Grandma Stories» maya angelou

Maya Angelou Quotes – Love and Inspirational Famous Life Quotes

Grandma — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:00:27 +0000

“Love is like a virus. It can happen to anybody at any time” – Maya Angelou. Maya Angelou’s famous quotes on love, courage, success, attitude, achievement and life are amongst the most popular inspirational quotes today. Angelou is a strong and inspiring woman, poet, author, actress and civil rights activist. Maya Angelou’s quotes, poems and famous sayings provide women and girls inspiring words of wisdom to live by.

Born Marguerite Ann Johnson in 1928, Maya Angelou is best known for her portrayals of strong African American women in her numerous writings. Angelou published her first widely-acclaimed autobiographical book “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” in 1970.

In the following year, 1971, she published her first volume of poetry entitled “Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ‘Fore I Die”, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. At Bill Clinton’s request, Angelou read her poem “On the Pulse of the Morning” at his presidential inauguration in 1993. Besides Maya Angelou’s famous poem Still I Rise and the poem wrongly attributed to Angelou A Woman Should Have, here is a collection of famous quotes and sayings by Maya Angelou to inspire and uplift women of all ages.

45 Best Maya Angelou Quotes

If we lose love and self respect for each other, this is how we finally die. – Maya Angelou
Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at it destination full of hope. – Maya Angelou
If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. Don’t be surly at home, then go out in the street and start grinning ‘Good morning’ at total strangers. – Maya Angelou
If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded. – Maya Angelou
Love is like a virus. It can happen to anybody at any time. – Maya Angelou
The honorary duty of a human being is to love. – Maya Angelou
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. – Maya Angelou
I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass. – Maya Angelou
My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return. – Maya Angelou
One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest. – Maya Angelou
The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned. – Maya Angelou
The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart. – Maya Angelou
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. – Maya Angelou
I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it. – Maya Angelou
I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. – Maya Angelou
Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it. – Maya Angelou
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. – Maya Angelou
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. All the other tangible rewards will come as a result. – Maya Angelou
A woman’s heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her. – Maya Angelou
I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. – Maya Angelou
Be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud. – Maya Angelou (Letter to My Daughter)
We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty. – Maya Angelou
You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody. – Maya Angelou
Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean. – Maya Angelou
The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise. – Maya Angelou
Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet. – Maya Angelou
You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I’ll rise! – Maya Angelou
I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life. – Maya Angelou
Nothing can dim the light which shines from within. – Maya Angelou
I sustain myself with the love of family. – Maya Angelou
I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. – Maya Angelou
A Woman in harmony with her spirit is like a river flowing. She goes where she will without pretense and arrives at her destination prepared to be herself and only herself. – Maya Angelou
The ship of my life may or may not be sailing on calm and amiable seas. The challenging days of my existence may or may not be bright and promising. Stormy or sunny days, glorious or lonely nights, I maintain an attitude of gratitude. If I insist on being pessimistic, there is always tomorrow. Today I am blessed. – Maya Angelou
The problem I have with haters is that they see my glory, but they don’t know my story… – Maya Angelou
A woman who is convinced that she deserves to accept only the best, challenges herself to give the best. Then she is living phenomenally. – Maya Angelou
The sisters and brothers that you meet give you the materials which your character uses to build itself. It is said that some people are born great, others achieve it, some have it thrust upon them. In truth, the ways in which your character is built have to do with all three of those. Those around you, those you choose, and those who choose you. – Maya Angelou
Living well is an art that can be developed: a love of life and ability to take great pleasure from small offerings and assurance that the world owes you nothing and that every gift is exactly that, a gift. – Maya Angelou
Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option. – Maya Angelou
You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them. – Maya Angelou
We spend precious hours fearing the inevitable. It would be wise to use that time adoring our families, cherishing our friends and living our lives. – Maya Angelou
When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed. – Maya Angelou
This is my life. It is my one time to be me. I want to experience every good thing. – Maya Angelou
I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver. – Maya Angelou
We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color. – Maya Angelou
You rose into my life like a promised sunrise, brightening my days with the light in your eyes. I’ve never been so strong. Now I’m where I belong. – Maya Angelou

Similar Posts:

A Woman Should Have Poem – Not by Maya Angelou

Grandma — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:33:03 +0000

The very popular poem entitled A Woman Should Have has been attributed to Maya Angelou as author for a very long time as “Maya Angelou’s Best Poem Ever”, but as much as this delightful poem seems like the works of Maya Angelou, this poem below is not her work.

