Looking for inspiration and wisdom to uplift your spirits? Then you’ve come to the right place!
Maya Angelou’s quotes are filled with wisdom and insight that can help you feel empowered and motivated.
In this article, we’ve gathered 155 motivational Maya Angelou quotes on different topics ranging from education, self-love, mother’s love, leadership, life, friendship, change, courage, women, and more.
So take a moment to immerse yourself in the wisdom of one of the most inspiring voices of our time.
You may also want to check out our collection of 6 word quotes.
Maya Angelou Quotes About Life
1. “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”
2. “We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated.”
3. “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”
4. “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
5. “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
6. “A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.”
7. “I’ve learned that making a living is not the same as making a life.”
8. “The first time someone shows you who they are, believe them.”
9. “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.”
10. “Hate; it has caused a lot of problems in this world, but it has not solved one yet.”
11. “In all my work, I try to say – ‘You may be given a load of sour lemons, why not try to make a dozen lemon meringue pies?'”
12. “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.”
Self-Love Quotes By Maya Angelou
1. “I do not trust people who don’t love themselves and yet tell me, ‘I love you.’ There is an African saying which is: Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt.”
2. “You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.”
3. “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”
4. “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”
5. “I have a certain way of being in this world, and I shall not, I shall not be moved.”
6. “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.”
7. “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
8. “I realized that if my thoughts immediately affect my body, I should be careful about what I think. Now if I get angry, I ask myself why I feel that way. If I can find the source of my anger, I can turn that negative energy into something positive.”
9. “It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.”
Inspiring Maya Angelou Quotes About Courage And Strength
1. “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.”
2. “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.”
3. “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.”
4. “The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.”
5. “We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”
6. “The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination.”
7. “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because, without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.”
Inspirational And Motivational Quotes By Maya Angelou
1. “Nothing can dim the light that shines from within.”
2. “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated.”
3. “I am grateful to be a woman. I must have done something great in another life.”
4. “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.”
5. “Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.”
6. “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!”
7. “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.”
8. “I am a human being, nothing human can be alien to me.”
9. “I learned a long time ago the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side, be an advocate for myself and others like me.”
10. “I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.”
Maya Angelou Quotes About Success
1. “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.”
2. “Success is loving life and daring to live it.”
3. “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
4. “Success is loving yourself and daring to love others.”
5. “Success is defined as a journey, not a destination.”
6. “Success is not what you have, but who you are.”
7. “Success is achieved by developing our strengths, not by eliminating our weaknesses.”
8. “Success is not the absence of failure, it’s the persistence through failure.”
9. “Success is being able to stand up again and again after falling.”
10. “Success is being able to give back more than you take.”
11. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”
12. “Success is achieved by those who try and keep trying with a positive mental attitude.”
13. “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.”
14. “Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.”
15. “Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition, you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.”
Maya Angelou Quotes About Change
1. “Change is the only constant. Your ability to navigate and tolerate change and its painful uncomfortableness directly correlates to your happiness and general well-being.”
2. “I have learned that I still have a lot to learn.”
3. “I’ve learned that making a living is not the same thing as making a life.”
4. “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”
5. “I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.”
6. “I have respect for the past, but I’m a person of the moment. I’m here, and I do my best to be completely centered at the place I’m at, then I go forward to the next place.”
7. “If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.”
8. “The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind.”
9. “The only way to change the world is to change the story.”
Maya Angelou Quotes About Women
1. “I am a woman, phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, that’s me.”
2. “I’m a woman. Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, that’s me.”
3. “I’m grateful to be a woman. I must have done something great in another life.”
4. “A woman’s heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her.”
5. “The sadness of the women’s movement is that they don’t allow the necessity of love. See, I don’t personally trust any revolution where love is not allowed.”
6. “A woman’s hopefulness is her most significant trait.”
7. “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.”
8. “I am convinced that most people do not grow up. We marry and dare to have children and call that growing up. I think what we do is mostly grow old. We carry accumulation of years in our bodies, and on our faces, but generally our real selves, the children inside, are still innocent and shy as magnolias.”
Positive Maya Angelou Quotes
1. “I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow”
2. “I’ve learned that people forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”
3. “When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed”
4. “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”
5. “I’m convinced of this: Good done anywhere is good done everywhere. For a change, start by speaking to people rather than walking by them like they’re stones that don’t matter. As long as you’re breathing, it’s never too late to do some good”
6. “You can’t forgive without loving. And I don’t mean sentimentality. I don’t mean mush. I mean having enough courage to stand up and say, ‘I forgive. I’m finished with it.'”
Deep Short Maya Angelou Quotes
1. “Still I rise.”
2. “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.”
3. “Love recognizes no barriers.”
4. “Nothing will work unless you do.”
5. “Be present in all things and thankful for all things.”
6. “We are more alike than unalike.”
7. “I am not my sister’s keeper, I am my sister.”
8. “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive.”
9. “The truth is, no one of us can be free until everybody is free.”
10. “We need much less than we think we need.”
11. “When you learn, teach; when you get, give.”
12. “I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t laugh.”
13. “I believe that every person is born with talent.”
14. “When you know better, you do better.”
Maya Angelou’s Quotes On Leadership
1. “Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.”
2. “A leader sees greatness in other people. He nor she can be much of a leader if all she sees is herself.”
3. “We all have the potential to take leadership roles in our lives.”
4. “It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.”
5. “I think a hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people.”
6. “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
7. “I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.”
8. “Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.”
