Quotes by Maya Angelou

“When a man tells you who he is...believe him.”

“Once you go Black, you never go back.”

“A man who does not respect his own mother is absolutely no good.”

“One monkey dont stop no show!”

“You did then what you knew how to do, And when you knew better, You did better.”

I dont trust people who dont 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.

Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.

Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.

First best is falling in love. Second best is being in love. Least best is falling out of love. But any of it is better than never having been in love.

We, unaccustomed to courageexiles from delightlive coiled in shells of lonelinessuntil love leaves its high holy templeand comes into our sightto liberate us into life.Love arrivesand in its train come ecstasiesold memories of pleasureancient histories of pain.Yet if we are bold,love strikes away the chains of fearfrom our souls.We are weaned from our timidityIn the flush of loves lightwe dare be braveAnd suddenly we seethat love costs all we areand will ever be.Yet it is only lovewhich sets us free.

In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours.In all the world, there is no love for you like mine.

Love is like a virus. It can happen to anybody at any time.

I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Lifes a bitch. Youve got to go out and kick ass.

When Great Trees FallWhen great trees fall,rocks on distant hills shudder,lions hunker downin tall grasses,and even elephantslumber after safety.When great trees fallin forests,small things recoil into silence,their senseseroded beyond fear.When great souls die,the air around us becomeslight, rare, sterile.We breathe, briefly.Our eyes, briefly,see witha hurtful clarity.Our memory, suddenly sharpened,examines,gnaws on kind wordsunsaid,promised walksnever taken.Great souls die andour reality, bound tothem, takes leave of us.Our souls,dependent upon theirnurture,now shrink, wizened.Our minds, formedand informed by theirradiance,fall away.We are not so much maddenedas reduced to the unutterable ignoranceof dark, coldcaves.And when great souls die,after a period peace blooms,slowly and alwaysirregularly. Spaces fillwith a kind ofsoothing electric vibration.Our senses, restored, neverto be the same, whisper to us.They existed. They existed.We can be. Be and bebetter. For they existed.

I am convinced that most people do not grow up...We marry and dare to have children and call that growing up. I think what we do is mostly grow old. We carry accumulation of years in our bodies, and on our faces, but generally our real selves, the children inside, are innocent and shy as magnolias.

My life has been one great big joke,A dance thats walked,A song thats spoke,I laugh so hard I almost choke,When I think about myself.

There is a very fine line between loving life and being greedy for it.

This is a wonderful day, I have never seen this one before.

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

What youre supposed to do when you dont like a thing is change it. If you cant change it, change the way you think about it. Dont complain.