"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song." - Maya Angelou
April 4, 1928 - May 28, 2014
Maya Angelou sings the blues 1968
“I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life. I've learned that making a "living" is not the same thing as making a "life." I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. 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. I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one. I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. I've learned that I still have a lot to learn. I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
“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. So you say to people who you think you may have injured, 'I'm
sorry,' and then you say to yourself, 'I'm sorry.' If we all hold on to the
mistake, we can't see our own glory in the mirror because we have the mistake
between our faces and the mirror; we can't see what we're capable of being. You
can ask forgiveness of others, but in the end the real forgiveness is in one's
own self. I think that young men and women are so caught by the way they see
themselves. Now mind you. When a larger society sees them as unattractive, as
threats, as too black or too white or too poor or too fat or too thin or too
sexual or too asexual, that's rough. But you can overcome that. The real
difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself. If we don't have that
we never grow, we never learn, and sure as hell we should never teach.”
“There
is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
― I
Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly,
but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”
"When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time".
"When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time".
“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.”
“You
may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be
reduced by them.”
“Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the
space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.”
“Courage
is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't
practice any other virtue consistently.”
“I don't trust people who don't love
themselves and tell me, 'I love you.' ... There is an African saying which is:
Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt.”
“Success is liking yourself, liking what you
do, and liking how you do it.”
“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”
“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.”
“I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I
know better, I do better.”
“Have enough courage to trust love one more
time and always one more time.”
“You can only become truly accomplished at
something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you
love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of
you.”
“A
woman's heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to
find her.”
“Ask for what you want and be prepared to get
it!”
“If I am not good to myself, how can I expect
anyone else to be good to me?”
“Never make someone a priority when all you
are to them is an option.”
“Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.” ―Letter to My Daughter
“You alone are enough. You have nothing to
prove to anybody.”
“You may encounter many defeats, but you must
not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you
can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of
it.”
“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.”
“Everything in the universe has a rhythm,
everything dances. ”
“Any book that helps a child to form a habit
of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for
him.”
“The desire to reach for the stars is
ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.”
“I
don't trust anyone who doesn't laugh.”
“Life
is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able
to treat life as art.”
“I've
learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss
them when they're gone from your life.”
“A
friend may be waiting behind a stranger's face.”
"If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. Don't be surly at home, then go out on the street and start grinning 'Good morning' at total strangers."
"Out of the huts of history's shame
“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.”
“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.”
"Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.”
Phenomenal Woman
Maya Angelou reflecting on her appearance as a calypso singer
in the 1957 film, "Calypso Heat Wave".
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