101 Inspirational Maya Angelou Quotes For Success In Life

Maya Angelou (born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. These Maya Angelou quotes about love, change, women, family, courage, education will motivate you to achieve success in life.

Best Maya Angelou Quotes

1. “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.” ― Maya Angelou
2. “You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.” ― Maya Angelou
3. “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.” ― Maya Angelou
4. “Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it!” ― Maya Angelou
5. “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” ― Maya Angelou
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.” ― Maya Angelou, Maya Angelou quotes on change
7. “If I am not good to myself, how can I expect anyone else to be good to me?” ― Maya Angelou
8. “Stepping onto a brand-new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation, which is not nurturing to the whole woman.” ― Maya Angelou
9. “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” ― Maya Angelou
10. “Everything in the universe has a rhythm, everything dances. ” ― Maya Angelou
11. “The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.” ― Maya Angelou
12. “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.” ― Maya Angelou

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

14. “Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
    I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
    But when I start to tell them,
    They think I’m telling lies.
    I say,
    It’s in the reach of my arms
    The span of my hips,
    The stride of my step,
    The curl of my lips.
    I’m a woman
    Phenomenally.
    Phenomenal woman,
    That’s me.” ― Maya Angelou
15. “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” ― Maya Angelou
16. “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” ― Maya Angelou
17. “Nothing will work unless you do.” ― Maya Angelou
18. “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.” ― Maya Angelou
19. “A woman’s heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her.” ― Maya Angelou
20. “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.” ― Maya Angelou, Maya Angelou quotes on love

21. “I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t laugh.” ― Maya Angelou

22. “Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.” ― Maya Angelou
23. “When you learn, teach, when you get, give.” ― Maya Angelou
24. “I want to thank you, Lord, for life and all that’s in it. Thank you for the day and for the hour, and the minute. ” ― Maya Angelou
25. “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.” ― Maya Angelou
26. “Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.” ― Maya Angelou, Maya Angelou quotes on courage
27. “Surviving is important. Thriving is elegant.” ― Maya Angelou
28. “Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for.” ― Maya Angelou
29. “When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.” ― Maya Angelou
30. “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 some things back.” ― Maya Angelou
31. “Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist eternally in our absence. Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.” ― Maya Angelou

32. “Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.” ― Maya Angelou

33. “I sustain myself with the love of family.” ― Maya Angelou, Maya Angelou quotes about family
34. “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.” ― Maya Angelou
35. “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.” ― Maya Angelou
36. “Anything that works against you can also work for you once you understand the Principle of Reverse.” ― Maya Angelou
37. “If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.” ― Maya Angelou
38. “The problem I have with haters is that they see my glory, but they don’t know my story…” ― Maya Angelou
39. “Be present in all things and thankful for all things.” ― Maya Angelou
40. “While one may encounter many defeats, one must not be defeated.” ― Maya Angelou
41. “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!” ― Maya Angelou
42. “We need much less than we think we need.” ― Maya Angelou
43. “Live as though life was created for you.” ― Maya Angelou

44. “The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind. ” ― Maya Angelou

45. “Some people cannot see a good thing when it is right here, right now. Others can sense a good thing coming when it is days, months, or miles away.” ― Maya Angelou
46. “When we find someone who is brave, fun, intelligent, and loving, we have to thank the universe.” ― Maya Angelou
47. “There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing.” ― Maya Angelou
48. “The best candy shop a child can be left alone in, is the library” ― Maya Angelou
49. “Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art.” ― Maya Angelou
50. “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because, without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.” ― Maya Angelou
51. “First best is falling in love. Second best is being in love. Least best is falling out of love. But any of it is better than never having been in love.” ― Maya Angelou
52. “The main thing in one’s own private world is to try to laugh as much as you cry.” ― Maya Angelou
53. “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.” ― Maya Angelou
54. “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.” ― Maya Angelou

55. “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” ― Maya Angelou

56. “A friend may be waiting behind a stranger’s face.” ― Maya Angelou
57. “The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.” ― Maya Angelou
58. “To those who have given up on love: I say, “Trust life a little bit.” ― Maya Angelou
59. “Love is like a virus. It can happen to anybody at any time.” ― Maya Angelou
60. “It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” ― Maya Angelou
61. “I’ve learned that making a ‘living’ is not the same thing as ‘making a life’.” ― Maya Angelou
62. “All great achievements require time.” ― Maya Angelou
63. “I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.” ― Maya Angelou
64. “I believe that the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity, is daring to dare.” ― Maya Angelou
65. “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” ― Maya Angelou
66. “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.” ― Maya Angelou
67. “I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one.” ― Maya Angelou
68. “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.” ― Maya Angelou
69. “I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life.” ― Maya Angelou

70. “Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst, and unsurprised by anything in between.” ― Maya Angelou

71. “Out of the huts of history’s shame
    I rise
    Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
    I rise
    I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
    Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
    Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
    I rise
    Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
    I rise
    Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
    I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
    I rise
    I rise
    I rise.” ― Maya Angelou
72. “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.” ― Maya Angelou
73. “Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.” ― Maya Angelou

74. “Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.” ― Maya Angelou

75. “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” ― Maya Angelou
76. “Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.” ― Maya Angelou
77. “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. ” ― Maya Angelou
78. “To those who are given much, much is expected.” ― Maya Angelou
79. “If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” ― Maya Angelou
80. “There’s a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure truth.” ― Maya Angelou
81. “If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. Don’t be surly at home, then go out in the street and start grinning ‘Good morning’ at total strangers.” ― Maya Angelou
82. “Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.” ― Maya Angelou
83. “If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform a million realities.” ― Maya Angelou
84. “Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off you.” ― Maya Angelou
85. “We spend precious hours fearing the inevitable. It would be wise to use that time adoring our families, cherishing our friends and living our lives.” ― Maya Angelou

86. “Success is loving life and daring to live it.” ― Maya Angelou

87. “Love life. Engage in it. Give it all you’ve got. Love it with a passion because life truly does give back, many times over, what you put into it.” ― Maya Angelou
88. “I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn.” ― Maya Angelou
89. “As soon as healing takes place, go out and heal somebody else.” ― Maya Angelou
90. “Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.” ― Maya Angelou
91. “Talent is like electricity. We don’t understand electricity. We use it.” ― Maya Angelou
92. “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.” ― Maya Angelou
93. “There is a very fine line between loving life and being greedy for it.” ― Maya Angelou
94. “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.” ― Maya Angelou
95. “I hope that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.” ― Maya Angelou

96. “My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy.” ― Maya Angelou

97. “If you’re for the right thing, you do it without thinking.” ― Maya Angelou
98. “When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.” ― Maya Angelou
99. “The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by formal education. ” ― Maya Angelou, Maya Angelou quotes on education
100. “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them. Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud. Do not complain. 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.” ― Maya Angelou
101. “Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.” ― Maya Angelou

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