Quote

We write for the same reason that we walk, talk, climb mountains or swim the oceans - because we can. We have some impulse within us that makes us want to explain ourselves to other human beings.

Maya Angelou

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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
Human
Beings
Climbs
Humans
Walk
Mountains
Writing
Walks
Swim
Within
Impulse
Talk
Explain
Write
Brilliant
Makes
Mountain
Oceans
Reason
Ocean
Climb

More quotes by Maya Angelou

Image
When teachers or people in authority put me down or in one way or another tried to make me feel less than equal to what they thought I should be - my mother was on my side. It was amazing.
Maya Angelou
Image
Each of us, famous or infamous, is a role model for somebody, and if we aren't, we should behave as though we are -- cheerful, kind, loving, courteous. Because you can be sure someone is watching and taking deliberate and diligent notes.
Maya Angelou
Image
Still, when it looked like the sun wasn't going to shine anymore, God put a rainbow in the clouds.
Maya Angelou
Image
I want all my senses engaged. Let me absorb the world's variety and uniqueness.
Maya Angelou
Image
When it looks like the sun isn't going to shine any more, God puts a rainbow in the clouds. Each one of us has the possibility, the responsibility, the probability to be the rainbow in the clouds.
Maya Angelou
Image
All riddles are blues, / And all blues are sad, / And I'm only mentioning / Some blues I've had.
Maya Angelou
Image
The black kids, the poor white kids, Spanish-speaking kids, and Asian kids in the US - in the face of everything to the contrary, they still bop and bump, shout and go to school somehow. Their optimism gives me hope.
Maya Angelou
Image
You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.
Maya Angelou
Image
I believe that people want the scent of love, more than anything else. And I don't mean sentimentality, I don't mean mush. I mean that idea, that human beings are more alike than we are different. And that means that I can love you. I don't mean support you in bad things you do, that I can understand because you're a human being.
Maya Angelou
Image
I can see in the acorn the oak tree. I see the growth, the rebuilding, the restoring. I see that is the American psyche. There is so much we can draw understanding from. One of the lessons is the development of courage. Because without courage, you can't practice any of the other virtues consistently.
Maya Angelou
Image
Life loves the person who dares to live it.
Maya Angelou
Image
Few, if any, survive their teens. Most surrender to the vague but murderous pressure of adult conformity.
Maya Angelou
Image
People have to feel needed. Frequently, we just offer a job and 'perks.' We don't always offer people a purpose. When people feel there is a purpose and that they're needed, there's not much else to do except let them do the work.
Maya Angelou
Image
A woman needs someone she can trust, someone who laughs when she laughs, but who has different ideas so she can learn from and teach to them. She needs someone who will stand up with her and encourage her to be a woman-not just a female. See where you are, admit what you know, and what you need, and search for a sister friend.
Maya Angelou
Image
Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art.
Maya Angelou
Image
I try to see every day as a celebration.
Maya Angelou
Image
Anything that works against you can also work for you once you understand the Principle of Reverse.
Maya Angelou
Image
Elimination of illiteracy is as serious an issue to our history as the abolition of slavery.
Maya Angelou
Image
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
Image
No one can take the place of a friend, no one.
Maya Angelou