30 Inspiring Maya Angelou Quotes

Maya Angelou was an American author, actress, screenwriter, and poet who is best known for her 1969 book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which made literary history as the first nonfiction bestseller by an African American woman.

Here are some inspiring quotes by Maya Angelou

1. “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.”

2. “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.”

3. “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

4. “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”

5. “When someone shows you who they are believe them the first time.”

6. “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.”

7. “When someone shows you who they are believe them the first time.”

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

9. “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because, without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.”

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

11. “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.”

12. “Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.”

13. “Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.”

14. “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.”

15. “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.”

16. “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.”

17. “A woman’s heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her.”

18. “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.

19. “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.”

20. “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.”

21. “You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.”

23. “The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.”

24. “Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it!”

25. “If I am not good to myself, how can I expect anyone else to be good to me?”

26. “Everything in the universe has a rhythm, everything dances. ”

27. “No matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.”

28. “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.”

29. “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!”

30. “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.”

Read Also: 50 Self Love Quotes to Inspire You to Love Yourself

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