Quote

Few, if any, survive their teens. Most surrender to the vague but murderous pressure of adult conformity.

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
Survive
Adults
Pressure
Murderous
Youth
Teens
Conformity
Vague
Adult
Surrender

More quotes by Maya Angelou

Image
Freedom is never free.
Maya Angelou
Image
The area where we are the greatest is the area in which we inspire, encourage and connect with another human being.
Maya Angelou
Image
Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us. We need hours of aimless wandering or spates of time sitting on park benches, observing the mysterious world of ants and the canopy of treetops.
Maya Angelou
Image
Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.
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
As far as I knew white women were never lonely, except in books. White men adored them, Black men desired them and Black women worked for them.
Maya Angelou
Image
Information helps you to see that you're not alone. That there's somebody in Mississippi and somebody in Tokyo who have wept, who've all longed and lost, who've all been happy. So the library helps you to see, not only that you are not alone, but that you're not really any different from everyone else.
Maya Angelou
Image
It's very hard for adults to maintain respect and romance so that a love affair can be sustained over years.
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
Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.
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
If I'm here, I'll be trying to be a better human being, a better writer, a better friend and a better beloved.
Maya Angelou
Image
Each time I write a book, every time I face that yellow pad, the challenge is so great. I have written eleven books, but each time I think, ‘Uh oh, they’re going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody and they’re going to find me out.
Maya Angelou
Image
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
Image
You don't need another person, place or thing to make you whole. God already did that. Your job is to know it.
Maya Angelou
Image
In order to be profoundly dishonest, a person must have one of two qualities: either he is unscrupulously ambitious, or he is unswervingly egocentric.
Maya Angelou
Image
I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.
Maya Angelou
Image
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
Image
Always in the black spirituals there's that promise that things are going to be better, by and by.
Maya Angelou
Image
You are the sum total of everything you've seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot- it's all right there.
Maya Angelou