloria Steinem

"There are no facts, only interpretations."
— Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

"Love truth, but pardon error"
— Voltaire

"When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight."
— Kahlil Gibrán

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

"Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it."
— André Gide

"The truth is not always beautiful, nor beautiful words the truth."
— Laozi (Tao Te Ching)

" 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"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

"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

"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

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

"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'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

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