Quotes from Maya Angelou

Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I've got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs?

I 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.

If it is true that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, isn't it also true a society is only as healthy as its sickest citizen and only as wealthy as its most deprived?

I'm startled or at least taken aback when people walk up to me and without being questioned inform me that they are Christians. My first response is the question Already? It seems to me that becoming a Christian is a lifelong endeavor.

tell the truth to yourself first, and to the children.

On my way out of the house one morning she said, "Life is going to give you just what you put in it. Put your whole heart in everything you do, and pray, then you can wait." Another time she reminded me that "God helps those who help themselves.

Success is liking yourself, liking what you do and liking how you do it.

Her husband remains, in my memory, undefined. I lumped him with all the other white men that I had ever seen and tried not to see.

Our Father, thank you for letting me see this New Day. Thank you that you didn't allow the bed I lay on last night to be my cooling board, nor my blanket my winding sheet. Guide my feet this day along the straight and narrow, and help me to put a bridle on my tongue. Bless this house, and everybody in it. Thank you, in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, Amen." Before

I never had the nerve to go up to him. I was quite afraid that if I tried to say, Hello, Reverend Thomas, I would choke on the sin of mocking him.

Thus we lived through a major war. The questions in the ghettos was, can we make it through a minor peace?

During these years in Stamps, I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare. He was my first white love.