Maya Angelou Short Quotes

You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated.

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

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive.

Nothing will work unless you do.

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.

If you’re always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.

You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.

We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated.

Surviving is important. Thriving is elegant.

A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.

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.

I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it.

Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible.

You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot – it’s all there.

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.

When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.

I’ve learned that making a ‘living’ is not the same thing as ‘making a life’.

Maya Angelou Short Quotes part 2

When you get, give. When you learn, teach.

I can be chiefly taught by the extraordinary lightness of ordinary people.

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. There is no abyss without his light and quiet courage.

It’s so intriguing to have an idea, to go down and try to discover what the idea was.

History is not history unless it is the truth.

I think it’s essential to teach our children their history so they can have a sense of pride and self-worth.

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.

Your legacy is every life you’ve touched.

We need much less than we think we need.

I work very hard, and I play very hard. I’m grateful for life. And I live it – I believe life loves the liver of it. I live it.

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

It is this belief in a power larger than myself and directing of my life, that I call God.

A friend may be waiting behind a stranger’s face.

Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.

If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love.

The desire to reach hearts is wise.

You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.

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

Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.

When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.

I’m grateful to be a practicing artist.

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.

We can create miracles in the face of reality.

I know for sure that love saves me and that it is here to save us all.

My mission is to uplift empower, inspire and remind those who feel disconnected from their true purpose.

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

I work very hard, and I play very hard. I’m grateful for life. And I live it—I believe life loves the liver of it.

We have to confront ourselves. Do we like what we see in the mirror? And, according to our light, according to our understanding, according to our courage, we will have to say yea or nay – and rise!