Maya Angelou Quotes

We're all capable of being more than we presently are, and the effort that it takes and the will that it takes and sometimes the trauma and tragedy that it takes to force us into that kind of growth is the story of our lives.

This is who I want to be in the world. This is who I think we are supposed to be, people who help call forth human beings from deep inside hopelessness.

We never know who we are going to be until we are tested, but perhaps we can test ourselves without going to the extremes of war. Perhaps we can be kinder now, live with less now, reach out to others now - and build an inner reserve of a strong identity that will hold us up even when everything else falls away.

I have a theory and I really believe it. I think your worst weakness can become your greatest single strength.

The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.

You must not for one instant give up the effort to build new lives for yourselves. Creativity means to push open the heavy, groaning doorway to life.

I want, by understanding myself, to understand others. I want to be all that I am capable of becoming.

I've learned never to expect people to be better than they are, but to always have faith that they can be more.

I feel that people are basically trying to do their best in the world. Even when you see people making mistakes, you understand why they're making a mistake. Everybody has flaws, everybody has demons, everybody has ghosts, but I think you watch people and you see everybody trying to do their best.

I think the most productive thing to do during times of change is to be your best self, not the best version of someone else.

Difficulty creates the opportunity for self-reflection and compassion.

What a liberating thing to realize that our problems are probably our richest sources for rising to the ultimate virtue of compassion.

We must accept life for what it actually is - a challenge to our quality without which we should never know of what stuff we are made, or grow to our full stature.

I dreamed my way into Lincoln and the details that moved me - his lack of education or 'civilized' manners and his deep connection to all humankind.

I believe that love gives you the freedom and power to share your best self and to inspire others.

It will always be relevant and always be inspiring to see somebody turning themselves into a warrior.

I've had the opportunity to see both sides of the human spirit. I've seen those who will put you down, demean you, brand you, and have a one-track mind of destruction. But I've also seen people who uplift you. I've been on a journey unlike any others.

Dream more, learn more, care more, and be more.

Use what you have to run toward your best - that's how I now live my life.

Passion will move men beyond themselves, beyond their shortcomings, beyond their failures.

You are built not to shrink down to less but to blossom into more.

I have crossed over to a place where I never thought I’d be. I am someone I would have never imagined. A secret. A dream. I am this, body and soul. Burn me. Drown me. Tell me lies. I will still be who I am.

People change when they hurt enough that they have to change, learn enough that they want to change, receive enough that they are able to change.

Love is the only way on which even the dim-witted reaches certain heights.