Zitat des Tages von Maya Angelou:
Achievement brings its own anticlimax.
The best comfort food will always be greens, cornbread, and fried chicken.
Nothing will work unless you do.
I believe we are still so innocent. The species are still so innocent that a person who is apt to be murdered believes that the murderer, just before he puts the final wrench on his throat, will have enough compassion to give him one sweet cup of water.
The language of all the interpretations, the translations, of the Judaic Bible and the Christian Bible, is musical, just wonderful. I read the Bible to myself; I'll take any translation, any edition, and read it aloud, just to hear the language, hear the rhythm, and remind myself how beautiful English is.
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.
It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.
For Africa to me... is more than a glamorous fact. It is a historical truth. No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place.
It is impossible to struggle for civil rights, equal rights for blacks, without including whites. Because equal rights, fair play, justice, are all like the air: we all have it, or none of us has it. That is the truth of it.
We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.
Elimination of illiteracy is as serious an issue to our history as the abolition of slavery.
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.'
Everybody born comes from the Creator trailing wisps of glory. We come from the Creator with creativity. I think that each one of us is born with creativity.
Self-pity in its early stage is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.
When I write, I tend to twist my hair. Something for my small mind to do, I guess.
I love the melodies in the Old Testament, how preachers highlight them when they read from the Scripture. But I was influenced forever by the New Testament. I love the Beatitudes, informing us that the meek shall inherit the earth.
Everyone has at least one story, and each of us is funny if we admit it. You have to admit you're the funniest person you've ever heard of.
I write some country music. There's a song called 'I Hope You Dance.' Incredible. I was going to write that poem; somebody beat me to it.
I'm considered wise, and sometimes I see myself as knowing. Most of the time, I see myself as wanting to know. And I see myself as a very interested person. I've never been bored in my life.
I like to have guns around. I don't like to carry them.
The poetry you read has been written for you, each of you - black, white, Hispanic, man, woman, gay, straight.
Love is like a virus. It can happen to anybody at any time.
Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.
The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and even belligerance. It is seldom accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors, and deserves respect if not enthusiastic acceptance.
Find a beautiful piece of art. If you fall in love with Van Gogh or Matisse or John Oliver Killens, or if you fall love with the music of Coltrane, the music of Aretha Franklin, or the music of Chopin - find some beautiful art and admire it, and realize that that was created by human beings just like you, no more human, no less.
As far as I knew white women were never lonely, except in books. White men adored them, Black men desired them and Black women worked for them.
My life has been one great big joke, a dance that's walked a song that's spoke, I laugh so hard I almost choke when I think about myself.
Some critics will write 'Maya Angelou is a natural writer' - which is right after being a natural heart surgeon.
Most people don't grow up. It's too damn difficult. What happens is most people get older. That's the truth of it. They honor their credit cards, they find parking spaces, they marry, they have the nerve to have children, but they don't grow up.
Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.
Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.
If we lose love and self respect for each other, this is how we finally die.
If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities.
If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.
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.
It is a no-fail, incontrovertible reality: If you get, give. If you learn, teach. You can't do anything with that except do it.
