Maya Angelou

There’s a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure truth.

Something made greater by ourselves and in turn that makes us greater.

All men are prepared to accomplish the incredible if their ideals are threatened.

Children’s talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.

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.

I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life.

The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend.

Life too near paralyses art.

Our manners have been corrupted by communication with the saints.

I think that people just have this core desire to express who they are. And I think that’s always existed.

Don’t be afraid. Be focused. Be determined. Be hopeful. Be empowered.

I simply want to live; to cause no evil to anyone but myself.

Tis very certain that each man carries in his eye the exact indication of his rank in the immense scale of men, and we are always learning to read it. A complete man should need no auxiliaries to his personal presence.

Heaven is the work of the best and kindest men and women. Hell is the work of prigs, pedants and professional truth-tellers. The world is an attempt to make the best of Heaven and Hell.

Fate, then, is a name for facts not yet passed under the fire of thought; for causes which are unpenetrated.

I never thought much of the courage of a lion tamer. Inside the cage he is at least safe from people.

Fly fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.

Let a man find himself, in distinction from others, on top of two wheels with a chain – at least in a poor country like Russia – and his vanity begins to swell out like his tires. In America it takes an automobile to produce this effect.

It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?

I did not wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world, for there I could best see the moonlight amid the mountains. I do not wish to go below now.

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is.