Maya Angelou herself has even denied authorship of A Woman Should Have on her official website, and Snopes.com has done its best to clear up any misconceptions of who wrote A Woman Should Have too, but the tall tales continue.

The real author of this wonderful poem about women is none other than Pamela Redmond Satran, and the original poem was entitled “30 Things Every Woman Should Have & Should Know By The Time She’s 30”, where the list of 30 things appeared under her byline in Glamour Magazine in May of 1997.

Pamela Redmond Satran has written five novels including The Man I Should Have Married, Babes in Captivity, Younger, Suburbanistas, and The Home For Wayward Supermodels. Pamela has also written many articles are magazine publications such as Glamour, Parenting, Bon Appetit, Good Housekeeping, The New York Times, Mens Journal, Redbook, Ladies Home Journal and The Washington Post. If that doesn’t tell you that freelance writing pays very well, it’s your loss.

A Woman Should Have
by Pamela Redmond Satran

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE…enough money within her control to move out and rent a place of her own, even if she never wants to or needs to…

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE …something perfect to wear if the employer, or date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour…

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ..a youth she’s content to leave behind….

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE …a past juicy enough that she’s looking forward to retelling it in her old age….

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ..a set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra…

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE …one friend who always makes her laugh… and one who lets her cry…

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ….a good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in her family…

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE …eight matching plates, wine glasses with stems, and a recipe for a meal, that will make her guests feel honored…

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE …a feeling of control over her destiny…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…how to fall in love without losing herself..

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…HOW TO QUIT A JOB, BREAK UP WITH A LOVER, AND CONFRONT A FRIEND WITHOUT RUINING THE FRIENDSHIP…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…when to try harder… and WHEN TO WALK AWAY…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…that she can’t change the length of her calves, the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…that her childhood may not have been perfect…but its over…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…what she would and wouldn’t do for love or more…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…how to live alone… even if she doesn’t like it.

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW..whom she can trust, whom she can’t, and why she shouldn’t take it personally…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…where to go…be it to her best friend’s kitchen table…or a charming inn in the woods…when her soul needs soothing…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…what she can and can’t accomplish in a day…a month…and a year…

Similar Posts:

Still I Rise Poem by Maya Angelou

Grandma — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:00:12 +0000

Maya Angelou is probably my favorite poet of all time, and her famous poem entitled Still I Rise may very well be my favorite poem by Maya Angelou, over and above all other poems. The Do It Anyway poem posted the other day is another one of my favorites, probably because poems like Still I Rise and Do It Anyway express in words and tone my way of thinking and feeling about life and adversities that don’t include the more “colorful language” that would inevitably rise up out of my mouth in certain situations.

For example, Grandpa forwarded an email video clip of a song entitled “I’m About to Whip Somebody’s Ass” to me a few days ago, and after listening to the little song clip and viewing the cartoon character singing the little ditty, we shared a good laugh together simply because of the comical and oh-so colorful song title. Too funny. The song is on Youtube if you’re interested.

Anyway, Maya Angelou’s poem Still I Rise carries a lot of meaning, as does every other poem written by Maya. I have a bookmark that includes Maya’s Still I Rise poem as an inspirational reminder that no matter how toxic some people in our lives may be and their pathetic attempts to bring us down with their b.s., we just need to keep doing the good we’re doing for ourselves and others, and rise above the ass-wipes nonsense. Oops, there’s that colorful language I was referring to.

Still I Rise
by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

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?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Similar Posts: