I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

by Maya Angelou

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

Hadn't I, always, but ever and ever, thought that life was just one great risk for the living?

In the school itself I was disappointed to find that I was not the most brilliant or even nearly the most brilliant student.

I will always believe that her love of teaching came not so much from her liking for students but from her desire to make sure that some of the things she knew would find repositories so that they could be shared again.

But don't kill yourself. You can always do that if things get bad enough.

My tears were not for Bailey or Mother or even myself but for the helplessness of mortals who live on the sufferance of Life. In order to avoid this bitter end, we would all have to be born again, and born with the knowledge of alternatives.