American poet (1928-2014)
To be left alone on the tightrope of youthful unknowing is to experience the excruciating beauty of full freedom and the threat of eternal indecision.
MAYA ANGELOU
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
I, with millions of other Americans, have the same dream Martin Luther King Jr. had; when I wake up I wish some of the things I dreamt would be true. I wish that little black and white boys and girls would hold hands without being shocked at their nearness to each other and say in a natural way, "we have overcome."
MAYA ANGELOU
Facebook post, Aug. 28, 2013
I've had people explain to me what one of my poems meant, and I've been surprised that it means that to them. If a person can use a poem of mine to interpret her life or his life, good. I can't control that. Nor would I want to.
MAYA ANGELOU
Facebook post, Oct. 4, 2012
There were times when it was said that I had more determination than talent. This may be said of many. It may also be said that life loves the person who dares to live it.
MAYA ANGELOU
Facebook post, Jan. 23, 2014
Hatred is the ballast of
the rock
which lies upon our necks
and underfoot.
MAYA ANGELOU
"Glory Falls"
Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.
MAYA ANGELOU
attributed, Women Know Everything!
We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.
MAYA ANGELOU
attributed, The Butterfly's Daughter
I long for the time when all the human history is taught as one history, because it really is one history.
MAYA ANGELOU
Facebook post, Feb. 28, 2013
You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.
MAYA ANGELOU
Conversations with Maya Angelou
I was grateful to see President Obama's victory speech. I was over the moon to see the audience. There were about 60 percent white voters the other 40 percent were African Americans, Asian, Spanish speaking etc. I wept at that spectacle, it told me that the pundits that continue in our country to try to polarize us, to keep us apart, are not succeeding. Americans are waking up not only to the truth, but the truth in each other. Hallelujah!
MAYA ANGELOU
Facebook post, Nov. 9, 2012
Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist eternally in our absence. Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.
MAYA ANGELOU
Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now
If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.
MAYA ANGELOU
Facebook post, Feb. 5, 2014
Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.
MAYA ANGELOU
attributed, The Power of Hope
If we are bold, love strikes away the chains of fear from our souls.
MAYA ANGELOU
A Brave and Startling Truth
We are not our brother's keeper we are our brother and we are our sister. We must look past complexion and see community.
MAYA ANGELOU
Facebook post, Jan. 9, 2014
The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination.
MAYA ANGELOU
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform a million realities.
MAYA ANGELOU
Poems
The Black female is assaulted in her tender years by all those common forces of nature at the same time she is caught in the tripartite crossfire of masculine prejudice, white illogical hate and Black lack of power. The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and even belligerence. It is seldom accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors and deserves respect if not enthusiastic admiration.
MAYA ANGELOU
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.
MAYA ANGELOU
Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now
I'm grateful to be an American. I am grateful that we can be angry at the terrorist assault and at the same time be intelligent enough not to hold a grudge against every Arab and every Muslim.
MAYA ANGELOU
Facebook post, Sep. 11, 2012