The words of Maya Angelou have forever left an indelible mark on the hearts of many. Her wisdom, eloquence, and spirit transcend generations and bring a sense of humanity to the written word. At Wic Wellness, we’ve gathered 117 of the most powerful Maya Angelou quotes to inspire, motivate, and leave you pondering about life, love, and change.
- “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”
- “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.”
- “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.”
- “We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”
- “When you know better, you do better.”
- “Nothing will work unless you do.”
- “The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.”
- “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.”
- “You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.”
- “The more you know of your history, the more liberated you are.”
- “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.”
- “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
- “Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it!”
- “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”
- “If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.”
- “Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.”
- “I respect myself and insist upon it from everybody. And because I do it, I then respect everybody, too.”
- “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”
- “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
- “It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.”
- “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”
- “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
- “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”
- “Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.”
- “All great achievements require time.”
- “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
- “Everything in the universe has a rhythm, everything dances.”
- “We need joy as we need air. We need love as we need water. We need each other as we need the earth we share.”
- “Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.”
- “I believe that every person is born with talent.”
- “Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.”
- “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.”
- “You can’t really know where you are going until you know where you have been.”
- “To those who have given up on love: I say, ‘Trust life a little bit.'”
- “The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind.”
- “My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who and how you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness.”
- “Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God.”
- “While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are also God’s creation.”
- “Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.”
- “We can learn to see each other and see ourselves in each other and recognize that human beings are more alike than we are unalike.”
- “I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.”
- “Seek patience and passion in equal amounts. Patience alone will not build the temple. Passion alone will destroy its walls.”
- “Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.”
- “Love is that condition in the human spirit so profound that it allows me to survive, and better than that, to thrive with passion, compassion, and style.”
- “You can’t really know where you are going until you know where you have been.”
- “I am grateful to be a woman. I must have done something great in another life.”
- “The truth is, no one of us can be free until everybody is free.”
- “In diversity, there is beauty and there is strength.”
- “If we lose love and self-respect for each other, this is how we finally die.”
- “Whatever you want to do, if you want to be great at it, you have to love it and be able to make sacrifices for it.”
- “I’m convinced of this: Good done anywhere is good done everywhere.”
- “I work really hard to just focus on the joy of the work and not let myself get wrapped up in the daily challenges.”
- “I do not trust people who don’t love themselves and yet tell me, ‘I love you.'”
- “When we find someone who is brave, fun, intelligent, and loving, we have to thank the universe.”
- “The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination.”
- “I don’t know if I continue, even today, always liking myself. But what I learned to do many years ago was to forgive myself.”
- “You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot – it’s all there.”
- “I believe we are still so innocent. The species are still so innocent that a gift of loving laughter is something we can all share.”
- “The love of the family, the love of one person can heal. It heals the scars left by a larger society. A massive, powerful society.” (One of our favourite Maya Angelou Quotes)
- “You can never be great at anything unless you love it.”
- “When you learn, teach. When you get, give.”
- “I sustain myself with the love of family.”
- “It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.”
- “You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot – it’s all there.”
- “There’s a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure the truth.”
- “I have great respect for the past. If you don’t know where you’ve come from, you don’t know where you’re going.”
- “It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.”
- “While one may encounter many defeats, one must not be defeated.”
- “I respect myself and insist upon it from everybody. And because I do it, I then respect everybody, too.”
- “A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.”
- “We are only as blind as we want to be.”
- “Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.”
- “The main thing in one’s own private world is to try to laugh as much as you cry.”
- “The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself.”
- “I got my own back.”
- “Life loves the liver of it.”
- “We write for the same reason that we walk, talk, climb mountains or swim the oceans – because we can.”
- “Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible.”
- “The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”
- “Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.”
- “Success is loving life and daring to live it.”
- “To grow up is to stop putting blame on parents.”
- “Courage allows the successful woman to fail—and learn powerful lessons from the failure—so that in the end, she didn’t fail at all.”
- “I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way they handle these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.”
- “Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.”
- “I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.”
- “Determine to live life with flair and laughter.”
- “Nothing succeeds like success. Get a little success, and then just get a little more.”
- “The desire to reach the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise and most possible.”
- “Shadows on the wall / Noises down the hall / Life doesn’t frighten me at all.”
