MAYA ANGELOU

"Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean."

"Talent is like electricity. We don't understand electricity. We use it."

"Don't let the man bring you down."

"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."

"The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart."

"Surviving is important. Thriving is elegant."

"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."

"A friend may be waiting behind a stranger's face."

"Success is loving life and daring to live it."

"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."

"I hope that I may always desire more than I can accomplish."

"I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one."

"In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine."

"I don't trust anyone who doesn't laugh."

"Life is going to give you just what you put in it. Put your whole heart in everything you do, and pray, then you can wait."

"Making a decision to write was a lot like deciding to jump into a frozen lake."

"The main thing in one's own private world is to try to laugh as much as you cry."

"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."

"Everything in the universe has a rhythm, everything dances."

"I sustain myself with the love of family."

"A woman's heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek him just to find her."

"If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded."

"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."

"Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women."

"Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option."

"I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision."

"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."

"Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art."

"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."

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

"We need much less than we think we need."

"The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise."

"There is a very fine line between loving life and being greedy for it."

"Most people don't grow up. Most people age. They find parking spaces, honor their credit cards, get married, have children, and call that maturity. What that is, is aging."

"I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same thing as 'making a life'."

"The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind."

"While one may encounter many defeats, one must not be defeated."

"If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be."

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

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

"All great achievements require time."

"Be present in all things and thankful for all things."

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

"Living well is an art that can be developed: a love of life and ability to take great pleasure from small offerings and assurance that the world owes you nothing and that every gift is exactly that, a gift."

"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."

"To those who are given much, much is expected."