I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

by Maya Angelou

The tragedy of lameness seems so unfair to children that they are embarrassed in its presence.

I doubt that anyone got the message—certainly not those to whom it was directed.

To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power.

There was an army of adults, whose motives and movements I just couldn't understand and who made no effort to understand mine.

Words mean more than what is set down on paper.

That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and even more intelligent than college professors.