Maya Angelou

I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.

If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. Don’t be surly at home, then go out in the street and start grinning Good morning at total strangers.

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.

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

Poetry puts starch in your backbone so you can stand, so you can compose your life.

The need for change bulldozed road down the center of my mind.

Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment. There is no thread that is not a twist of these two strands. By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote.

Those who attain to any excellence commonly spend life in some single pursuit, for excellence is not often gained upon easier terms.

I will not say do not weep, for not all tears are evil.

Money and time are the heaviest burdens of life, and the unhappiest of all mortals are those who have more of either than they know how to use.

Rarely promise, but, if lawful, constantly perform.

After a few months’ acquaintance with European coffee, one’s mind weakens, and his faith with it, and he begins to wonder if the rich beverage of home, with its clotted layer of yellow cream on top of it, is not a mere dream after all, and a thing which never existed.

Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable.

He that has more knowledge than judgment, is made for another man’s use more than his own.

Sense shines with a double luster when it is set in humility. An able yet humble man is a jewel worth a kingdom.

Solitude is dangerous to reason, without being favorable to virtue. Remember that the solitary mortal is certainly luxurious, probably superstitious, and possibly mad.

The more I see of the moneyed classes, the more I understand the guillotine.

A portion of mankind take pride in their vices and pursue their purpose; many more waver between doing what is right and complying with what is wrong.

One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.

Everything’s fine today, that is our illusion.

Self-realization is effortless. What you are trying to find is what you already are.