Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size But when I start to tell them, They think I’m telling lies. I say, It’s in the reach of my arms The span of my hips, The stride of my step, The curl of my lips. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me.

The sadness of the women’s movement is that they don’t allow the necessity of love. See, I don’t personally trust any revolution where love is not allowed.

Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.

I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.

Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.

Anger is short madness

Life is a quarry, out of which we are to mold and chisel and complete a character.

Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.

You don’t stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing.

You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes.

It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.

As an example to others, and not that I care for moderation myself, it has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep and never to refrain when awake.

A Man in Business must put up many Affronts, if he loves his own Quiet.

If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share.

Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody.

Fierce eagles do not produce timorous doves.

He that fails in his endeavors after wealth or power will not long retain either honesty or courage.

The secret of being miserable is to have leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not. The cure for it is occupation.