Maya Angelou quotes: timeless advice from the late poet.
“A person is the product of their dreams. So make sure to dream great dreams. And then try to live your dream.”
“Let nothing dim the light that shines from within.”
“Dare to let your dreams reach beyond you.”
“Step off the road. Build yourself a brand new path.”
“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”
“Success is loving life and daring to live it. Life is going to give you just what you put in it. Put your whole heart in everything you do.”
“Continue. Be loving and be strong. Be fierce and be kind. And don’t give in and don’t give up.”
“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. You can never be great at anything unless you love it.”
“You can only become great at something you are willing to sacrifice for.”
“All great achievements require time.”
“Talent is like electricity. We don’t understand electricity. We use it.”
“Seek patience and passion in equal amounts. Patience alone will not build the temple. Passion alone will destroy its walls.”
“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential.”
“Having courage does not mean that we are unafraid. Having courage and showing courage means we face our fears.”
“Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it!”
“Nothing will work unless you do.”
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
“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. We can always keep trying. To be defeated means that you have given up and have let bitterness rule your heart. Do not let your defeats crush you. Instead, pick yourself up, dust are yourself off, and try again.”
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
“I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it. Change happens to us every single day. Every positive or negative experience changes us in one way or another. With an attitude of strength, you can refuse to let any of your experiences make you small. Stand fast and be the amazing person you are during good times and bad.”
“Make every effort to change things you do not like. If you cannot make a change, change the way you have been thinking. You might find a new solution.”
“The horizon leans forward, offering you space to place new steps of change.”
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
“I want you to learn that you cannot have anything without working for it. The only way you can be taken advantage of is if you think you can get something for nothing.”
“If you’re for the right thing, you do it without thinking.”
“If you must look back, do so forgivingly. If you must look forward, do so prayerfully. However, the wisest thing you can do is be present in the present, gratefully.”
“Determine to live life with flair and laughter.”
“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”
“No matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.”
“Hope for the best, be prepared for the worse. Life is shocking, but you must never appear to be shocked. For no matter how bad it is it could be worse and no matter how good it is it could be better.”
“Because of the routines we follow, we often forget that life is an ongoing adventure. Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art: to bring all our energies to each encounter, to remain flexible enough to notice and admit when what we expected to happen did not happen. We need to remember that we are created creative and can invent new scenarios as frequently as they are needed.”
“I’m a writer and writers either have good memories or nothing at all. I make writing as much a part of my life as I do eating or listening to music.”
“When I am writing, I am trying to find out who I am, who we are, what we’re capable of, how we feel, how we lose and stand up, and go on from darkness into darkness. I’m trying for that. But I’m also trying for the language. I’m trying to see how it can really sound. I really love language. I love it for what it does for us, how it allows us to explain the pain and the glory, the nuances and delicacies of our existence. And then it allows us to laugh, allows us to show wit. Real wit is shown in language. We need language.”
“I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a b*tch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass.”
“I’ve learned that ‘making a living’ is not the same thing as ‘making a life.'”
“The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.”
“It is very important for every human being to forgive herself or himself because if you live, you will make mistakes. It is inevitable.”
“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.”
“We need much less than we think we need. Surviving is important. Thriving is elegant.”
“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.”
“When you do nothing you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better.”
“I hope that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.”
“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 would like to be known as an intelligent woman, a courageous woman, a loving woman, a woman who teaches by being.”
“My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who and how you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness. Continue to allow humor to lighten the burden of your tender heart.”
“Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take but by the moments that take your breath away.”
“The future is plump with promise.”
“Love life. Engage in it. Give it all you’ve got. Love it with a passion because life truly does give back, many times over, what you put into it.”
“I hope you always find a reason to smile.”
Related: Oprah quotes.
