Maya Angelou was born on April 4, 1928, as Marguerite Johnson. She gained her name Maya from her elder brother. Her parents divorced when she was young. After that, with her brother, she went to live with her grandmother. She went to San Francisco when she won a scholarship. These Maya Angelou quotes are inspirational, these quotes teach us about women, love, success, and courage.
35 Maya Angelou Quotes
- “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.” Maya Angelou
- “Go,” she whispered. “Go. Show them you spell your name W-O-M-A-N.” Maya Angelou
- “I am a Woman/Phenomenally./Phenomenal Woman,/that’s me.” Maya Angelou
- “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” Maya Angelou
- “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.” Maya Angelou
- “I have great respect for the past. If you don’t know where you’ve come from, you don’t know where you’re going. I have respect for the past, but I’m a person of the moment. I’m here, and I do my best to be completely centered at the place I’m at, then I go forward to the next place.” Maya Angelou
- “I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass.” 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
- “I’ve learned that making a ‘living’ is not the same thing as ‘making a life.’” Maya Angelou
- “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” Maya Angelou
- “If you have only one smile in you give it to the people you love.” Maya Angelou
- “It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself: to forgive. Forgive everybody.” Maya Angelou
- “Life likes to be taken by the lapel and told, ‘I’m with you kid. Let’s go!’” Maya Angelou
- “Lift up your hearts, Each new hour holds new chances For new beginnings.” Maya Angelou
- “Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.” Maya Angelou
- “Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.” Maya Angelou
- “My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return.” 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
- “No matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.” Maya Angelou
- “Nothing will work unless you do.” 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 birds sings of freedom.” Maya Angelou
- “The truth is, no one of us can be free until everybody is free.” Maya Angelou
- “To those who are given much, much is expected.” Maya Angelou
- “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” Maya Angelou
- “Only equals can become friends.” 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
- “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Maya Angelou
- “What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. Don’t complain.” Maya Angelou
- “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” Maya Angelou
- “While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are also God’s creation.” Maya Angelou
- “You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.” Maya Angelou
- “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.” Maya Angelou
- “You can only become truly accomplished at something you love.” Maya Angelou
- “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” Maya Angelou
- “I am grateful to be a woman. I must have done something great in another life.” Maya Angelou
