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It is better to control oneself, if one can, and not hit back. But on certain occasions, it is imperative to defend oneself. I don't think it's fair to ask anybody not to defend herself or himself.

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
Think
Fair
Thinking
Oneself
Anybody
Control
Imperative
Asks
Imperatives
Certain
Defend
Back
Occasions
Better
Fairs

More quotes by Maya Angelou

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When the human race neglects its weaker members, when the family neglects its weakest one - it's the first blow in a suicidal movement.
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The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and even belligerance. It is seldom accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors, and deserves respect if not enthusiastic acceptance.
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Living a life is like constructing a building: if you start wrong, you'll end wrong.
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Growing up, my grandmother did not want worldly music in the house. Then when I went out to California, I started listening to Spanish music, mostly Mexican music. But were I in Egypt, I would listen to the music of the people, or if I was in Italy, I'd listen to Italian music.
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We are the victims of the world's most comprehensive robbery. Life demands a balance. It's all right if we do a little robbing now.
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Courage - you develop courage by doing small things like just as if you wouldn't want to pick up a 100-pound weight without preparing yourself.
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In order to win, we pay with energy and effort and discipline. If we lose, we pay in disappointment, discontent, and lack of fulfillment.
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I don't know how much longer I'll be around. I'll probably be writing when the Lord says, 'Maya, Maya Angelou, it's time.'
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Facts can obscure the truth.
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And 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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I have no modesty. Modesty is a learned affectation. It's like decal stuck up on a person.
Maya Angelou
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I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.
Maya Angelou
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Courage, I don't think anybody is born with courage. I think you may be born with a flair to braggadocio, you know. That's not courage.
Maya Angelou
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Living well is an art that can be developed: a love of life and ability to take great pleasure from small offerings and assurance that the world owes you nothing and that every gift is exactly that, a gift.
Maya Angelou
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I have heard it said that winter, too, will pass, that spring is a sign that summer is due at last. See, all we have to do is hang on.
Maya Angelou
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I get up in the morning, and I'm reluctant to turn on the television.
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.
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Don't let the man bring you down.
Maya Angelou
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There is a lot of ignorance, and I don't mean intellectual ignorance. I mean people think that if you get something, it will take away from what I have. It's just ignorance.
Maya Angelou
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Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.
Maya Angelou