Maya Angelou
American poet, memoirist, civil rights activist, and one of the defining literary voices of the late twentieth century. Born in 1928 in St. Louis, she lived through years of mute silence after childhood trauma, then through dancing, singing, journalism, and revolutionary work — corresponding with Malcolm X in Ghana, working on the Selma to Montgomery March with King — before her seven-volume autobiography (beginning with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in 1969) made her one of the most-read American writers. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010, recited On the Pulse of Morning at Bill Clinton's inauguration in 1993, and produced poetry — Phenomenal Woman, Still I Rise — that has become contemporary scripture for several generations of readers. She died in 2014 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
quotes in library
Quotes by Maya Angelou
118 quotes“In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats so you can know who you are.”
“What you can become is more important than what you have been.”
“Look back. Don't get stuck there.”
“In every life there is a coming home and a leaving.”
“To know what to do is wisdom. To do it is courage.”
“Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt.”
“In all the meals my grandmother cooked, the most important seasoning was love.”
“What you bring forth from yourself you will be remembered for.”
“Let me have the strength to keep on keeping on.”
“In the long sweep of life, every small kindness counts.”
“In every great life there is a moment of recognizing the call.”
“Once you make a choice, you live with the choice. So choose well.”
“You leave home to know the home you came from.”
“Travel is the seasoning of life.”
“There is something glorious in being human.”
“Phenomenal woman, that's you.”
“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.”
“On the pulse of this new day, you may have the grace to look up and out.”
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