Quotes from Maya Angelou

Mother whispered, "See, you don't have to think about doing the right thing. If you're for the right thing, then you do it without thinking.

Sounds came to me dully, as if people were speaking through their handkerchiefs or with their hands over their mouths. Colors weren't true either, but rather a vague assortment of shaded pastels that indicated not so much color as faded familiarities. People's names escaped me and I began to worry over my sanity.

Nothing's wrong with going to jail for something you believe in. Remember, jail was made for people. Not horses.

The humorless puzzle of inequality and hate.

Momma convinced us that not only was cleanliness next to Godliness, dirtiness was the inventor of misery. The

Baby, I've been thinking and now I am sure. You are the greatest woman I've ever met.

find it interesting that the meanest life, the poorest existence, is attributed to God's will, but as human beings become more affluent, as their living standard and style begin to ascend the material scale, God descends the scale of responsibility at a commensurate speed.

Trust your brain to suggest a solution, then have the courage to follow through." The

This book is dedicated to MY SON, GUY JOHNSON, AND ALL THE STRONG BLACK BIRDS OF PROMISE who defy the odds and gods and sing their songs

I hadn't so much forgot as I couldn't bring myself to remember. Other things were more important.

They also told me how I got the name "My." After Bailey learned definitely that I was his sister, he refused to call me Marguerite, but rather addressed me each time as "Mya Sister," and in later more articulate years, after the need for brevity had shortened the appellation to "My," it was elaborated into "Maya.

I thought of myself hanging in the store, as a mote imprisoned on a shaft of sunlight. Pushed and pulled by the slightest shift of air, but never falling free into the tempting darkness.