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We have to confront ourselves. Do we like what we see in the mirror? And, according to our light, according to our understanding, according to our courage, we will have to say yea or nay - and rise!

Maya Angelou

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Maya Angelou
Age: 86 †
Born: 1928
Born: April 4
Died: 2014
Died: May 28
Author
Autobiographer
Comedian
Dancer
Essayist
Film Director
Film Producer
Human Rights Activist
Journalist
Novelist
Playwright
Politician
St. Louis
Missouri
Marguerite Annie Johnson
Marguerite Johnson
Marguerite Ann Johnson
Marguerite Anne Johnson
Understanding
Inspirational
Light
Confront
Like
Mirror
According
Mirrors
Rise
Courage

More quotes by Maya Angelou

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I find it interesting that the meanest life, the poorest existence, is attributed to God's will, but as human beings become more affluent, as their living standard and style begin to ascend the material scale, God descends the scale of responsibility at commensurate speed.
Maya Angelou
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I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.
Maya Angelou
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It is sad but true that sometimes we need the tragedy to help us to see how human we are and how we are more alike than we are different.
Maya Angelou
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I've learned that forgiving is one of the greatest gifts that I can give myself.
Maya Angelou
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I learned a long time ago the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side, be an advocate for myself and others like me.
Maya Angelou
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I know some people might think it odd - unworthy even - for me to have written a cookbook, but I make no apologies. The U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins thought I had demeaned myself by writing poetry for Hallmark Cards, but I am the people's poet so I write for the people.
Maya Angelou
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I, with millions of other Americans, have the same dream Martin Luther King Jr. had when I wake up I wish some of the things I dreamt would be true. I wish that little black and white boys and girls would hold hands without being shocked at their nearness to each other and say in a natural way, we have overcome.
Maya Angelou
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I couldn't tell fact from fiction, Or if the dream was true My only sure prediction In this world was you. I'd touch your features inchly. Beard love and dared the cost, The sented spiel reeled me unreal And I found my senses lost.
Maya Angelou
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People will never forget how you made them feel.
Maya Angelou
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There's something which impels us to show our inner souls. The more courageous we are, the more we succeed in explaining what we know.
Maya Angelou
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It's very hard for adults to maintain respect and romance so that a love affair can be sustained over years.
Maya Angelou
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I think all poems are commissioned. They just come to me without somebody outside commissioning them. The idea comes and I will live with them 'til I get it as close to what I mean. I've never been totally satisfied. I've come close a few times.
Maya Angelou
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The most noble cause known to man is the liberation of the human mind and spirit.
Maya Angelou
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I believe everything is energy. I believe that the meal you serve yourself, you prepare, is energy. And if you serve it to your family, it's your gift of energy to them.
Maya Angelou
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I love the melodies in the Old Testament, how preachers highlight them when they read from the Scripture. But I was influenced forever by the New Testament. I love the Beatitudes, informing us that the meek shall inherit the earth.
Maya Angelou
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Ritie, don't worry 'cause you ain't pretty. Plenty pretty women I seen digging ditches or worse. You smart. I swear to God, I rather you have a good mind than a cute behind.
Maya Angelou
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It is important that we learn humility, which says there was someone else before me who paid for me. My responsibility is to prepare myself so that I can pay for someone else who is yet to come.
Maya Angelou
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The truth is you never can leave home. You take it with you everywhere you go. It's under your skin. It moves the tongue or slows it, colors the thinking, impedes upon the logic.
Maya Angelou
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The most called-upon prerequisite of a friend is an accessible ear.
Maya Angelou
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We do the best we can with what we know, and when we know better, we do better.
Maya Angelou