9. “I respect myself and insist upon it from everybody. And because I do it, I then respect everybody, too.”
10. “I know that when I pray, something wonderful happens. Not just to the person or persons for whom I’m praying, but also something wonderful happens to me. I’m grateful that I’m heard.”
11. “It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.”
Maya Angelou’s Quotes About Family And Friendship
1. “If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love.”
2. “The family is the nucleus of civilization.”
3. “I sustain myself with the love of family.”
4. “I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life.”
5. “Family isn’t always blood, it’s the people in your life who want you in theirs: the ones who accept you for who you are, the ones who would do anything to see you smile and who love you no matter what.”
6. “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. It is very important for every human being to forgive herself or himself because if you live, you will make mistakes – it is inevitable. But once you do and you see the mistake, then you forgive yourself and say, ‘Well, if I’d known better I’d have done better,’ that’s all.”
7. “It is this belief in a power larger than myself and other than myself which allows me to venture into the unknown and even the unknowable.”
8. “The love of the family, the love of the person, can heal. It heals the scars left by a larger society. A massive, powerful society.”
9. “I’m grateful to have been loved and to be loved now and to be able to love, because that liberates. Love liberates. It doesn’t just hold – that’s ego. Love liberates. It doesn’t bind. Love says, ‘I love you. I love you if you’re in China. I love you if you’re across town. I love you if you’re in Harlem. I love you. I would like to be near you. I’d like to have your arms around me. I’d like to hear your voice in my ear. But that’s not possible now, so I love you. Go.'”
10. “In all my work, in the movies I write, the lyrics, the poetry, the prose, the essays, I am saying that we may encounter many defeats – maybe it’s imperative that we encounter the defeats – but we are much stronger than we appear to be and maybe much better than we allow ourselves to be. Human beings are more alike than unalike.”
11. “I’m just someone who likes cooking and for whom sharing food is a form of expression.”
12. “I am grateful to have been loved and to be loved now and to be able to love because that liberates.”
13. “The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”
14. “The best way to make a friend is to be one.”
15. “A friend may be waiting behind a stranger’s face.”
16. “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.”
17. “We are more alike, my friends than we are unalike.”
Maya Angelou’s Quotes On Education
1. “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”
2. “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.”
3. “The more you know of your history, the more liberated you are.”
4. “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.”
5. “If you’re always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.”
6. “All great achievements require time.”
7. “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.”
8. “We are all creative, but by the time we are three or four years old, someone has knocked the creativity out of us. Some people shut up the kids who start to tell stories. Kids dance in their cribs, but someone will insist they sit still. By the time the creative people are ten or twelve, they want to be like everyone else.”
9. “I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one.”
10. “The best way to solve a problem is to eliminate its occurrence.”
11. “I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn.”
Related: 395 Best Love Quotes
Love Quotes By Maya Angelou
1. “Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.”
2. “The human heart, at whatever age, opens only to the heart that opens in return.”
3. “The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds.”
4. “In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine.”
5. “You don’t love someone because they’re perfect, you love them in spite of the fact that they’re not.”
6. “The love of the family, the love of the person can heal. It heals the scars left by a larger society. A massive, powerful society.”
7. “If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.”
8. “Love is like a virus. It can happen to anybody at any time.”
9. “I love living. I love that I’m alive to love my age.”
10. “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.”
11. “Love is an untamed force. When we try to control it, it destroys us. When we try to imprison it, it enslaves us. When we try to understand it, it leaves us feeling lost and confused.”
12. “When you know you are of worth, you don’t have to raise your voice, you don’t have to become rude, you don’t have to become vulgar; you just are. And you are like the sky is, as the air is, the same way water is wet. It doesn’t have to protest.”
13. “Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”
14. “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.”
15. “In the flush of love’s light, we dare be brave. And suddenly we see that love costs all we are, and will ever be. Yet it is only love which sets us free.”
Maya Angelou Quotes About Mothers’ Love For Mother’s Day
1. “To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power or the climbing, falling colors of a rainbow.”
2. “I realized when you look at your mother, you are looking at the purest love you will ever know.”
3. “A mother’s arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them.”
4. “A mother’s love liberates.”
5. “A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.”
6. “A mother’s love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible.”
7. “Mothers are like glue. Even when you can’t see them, they’re still holding the family together.”
8. “A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take.”
9. “I am sure that if the mothers of various nations could meet, there would be no more wars.”
10. “If you’re serious, you really understand that it’s important that you laugh as much as possible and admit that you’re the funniest person you ever met. You have to laugh. Admit that you’re funny. Otherwise, you die in solemnity.” 11. “When we find someone who is brave, fun, intelligent, and loving, we have to thank the universe.”
Who is Maya Angelou?
Maya Angelou was an American author, poet, and civil rights activist. She was born in 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri.
Throughout her childhood, Angelou experienced numerous hardships and painful traumas. Despite various obstacles, she rose to prominence as a powerful advocate for social justice.
Over her career, Angelou published several works of poetry, prose, and essays. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” her most famous work, is a memoir of her life and adolescence.
She passed away in 2014, but her legacy as a leader for women, Black Americans, and others facing discrimination lives on.
Final Thoughts
Maya Angelou’s quotes inspire people on many subjects including self-love, courage, success, change, women, strength, friendship, positivity, education, leadership, family, mother’s love, and many more.
We hope you enjoy reading through these quotes and that you find something that resonates with you.
Maya Angelou quotes are powerful. They inspire and uplift you. We hope that these quotes will do just that for you.
