Quote

I try to live what I consider a poetic existence. That means I take responsibility for the air I breathe and the space I take up. I try to be immediate, to be totally present for all my work.

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
Means
Breathe
Live
Totally
Take
Consider
Mean
Air
Trying
Present
Work
Responsibility
Poetic
Existence
Immediate
Space
Appreciation

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My hope is that we develop enough courage to develop courage. To try to have, try to learn to treat each other fairly, with generosity and kindness.
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jealousy is conceived only in insecurity and must be nourished in fear.
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We are missing Michael. But we do know we had him, and we are the world.
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A great soul serves everyone all the time. A great soul never dies. It brings us together again and again.
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If we are honest and fair, then we are known by that. If we are not, alas, we are known by that as well. What we want to do is do right, but you have to say it, you have to show it, and not stop.
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If I'm going to a new country, I try to learn something about the language and the culture, so I don't just go bumbling over things.
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The honorary duty of a human being is to love.
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I'm grateful to intelligent people. That doesn't mean educated. That doesn't mean intellectual. I mean really intelligent. What black old people used to call 'mother wit' means intelligence that you had in your mother's womb. That's what you rely on. You know what's right to do.
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Living a life is like constructing a building: if you start wrong, you'll end wrong.
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Life is going to give you just what you put in it. Put your whole heart in everything you do, and pray, then you can wait.
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Poetry gave me back my voice.
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When people see the laughing face, even if they're jealous of it, their burden is lightened. But do it first for yourself. Laugh and dare to try to love somebody, starting with yourself.
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Ain't nothin' to it, but to do it.
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Try to be all you can be to be the best human being you can be. Try to be that in your church, in your temple. Try to be that in your classroom. Do it because it is right to do.
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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.
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Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for.
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Oh, the holiness of being the injured party.
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If I wanted to write, I had to be willing to develop a kind of concentration found mostly in people awaiting execution. I had to learn technique and surrender my ignorance.
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Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.
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At our best, we're all teachers
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