1,440 Quotes by maya angelou

Elimination of illiteracy is as serious an issue to our history as the abolition of slavery.

I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.

You are the sum total of everything you've seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot- it's all right there.

My work is to be honest. My work is to try to think clearly, then have the courage to make sure that what I say is the truth.

Then the question began to live under my blankets: How did lesbianism begin? What were the symptoms? The public library gave information on the finished lesbian--and that woefully sketchy--but on the growth of a lesbian, there was nothing. I did discover that the difference between hermaphrodites and lesbians was that hermaphrodites were "born that way." It was impossible to determine whether lesbians budded gradually, or burst into being with a suddenness that dismayed them as much as it repelled society.

I don't know if I continue, even today, always liking myself. But what I learned to do many years ago was to forgive myself. It is very important for every human being to forgive herself or himself because if you live, you will make mistakes- it is inevitable. But once you do and you see the mistake, then you forgive yourself and say, 'Well, if I'd known better I'd have done better,' that's all.

I was born in St. Louis but lived there just for a few minutes in my life.

Whining is not only graceless, but it can be dangerous. It can alert a brute that a victim is in the neighborhood.

I am a child of God. I always carry that with me.