If you want beautiful words to motivate you in life, the words and poems of celebrated writer and activist Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) are prefect for you.
Table of Contents
Beautiful Maya Angelou Quotes On Women
1. “Each time a woman stands up for herself, she stands up for all women.”
2. “A woman in harmony with her spirit is like a river flowing. She goes where she will without pretense and arrives at her destination prepared to be herself and herself only.”
3. “I would like to be known as an intelligent woman, a courageous woman, a loving woman, a woman who teaches by being.”
4. “Stepping onto a brand new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation, which is not nurturing to the whole woman.”
5. “I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass.”
6. “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
7. ‘A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.’ Maya Angelou Share on X
8. “I am grateful to be a woman. I must have done something great in another life.”
9. “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”
10. “I created myself. I have taught myself so much.”
11. “My greatest blessing has been the birth of my son. My next greatest blessing has been my ability to turn people into children of mine.”
12. “Phenomenal Woman” poem
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them,
They say they still can’t see.
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing,
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need for my care.
’Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Motivational Maya Angelou Quotes On Life
13. “I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn.”
14. “Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take but by the moments that take your breath away.”
15. “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.”
16. “Stand up straight and realize who you are. That you tower over your circumstances. You are a child of God. Stand up straight.”
17. “Determine to live life with flair and laughter.”
18. 'If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.' Share on X
19. “I’ve learned that making a living is not the same thing as making a life.”
20. “Nothing can dim the light that shines from within.”
21. “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”
22. “There is a very fine line between loving life and being greedy for it.”
23. “My life has been one great big joke, a dance that’s walked, a song that’s spoke, I laugh so hard I almost choke when I think about myself.”
24. “To grow up is to stop putting blame on parents.”
25. “Don’t get older just to get wiser. If you get older, you will be wiser, I believe that – if you dare. But get older because it’s fun!”
26. “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.”
27. “As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.”
28. 'You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.' Maya Angelou Share on X
29. “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.”
30. “You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot – it’s all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive.”
31. “I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.”
Maya Angelou’s Best Quotes On Love and Relationship
32. “Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.”
33. “Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.”
34. “We need joy as we need air. We need love as we need water. We need each other as we need the earth we share.”
35. “I respect myself and insist upon it from everybody. And because I do it, I then respect everybody, too.”
36. “Whatever you want to do, if you want to be great at it, you have to love it and be able to make sacrifices for it.”
37. “We are only as blind as we want to be.”
38. “I know for sure that loves saves me and that it is here to save us all.”
39. 'People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.' Maya Angelou Share on X
40. “Loving someone liberates the lover as well as the beloved. And that kind of love comes with age.”
41. “If you have only one smile in you give it to the people you love.”
42. “I believe that every person is born with talent.”
43. “I know for sure that loves saves me and that it is here to save us all.”
44. “If we lose love and self respect for each other, this is how we finally die.”
45. 'Hate. It has caused a lot of problems in this world but it has not solved one yet.' Maya Angelou Share on X
46. “The desire to reach the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise and most possible.”
47. “Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.”
48. “Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.”
49. “Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.”
50. “Take a day to heal from the lies you’ve told yourself and the ones that have been told to you.”
51. 'Love is like a virus. It can happen to anybody at any time.' Maya Angelou Share on X
52. “Be present in all things, and thankful for all things.”
53. “No human being can be more human than another human being. I liberate you from my ignorance.”
54. “I’ve never had a dislike for men. I’ve been badly treated by some. But I’ve been loved greatly by some. I married a lot of them.”
55. “I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.”
56. “Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.”
Uplifting Maya Aneglou Quotes On Strength and Courage
57. “Having courage does not mean we are unafraid.”
58. “My life has been long and believing that life loves the liver of it, I have dared to try many things, sometimes trembling, but daring still.”
59. “We have to confront ourselves. Do we like what we see in the mirror? And, according to our light, according to our understanding, according to our courage, we will have to say yea or nay – and rise!”
60. “It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.”
61. “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.”
62. “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
63. 'Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Invite one to stay.' Maya Angelou Share on X
64. “Faith is the evidence of the unseen.”
65. “In all my work, in the movies I write, the lyrics, the poetry, the prose, the essays, I am saying that we may encounter many defeats – maybe it’s imperative that we encounter the defeats – but we are much stronger than we appear to be and maybe much better than we allow ourselves to be.”
66. “My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done, to try and love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return.”
67. “Home is a refuge, not only from the world but a refuge from my worries, my terrible concerns. I like beautiful things around me. I like to be beautiful because it delights my eyes and my soul is lifted up.”
68. “Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.”
69. “Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.”
Inspirational Maya Angelou Quotes On Success
70. “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”
71. “Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it.”
72. “Seek patience and passion in equal amounts. Patience alone will not build the temple. Passion alone will destroy its walls.”
73. “Nothing succeeds like success. Get a little success, and then just get a little more.”
74. “Each of us has that right, that possibility, to invent ourselves daily. If a person does not invent herself, she will be invented. So, to be bodacious enough to invent ourselves is wise.”
75. 'We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated.' Maya Angelou Share on X
76. “All great achievements require time.”
77. “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”
78. “If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.”
79. I think a hero is any person really intent on making his a better place for all people.”
80. “Remember, people will judge you by your actions not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold but so does a hard-boiled egg.”
81. 'Let nothing dim the light that shines from within.' Maya Angelou Share on X
82. “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
83. “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better”
Maya Angelou Quotes on Racism
84. “It was awful to be Negro and have no control over my life. It was brutal to be young and already trained to sit quietly and listen to charges brought against my color with no chance of defense. We should all be dead. I thought I should like to see us all dead, one on top of the other. A pyramid of flesh with the whitefolks on the bottom, as the broad base, then the Indians with their silly tomahawks and teepees and wigwams and treaties, the Negroes with their mops and recipes and cotton sacks and spirituals sticking out of their mouths. The Dutch children should all stumble in their wooden shoes and break their necks. The French should choke to death on the Louisiana Purchase (1803) while silkworms ate all the Chinese with their stupid pigtails. As a species, we were an abomination. All of us.” Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
85. “The plague of racism is insidious, entering into our minds as smoothly and quietly and invisibly as floating airborne microbes enter into our bodies to find lifelong purchase in our bloodstreams.”
86. “The needs of a society determine its ethics, and in the Black American ghettos the hero is that man who is offered only the crumbs from his country’s table but by ingenuity and courage is able to take for himself a Lucullan feast. Hence the janitor who lives in one room but sports a robin’s-egg-blue Cadillac is not laughed at but admired, and the domestic who buys forty-dollar shoes is not criticized but is appreciated. We know that they have put to use their full mental and physical powers. Each single gain feeds into the gains of the body collective.”
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photo credits: Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
