Quotes from Maya Angelou

My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who and how you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness.

You will face many defeats in life, but never let yourself be defeated.

Love is a condition so powerful; it may be that which pulls the stars in the firmament. It may be that which pushes and urges the blood in the veins. Courage: you have to have courage to love somebody because you risk everything — everything.

The truth is, no one of us can be free until everybody is free.

I answer the heroic question, 'Death, where is thy sting?' with 'It is in my heart and mind and memories.

Midwives and winding sheets know birthing is hard and dying is mean and living's a trial in between. Why do we journey, muttering like rumors among the stars? Is a dimension lost? Is it love?

The language of all the interpretations, the translations, of the Judaic Bible and the Christian Bible, is musical, just wonderful. I read the Bible to myself; I'll take any translation, any edition, and read it aloud, just to hear the language, hear the rhythm, and remind myself how beautiful English is.

In the evening, when we were alone like that, Uncle Willie didn't stutter or shake or give any indication that he had an affliction. It seemed that the peace of a day's ending was an assurance that the covenant God made with children, Negroes and the crippled was still in effect.

The happy heart runs with the river, floats on the air, lifts to the music, soars with the eagle, hopes with the prayer.

Most people don't grow up. Most people age. They find parking spaces, honor their credit cards, get married, have children, and call that maturity. What that is, is aging.

Martin Luther King was a human being with a brilliant mind, a powerful heart, and insight, and courage and also with a sense of humor. So he was accessible.

Some people unable to go to school were more educated and even more intelligent than college professors.