by Story by Sarah Fielding and Sophie Caldwell

Maya Angelou‘s brilliant writing has touched hearts and impacted readers around the world.

The late writer, activist, and poet had a penchant for capturing the most precious moments of human connection with her exuberant, expressive language.

From autobiographical works like “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” to her plays and poetry, Angelou has wise words for nearly every occasion and stage of life.

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Though trying moments can often feel punishing and unkind, Angelou reminds us that we always have the power to choose how we treat ourselves and others.

Beyond her famous quote, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time,” Angelou’s words offer incredible insight into the human condition.

During your most difficult moments, recall Angelou’s triumphant declaration in “Still I Rise.” “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.” 

Change can be difficult to process, but Angelou offers a thoughtful reframing: “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”

Whether you’re looking for a fresh perspective, in need of a motivational boost, or craving some creative inspiration, Maya Angelou’s incredible work is a rich source of reflection. Below, you’ll find some of Maya Angelou’s best quotes about life, love, selfhood and motivation.

Maya Angelou quotes about life

• “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.”
• “My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who and how you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness.”
• “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” 

Maya Angelou quotes

• “The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.”
• “Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.”
• “Everything in the universe has a rhythm, everything dances.”

Maya Angelou quotes

• “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.”
• “In all my work, what I try to say is that as human beings, we are more alike than we are unalike.”
• “When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”

Maya Angelou quotes

• “Stormy or sunny days, glorious or lonely nights, I maintain an attitude of gratitude. If I insist on being pessimistic, there is always tomorrow. Today I am blessed.”
• “Being free is being able to accept people for what they are, and not try to understand all they are or be what they are.”
• “Life offers us tickets to places which we have not knowingly asked for.”

Maya Angelou quotes about the self

• “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.”
• “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.”
• “Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it!”

Maya Angelou quotes

• “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
• “I am grateful to be a woman. I must have done something great in another life.”
• “But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage.”

Maya Angelou quotes

• “The idea of overcoming is always fascinating to me. It’s fascinating because few of us realize how much energy we have expended just to be here today. I don’t think we give ourselves enough credit for the overcoming.”
• “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do and liking how you do it.”
• “If our children are to approve of themselves, they must see that we approve of ourselves.”

Maya Angelou quotes

• “You only are free when you realize you belong no place — you belong every place — no place at all. The price is high. The reward is great.”
• “We need much less than we think we need.”
• “Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.”
• “Develop enough courage so that you can stand up for yourself and then stand up for somebody else.”

Maya Angelou quotes about love

• “Love liberates. It doesn’t just hold, that’s ego. Love liberates.”
• “Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.”
• “If we are bold, love strikes away the chains of fear from our souls.”

Maya Angelou quotes

• “Love costs all we are and will ever be. Yet it is only love which sets us free.”
• “In a world so rife with vulgarity, with brutality and violence, love exists. I’m grateful to know that it exists.”
• “The human heart is so delicate and sensitive that it always needs some tangible encouragement to prevent it from faltering in its labor.”

Maya Angelou quotes

• “The loss of young first love is so painful that it borders on the ludicrous.”
• “If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love.”
• “Love heals. Heals and liberates. I use the word love, not meaning sentimentality, but a condition so strong that it may be that which holds the stars in their heavenly positions and that which causes the blood to flow orderly in our veins.”

Maya Angelou quotes

• “One must learn to care for oneself first, so that one can then dare to care for someone else.”
• “Love is like a virus. It can happen to anybody at any time.”
• “Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.”

Maya Angelou quotes about motivation

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

Maya Angelou quotes

• “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
• “We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated. It may even be necessary to encounter the defeat, so that we can know who we are.”
• “Life loves to be taken by the lapel and be told, ‘I am with you kid. Let’s go!'”

Maya Angelou quotes

• “Develop enough courage so that you can stand up for yourself and then stand up for somebody else.”
• “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”
• “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 quotes

• “No matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.”
• “Making a decision to write was a lot like deciding to jump into a frozen lake.”
• “Not everything you do is going to be a masterpiece, but you get art there and you try and sometimes it really happens. The other times you’re just stretching your soul.”
• “Creativity or talent, like electricity, is something I don’t understand but something I’m able to harness and use.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com