Maya Angelou

One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.

Self-pity in its early stages is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.

The first time someone shows you who they are, believe them.

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.

If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not working on hard enough problems. And that’s a big mistake.

Don’t hurry, don’t worry. You’re only here for a short visit. So be sure and smell the flowers.

Boredom: the desire for desires.

Accept the past for what it was. Acknowledge the present for what it is. Anticipate the future for what it can become.

Dream is not the thing what you see in sleep, dream is the thing that does not let you sleep.

Let us endeavor to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance.

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.

The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, so you have got to create a new history.

Life is a matter of really tough choices.

I don’t follow what everybody else does.

Since when is “public safety” the root password to the Constitution?

Possessions are always secondary, loved ones are all that matters.

I accept chaos, I’m not sure whether it accepts me.