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Poetry gave me back my voice.

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
Gave
Poetry
Voice
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More quotes by Maya Angelou

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We agreed that great men and women should be forced to live as long as possible. The reverence they enjoyed was a life sentence, which they could neither revoke nor modify.
Maya Angelou
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There is a kind of strength that is almost frightening in Black women. It's as if a steel rod runs right through the head down to the feet.
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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.
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I know that I've been guided by God. I am obedient.
Maya Angelou
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A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but a woman called by a devaluing name will only be weakened by the misnomer.
Maya Angelou
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Depending on who I am talking about or who's talking through me - if the person is a kind of hip-hop, or rhythm and blues person, or if the person is a kind of old-fashion gothic, meaning gothic attitude, then that will determine what form the poem will take.
Maya Angelou
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You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies. You may trod me in the very dirt, but still like dust, I'll rise.
Maya Angelou
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When I'm writing, I write. And then it's as if the muse is convinced that I'm serious and says, 'Okay. Okay. I'll come.'
Maya Angelou
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To be angry is very good. It burns out things and leaves nutrients in the soil. You should always be ready to be angry at injustice and cruelty.
Maya Angelou
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I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.
Maya Angelou
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In Stamps the segregation was so complete that most Black children didn't really, absolutely know what whites looked like.
Maya Angelou
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The woman who truly intends to live a good life is already living phenomenally since intent is part of the achievement.
Maya Angelou
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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.
Maya Angelou
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'God put the rainbow in the clouds, not just in the sky'... It is wise to realize we already have rainbows in our clouds, or we wouldn't be here. If the rainbow is in the clouds, then in the worst of time, there is the possibility of seeing hope... We can say 'I can be a rainbow in the cloud for someone yet to be.' That may be our calling.
Maya Angelou
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I am serious, so I laugh a lot. You need to laugh. You don't laugh enough. I don't trust anyone who doesn't laugh.
Maya Angelou
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Don't face the day until you've faced God.
Maya Angelou
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You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.
Maya Angelou
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I love wisdom. And you can never be great at anything unless you love it. Not be in love with it, but love the thing, admire the thing. And it seems that if you love the thing, and you don't just want to possess it, it will find you. But if you're in love with the thing, it may run like hell away from you.
Maya Angelou
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Whether you are happy or whether you are sad, it is wise to remember you are really in process.
Maya Angelou
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If we lose love and self respect for each other, this is how we finally die.
Maya Angelou