Wise Words of Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou was an American civil rights activist and wrote seven autobiographies, three books of essays, and several books of poetry. She was also an actress, director, and produced plays, movies, and public television programs over 50 years, and received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Below we list some words of wisdom from Maya Angelou.

"If you are always trying to be normal you will never know how amazing you can be."

"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."

"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!"

"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 may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. Please remember that your difficulties do not define you. They simply strengthen your ability to overcome."

"Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better."

"When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. People know themselves much better than you do. That's why it's important to stop expecting them to be something other than who they are."

"Open your eyes to the beauty around you, open your mind to the wonders of life, open your heart to those who love you, and always be true to yourself."

"If you are going down a road and don't like what's in front of you, and look behind you and don't like what you see, get off the road. Create a new path!"

"Each one of us has lived through some devastation, some loneliness, some weather superstorm or spiritual superstorm, when we look at each other we must say, I understand. I understand how you feel because I have been there myself. We must support each other and empathize with each other because each of us is more alike than we are unalike."

"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."

"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty."

"If you must look back, do so forgivingly. If you will look forward, do so prayerfully. But the wisest course would be to be present in the present gratefully."

"We cannot change the past, but we can change our attitude toward it. Uproot guilt and plant forgiveness. Tear out arrogance and seed humility. Exchange love for hate - thereby, making the present comfortable and the future promising."

"Develop enough courage so that you can stand up for yourself and then stand up for somebody else."

"Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud."

"You don't need another person, place or thing to make you whole. God already did that. Your job is to know it."

"Just do right. Right may not be expedient, it may not be profitable, but it will satisfy your soul. It brings you the kind of protection that bodyguards can’t give you. So try to live your life in a way that you will not regret years of useless virtue and inertia and timidity. Take up the battle. Take it up. It’s yours. This is your life. This is your world."

"I think a hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people."

"A leader sees greatness in other people. He nor she can be much of a leader if all she sees is herself."

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

"I think when we don't know what to do it's wise to do nothing. Sit down quietly; quiet our hearts and minds and breathe deeply."

"Lord keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth."

Copyright © Stephen Petullo, Scott Petullo