#Quotes from maya angelou movie
#Quotes from maya angelou tv

and later worked with Macolm X to set up the Organization of Afro-American Unity when she lived in Africa. Throughout her many careers, she was actively involved with the civil rights movement, serving as the northern coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference where she met Martin Luther King Jr. The renaissance woman continued evolving her artistic talents by focusing on poetry, even reciting her poem 'On the Pulse of Morning' at President Bill Clinton’s 1993 inauguration - the first inaugural recitation since 1961.

#Quotes from maya angelou movie

Her bestseller about her early life went on set a record for being on the New York Times paperback nonfiction bestseller list for two years, and when her screenplay for Georgia, Georgia was turned into a movie in 1972, she also became the first African American woman to have her screenplay produced.

#Quotes from maya angelou tv

While she got a Tony nomination for the play Look Away in 1973 and Emmy nomination for the TV miniseries Roots in 1977, it was her writing that helped her pave even more firsts. The next decade, she found success as a performer, starring in a touring production of Porgy and Bess, as well as off-Broadway’s Calypso Heat Wave in 1957 and releasing an album Miss Calypso the same year. As retaliation, her uncles killed her perpetrator, scarring the young girl to the point that she didn’t speak for about five years.Įventually, she moved out west and started carving out her own path - becoming the first African American cable car conductor in San Francisco in the 1940s. There, she faced discrimination - and was raped by her mother’s boyfriend at the age of seven. Louis, Missouri, Angelou had a traumatic childhood after her family moved to Arkansas.

“No matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.Maya Angelou made her mark in literary history by writing the first nonfiction bestseller by an African American woman: her 1969 memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.īut that wasn’t her only first - or even her first one.īorn April 4, 1928, in St.

“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.”.

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”.

“I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels.

It may even be necessary to encounter the defeat, so that we can know who we are.”

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

“Do the best you can until you know better.

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

“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.”.

“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.”.

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

“Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.”.

“We need much less than we think we need.”.

“But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage.”.

I must have done something great in another life.”

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

“Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it!”.

If you cannot make a change, change the way you have been thinking. “Make every effort to change things you do not like.“I can be changed by what happens to me.“Everything in the universe has a rhythm, everything dances.”.“Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.”.“Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.”.“The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious.“Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.”.“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”.“Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.”.Here are some of Maya Angelou’s best quotes on the power of connection, understanding yourself and motivation. Another one of Angelou’s most famous lines comes from “ Still I Rise,” her 1978 poem: “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.” It is nearly impossible to read that without feeling a rush of empowerment from deep inside your soul.Īngelou was brilliant at many things, but her ability to harness the power of words to inspire people was a truly remarkable feat.