Maya Angelou was many things. A poet. A memoirist. A civil rights activist.
Someone whose words, speeches and kind wisdom have touched millions of hearts and souls.
And in today’s post I want to share 110 of the most inspirational, meaningful and powerful Maya Angelou’s quotes.
I hope you’ll find something here to give you courage if you need it, hope and strength when times are tough and the motivation to live your life the way you deep down want it to be.
Inspirational Maya Angelou Quotes on Courage
“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”
“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.”
“Every storm runs out of rain.”
“I did get knocked down flat in front of the whole world, and I rose. I didn’t run away – I rose right where I’d been knocked down. And then that’s how you get to know yourself.”
“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!”
“I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.”
“Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.”
“Develop enough courage so that you can stand up for yourself and then stand up for somebody else.”
“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”
“Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.”
“Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space. Invite one to stay.”
“I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.”
“You have to deal with what you encounter. But you must not be reduced. And so a way not to be reduced is don’t whine! Don’t let the incidents which take place in life bring you low.”
“She comprehended the perversity of life, that in the struggle lies the joy.”
“I believe that the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity, is daring to dare.”
“Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.”
“If I am going to do the most difficult and frightening thing – dying – is it possible that I could do some difficult and impossible things that are good?”
“The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by formal education.”
“Whining is just unbecoming.”
“All great achievements require time.”
“Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it!”
Maya Angelou Quotes About Women and Change
“Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.”
“If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.”
“Stepping onto a brand-new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation which is not nurturing to the whole woman.”
“Continue to be bold, courageous. Try to chose the wisest thing and once you’ve chosen the wisest thing, go out and try to achieve it. Be it.”
“You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.”
“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”
“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.”
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
“The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind.”
“What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. Don’t complain.”
“Make every effort to change things you do not like. If you cannot make a change, change the way you have been thinking. You might find a new solution.”
“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!”
“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.”
“The idea of overcoming is always fascinating to me. It’s fascinating because few of us realize how much energy we have expended just to be here today. I don’t think we give ourselves enough credit for the overcoming.”
“If our children are to approve of themselves, they must see that we approve of ourselves.”
“You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot – it’s all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive.”
“It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.”
“I am grateful to be a woman. I must have done something great in another life.”
“I am not competing with anyone other than myself. I want to be excellent at whatever I do.”
“You have your humanity, and you must not allow anything to reduce that.”
“When you know you are of worth – not asking it but knowing it – you walk into a room with a particular power.”
“You only are free when you realize you belong no place – you belong every place – no place at all. The price is high. The reward is great.”
“Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible.”
Maya Angelou Quotes on Love
“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.”
“In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine.”
“To those who have given up on love: I say, ‘Trust life a little bit.’”
“We are here to love each other. That is why you are alive. That is what life is for.”
“Love liberates. It doesn’t just hold, that’s ego. Love liberates.”
“If we lose love and self-respect for each other, this is how we finally die.”
“Suddenly we see that love costs all we are, and will ever be. Yet it is only love which sets us free.”
“The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.”
“First best is falling in love. Second best is being in love. Least best is falling out of love. But any of it is better than never having been in love.”
“If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love.”
“I am grateful to have been loved and to be loved now and to be able to love.”
“When we find someone who is brave, fun, intelligent, and loving, we have to thank the universe.”
“One must learn to care for oneself first, so that one can then dare to care for someone else.”
“If you want to liberate someone, love them. Not be in love with them – that’s dangerous.”
“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.”
“If we are bold, love strikes away the chains of fear from our souls.”
“I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.”
“I don’t trust people who don’t love themselves and tell me, ‘I love you.’ There is an African saying which is: Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt.”
“Love is like a virus. It can happen to anybody at any time.”
“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.”
“The honorary duty of a human being is to love.”
“Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.”
Maya Angelou Quotes on Success and Motivation
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”
“Nothing will work unless you do.”
“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 can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
“In order to win, we pay with energy and effort and discipline. If we lose, we pay in disappointment, discontent, and lack of fulfillment.”
“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.”
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
“When you learn, teach. When you get, give.”
“Its not where your dreams take you, its where you take your dreams.”
“If you’re going to live, leave a legacy. Make a mark on the world that can’t be erased.”
“Every journey begins with a single step.”
“Your belief and your work will speak for you.”
“I believe that every person is born with talent.”
“Surviving is important. Thriving is elegant.”
“Not everything you do is going to be a masterpiece, but you get out there and you try and sometimes it really happens. The other times you’re just stretching your soul.”
“Creativity or talent, like electricity, is something I don’t understand but something I’m able to harness and use.”
“Making a decision to write was a lot like deciding to jump into a frozen lake.”
“When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.”
“Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.”
“Achievement brings its own anticlimax.”
“Your legacy is every life you’ve ever touched.”
Maya Angelou Quotes About a Life Well Lived
“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.”
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
“Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.”
“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 spend precious hours fearing the inevitable. It would be wise to use that time adoring our families, cherishing our friends and living our lives.”
“Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself.”
“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.”
“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.”
“This is a wonderful day. I have never seen this one before.”
“Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art.”
“Determine to live life with flair and laughter.”
“If I am not good to myself, how can I expect anyone else to be good to me?”
“Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.”
“Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.”
“I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one.”
“Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good.”
“Life loves the liver of it.”
“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”
“We need much less than we think we need.”
“I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t laugh.”
“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.”
“No matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.”
Want more uplifting inspiration and wisdom? Then have a look at the best Dolly Parton quotes, these workplace quotes by women and also this one with lots of uplifting quotes.