- “I work really hard to just focus on the joy of the work and not let myself get wrapped up in the daily challenges.”
- “One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency.”
- “Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.”
- “The best comfort food will always be greens, cornbread, and fried chicken.”
- “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.”
- “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
- “The thing to do, it seems to me, is to prepare yourself so you can be a rainbow in somebody else’s cloud.”
- “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.”
- “Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.”
- “There is a very fine line between loving life and being greedy for it.”
- “I make writing as much a part of my life as I do eating or listening to music.”
- “I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.”
- “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.”
- “The children to whom we read simple stories may or may not show gratitude, but each boon we give strengthens the pillars of the world.”
- “We must support and vote for moral teachers.”
- “I speak to the black experience, but I am always talking about the human condition.”
- “We need to haunt the house of history and listen anew to the ancestors’ wisdom.”
- “Love is like a virus. It can happen to anybody at any time.”
- “Words are things, I’m convinced. You must be careful about the words you use or allow to be used in your presence.”
- “I’m convinced of this: Good done anywhere is good done everywhere.”
- “When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”
- “When you wish someone joy, you wish them peace, love, prosperity, happiness… all the good things.”
- “Surviving is important. Thriving is elegant.” (Another one of our favourite Maya Angelou Quotes)
- “We are braver and wiser because they existed, those strong women and strong men… We are who we are because they were who they were.”
- “I know why the caged bird sings.”
- “Stand up straight and realize who you are, that you tower over your circumstances.”
- “We might think we are nurturing our garden, but of course, it’s our garden that is really nurturing us.”
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These Maya Angelou quotes offer a unique perspective on life, love, and change. Whether you’re in need of motivation, a new way to look at life, or simply a reminder of the power of words, there’s a Maya Angelou quote for you.
Maya Angelou’s words have reverberated across generations, speaking to the very core of our well-being. Her perspective on life can be an essential guidepost for anyone embarking on a wellness journey.
To begin, Angelou’s profound insight, “There’s a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure the truth,” highlights the importance of staying true to oneself, of understanding the deeper truths that lie beneath our day-to-day experiences. It’s essential to occasionally hit pause and reflect, to find our bearings. Our article on how to reset resonates with this sentiment, providing practical steps on refreshing our mind, body, and soul, and emphasising the importance of introspection in our fast-paced lives.
Creating a vision for one’s life is foundational for mental well-being. As Angelou once said, “The desire to reach the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise and most possible.”
However, as we tread the path of personal development, it’s critical to remember another piece of wisdom from Maya Angelou Quotes: “Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.” This quote touches upon the dangers of comparing oneself to others. Our dedicated piece, comparison is the thief of joy, delves deeper into why comparing our journey with someone else’s can be detrimental.
Describing someone using positive words is not only uplifting for the recipient but also for the speaker. It aligns with Angelou’s idea of spreading love and positivity. Words are powerful tools, and their impact on mental health cannot be underestimated, something echoed in our curated list of positive quotes.
The tenderness of Maya Angelou quotes often conveyed deep sentimentality. She believed in treasuring memories, experiences, and moments. Moreover, Angelou’s humility, evident in her works, teaches us the grace of being grounded even in the face of success and outlines the key attributes of a humble person.
Angelou’s words can often be described as affirmations. “You may shoot me with your words… but still, like air, I’ll rise,” is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. Those seeking inspiration should consider creating a list of affirmation quotes to further their journey towards self-assuredness and provide a foundation in which to approach each day.
With the world leaning more towards self-love and self-care, Angelou’s idea, “Success is loving life and daring to live it,” finds its reflection in our compilation of self-care quotes. Similarly, her emphasis on kindness is mirrored in our assortment of kindness quotes.
The significance of living by principles is evident in Maya Angelou quotes. To dive deeper into this theme, explore our 40 mottos to live by. The mottos encapsulate the essence of living a meaningful life.
Angelou’s life was a lesson in selflessness. Her abundant love for humanity, her authenticity, and her zest for life, teach us the art of living an abundant life, and not only in the material sense!
In conclusion, the profound wisdom of Maya Angelou quotes, combined with our array of resources, serves as a guiding light for those on a journey towards wellness. Embracing her teachings and integrating them with our articles can truly enrich the soul.
