"We can only know where we're going if we know where we've been."
Read quote
4 likes
Quote collection
Maya Angelou quotes (page 35 of 51)
1K quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"The sisters and brothers that you meet give you the materials which your character uses to build itself. It is said that some people are born great, others achieve it, some have it thrust upon them. In truth, the ways in which your character is built have to do with all three of those. Those around you, those you choose, and those who choose you."
Read quote
4 likes
"...We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated. That sounds goody two-shoes, I know, but I believe that a diamond is the result of extreme pressure and time. Less time is crystal. Less than that is coal. Less than that is fossilized leaves. Less than that it's just plain dirt. In all my work, in the movies I write, the lyrics the poetry, the prose, the essays, I am saying that we may encounter many defeats - maybe it's imperative that we encounter the defeats - but we are much stronger than we appear to be and maybe much better than we allow ourselves to be."
Read quote
4 likes
"When teachers or people in authority put me down or in one way or another tried to make me feel less than equal to what they thought I should be - my mother was on my side. It was amazing."
Read quote
4 likes
"Continue to plant a kiss of concern on the cheek of the sick and the aged and infirm and count that actions as natural and to be expected."
Read quote
4 likes
"I am never proud to participate in violence, yet I know that each of us must care enough for ourselves that we can be ready and able to come to our own defence when and wherever needed."
Read quote
4 likes
"If we are honest and fair, then we are known by that. If we are not, alas, we are known by that as well. What we want to do is do right, but you have to say it, you have to show it, and not stop."
Read quote
4 likes
"Being free is being able to accept people for what they are, and not try to understand all they are or be what they are."
Read quote
4 likes
"We are the victims of the world's most comprehensive robbery. Life demands a balance. It's all right if we do a little robbing now."
Read quote
4 likes
"I believe that quality level is determined primarily by the actual design of the product itself, not by quality control in the production process."
Read quote
4 likes
"Among other things, I'm thinking "I'm a child of God." That's amazing. And "I'm not only a child of God, but God loves me." The hardest part for me is to realize that while God loves me, and I am a child of God, I have to see the bigot and the brute and the rapist, and whether he or she knows it or not, I have to know that that person is a child of God. That is part of the responsibility - and it's hard."
Read quote
4 likes
"You are the sum total of everything you've seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot- it's all right there."
Read quote
4 likes
"Continue to be bold, courageous. Try to choose the wisest thing and once you've chosen the wisest thing go out and try to achieve it. Be it."
Read quote
4 likes
"The first thing I do in the morning when I awaken is say, 'Thank you, Lord!' I'm grateful to be alive, and I'm going to try to tell the truth as well as I know and tell it as eloquently as I can so that people can hear it."
Read quote
4 likes
"Life offers us tickets to places which we have not knowingly asked for."
Read quote
4 likes
"Rainbows are people whose lives are bright, shining examples for others."
Read quote
4 likes
"I believe that a negative statement is poison.I'm convinced that the negative has power. It lives. And if you allow it to perch in your house, in your mind, in your life, it can take you over. So when the rude or cruel thing is said - the lambasting, the gay bashing, the hate - I say, "Take it all out of my house!" Those negative words climb into the woodwork and into the furniture, and the next thing you know they'll be on my skin."
Read quote
4 likes
"And I not only have the right to stand up for myself, but I have the responsibility. I can't ask somebody else to stand up for me if I won't stand up for myself. And once you stand up for yourself, you'd be surprised that people say, "Can I be of help?""
Read quote
4 likes
"There is an intimate laughter to be found only among friends"
Read quote
4 likes
"I'm interested in women's health because I'm a woman. I'd be a darn fool not to be on my own side."
Read quote
4 likes