American - Poet | April 4, 1928 - May 28, 2014
I would be a liar, a hypocrite, or a fool - and I'm not any of those - to say that I don't write for the reader. I do. But for the reader who hears, who really will work at it, going behind what I seem to say. So I write for myself and that reader who will pay the dues.
Maya Angelou
WorkMyselfFoolLiarHypocriteSay
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.
PositiveYouTryEverythingSeenUs
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.
LoveLightBraveFreeWillSee
My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return.
WorkLoveHopeCourageGreatLaugh
All great artists draw from the same resource: the human heart, which tells us that we are all more alike than we are unalike.
HeartGreatMoreHumanSameArtists
Modesty is a learned affectation. And as soon as life slams the modest person against the wall, that modesty drops.
LifeWallPersonModestyDropsSoon
Whenever something went wrong when I was young - if I had a pimple or if my hair broke - my mom would say, 'Sister mine, I'm going to make you some soup.' And I really thought the soup would make my pimple go away or my hair stronger.
MomSisterHairSoupThoughtYou
History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.
CourageHistoryPainNeedLived
Growing up, my grandmother did not want worldly music in the house. Then when I went out to California, I started listening to Spanish music, mostly Mexican music. But were I in Egypt, I would listen to the music of the people, or if I was in Italy, I'd listen to Italian music.
MusicPeopleGrowing UpListening
I keep a hotel room in my town, although I have a large house. And I go there at about 5:30 in the morning, and I start working. And I don't allow anybody to come in that room. I work on yellow pads and with ballpoint pens. I keep a Bible, a thesaurus, a dictionary, and a bottle of sherry. I stay there until midday.
WorkMorningYellowStartBibleGo
Early on, I was so impressed with Charles Dickens. I grew up in the South, in a little village in Arkansas, and the whites in my town were really mean, and rude. Dickens, I could tell, wouldn't be a man who would curse me out and talk to me rudely.
ManMeEarlyVillageTalkMean
You have to develop ways so that you can take up for yourself, and then you take up for someone else. And so sooner or later, you have enough courage to really stand up for the human race and say, 'I'm a representative.'
CourageYourselfStand UpStandYou
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