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I write because I am a Black woman, listening attentively to her people.

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
Listening
Woman
Black
Write
Writing
People
Attentively

More quotes by Maya Angelou

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I have great respect for the past. If you don't know where you've come from, you don't know where you're going. I have respect for the past, but I'm a person of the moment. I'm here, and I do my best to be completely centered at the place I'm at, then I go forward to the next place.
Maya Angelou
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If the door has been opened and I've been invited, or if I'm not invited and I somehow know I'm supposed to go in there, I put myself together and go in, praying all the while. I try to learn something before I go in. I try to show some respect of the place I'm going into.
Maya Angelou
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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.
Maya Angelou
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We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated. It may even be necessary to encounter the defeat, so that we can know who we are.
Maya Angelou
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You are the sum total of everything you've seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot- it's all right there.
Maya Angelou
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Being free is being able to accept people for what they are, and not try to understand all they are or be what they are.
Maya Angelou
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I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Maya Angelou
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The desire to reach hearts is wise
Maya Angelou
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I'm working at trying to be a Christian, and that's serious business. It's like trying to be a good Jew, a good Muslim, a good Buddhist, a good Shintoist, a good Zoroastrian, a good friend, a good lover, a good mother, a good buddy: it's serious business.
Maya Angelou
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Growing up at my grandmother's table, she always had rice. She might do something as exotic as potatoes or spaghetti, but there was still always rice, just in case you needed a little rice fix.
Maya Angelou
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Nobody can enjoy unless we all enjoy, truly enjoy.
Maya Angelou
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While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are also God's creation.
Maya Angelou
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Ain't nothin' to it, but to do it.
Maya Angelou
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I not only have the right to stand up for myself, but I have the responsibility. I can't ask somebody else to stand up for me if I won't stand up for myself. And once you stand up for yourself, you'd be surprised that people say, Can I be of help?.
Maya Angelou
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If you are going down a road and don't like what's in front of you, and look behind you and don't like what you see, get off the road. Create a new path!
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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Self-pity in its early stage is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.
Maya Angelou
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When I forgive other people, I let them go, I free them from my ignorance. And as soon as I do, I feel lighter, brighter and better.
Maya Angelou
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To those who have given up on love: I say, Trust life a little bit.
Maya Angelou
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The caged bird sings with a fearful trill, of things unknown, but longed for still, and his tune is heard on the distant hill, for the caged bird sings of freedom.
Maya Angelou