Maya Angelou was one of the world’s most prolific and creative forces. She was a poet, author, playwright, singer, actress, philanthropist, visionary, professor, and beloved world leader, ultimately emerging as a universally admired woman. From “Phenomenal Women” to “Still I Rise,” Angelou’s works have inspired people of all ages and her passing more than a year ago in May 2014 brought forward a plethora of kind words from leaders all over the world who admired her legacy, from Obama to Oprah Winfrey to JK Rowling.
Here are just 11 of Maya Angelou’s most famous quotations and the inspirational life lessons that can be derived from them.
1. “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
Human beings have a lot of control over their lives, their attitudes, and their feelings and beliefs. In most situations, you can find another way to do something or change your circumstances, if not in the way you ideally want to, then away from the way you don’t want them to be. Maya Angelou is, in short, Angelou is telling us that we alone have the right and ability to control our lives and make them what we want to be. It might take a while, it might be a hard road, but if you believe in your dreams, passions, and desires, and are willing to get over the victim ‘I can’t change a thing because…’ mentality, there’s nothing you cannot do.
2. “I work very hard, and I play very hard. I’m grateful for life. And I live it. I believe life loves the liver of it. I live it.”
Maya Angelou was a big advocate of having a strong and well-defined work-life balance. The best way to truly appreciate life is to make sure that you maintain focus and commitment to every aspect of it. Work hard at your job, and when you’re working, give it all; but when it hits home time, leave it behind and go and spend time with the people you love, doing the things you love with love. Angelou is teaching us an important lesson – life rewards those who go out and do it, in whatever way they choose to do so.
3. “All great achievements require time.”
“Good things come to those who wait.” We all know about the virtue of patience, even if few of us any actually exercise it, particularly in the modern world where everything is done quicker and faster and with a lack of patience or willingness of wait for anything. Maya Angelou’s quote reminds us that in the grand scheme of things, we’re all just shuffling up our own personal mountains and it takes a long time to climb a mountain.
4. “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.”
The people around you will always be influenced by what you say, what you do, and how you act. But ultimately, these words and actions will control the way they feel about you and the way you manipulate their emotions. Emotions are what drive us as human beings. Yes, we do use logic and reason and intuitive abilities, but emotions, whether consciously or unconsciously, have the final say over what dictates our behaviors, attitudes, and responses to daily events. Sometimes, even the most noncommittal of words and conversations can bring about a strong positive or negative response. Being a positive influence around people ensures that everyone feels better about themselves and about you, giving you the kind of reputation that people care about.
5. “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.”
Life can be extremely hard and painful. We all know this. However, something positive that we can all try to do is to try and be a compassionate, beneficial influence in someone’s life. Maya Angelou’s quote is about the way that our actions and attitudes have far-reaching repercussions, like a pebble in a pond causing waves. Therefore, it’s always best to make those ripples positive and helping to create a chain reaction of positivity. Be the change you want to see, and a positive one at that.
6. “We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”
Maya Angelou gave us this teaching about the virtue of persevering in the face of defeat. The way we pick ourselves up after we fall comes to define our character. Angelou’s message of enduring is inspiring and powerful; if we gave up at the first sign of trouble or at less-than-smooth sailing, we wouldn’t achieve anything of value or really important. These tests of endurance define as human beings, not only in how we react to falling down, but also in how we pick ourselves back up, dust ourselves off, and try again.
7. “If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.”
Maya Angelou was a great believer in cultivating compassion in your daily life, and this quote cements this lesson as one of her most important and life-affirming. Caring for other people is something everyone should strive to do in their personal lives. Compassion awakens the heart, allowing you to experience life in a much more open, honest, and enjoyable way. Everyone out there wants to be cared for and loved, and receiving that will allow them to return it in kind without fear.
8. “Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.”
Cultivating courage is a skill, really, because our culture and media tell us that everything is to be feared — crime statistics, political battles, stories of troubles in other countries, heartbreak and divorce and betrayal. Angelou is telling us that true courage is accepting the fear about a situation and doing the right thing anyway. Courage is not an absence of fear — it is overcoming it regardless.
9. “A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.”
Something has to be said for the person who gets their head down and works at making themselves the best, most well-rounded and loving person they can be. At least in Maya Angelou’s world, that is. Working on yourself as a human being means working on confidence and strength and compassion, whilst stopping from crossing the line. Maya Angelou teaches a message of balance – don’t channel your strength into becoming someone who invokes enemies and "haters," but don’t diminish it for the sake of letting other people walk all over you.
10. “Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.”
This is one of Maya Angelou’s most prevalent and important lessons and quotes. Let go of the bitterness and use the anger you feel, channeling it into something productive — writing, reading, singing, creating. Use that anger to cleanse yourself of the bitterness and the hurt and use it as a transformative process, allowing you to move forward in your life and become the person you are meant to be. Maya Angelou never told you to let go of your anger, but rather to use it as a tool and a catalyst for your own sake. Use it wisely.
11. “It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.”
This important lesson from Maya Angelou is about the importance and power that the act of forgiveness can bring to someone, and also yourself. Choosing to forgive someone is an extraordinarily powerful gift, one that helps to alleviate weeks and months of toxic guilt build up from both parties, and help everyone move forward in their lives and look at the big picture. There’s something inherently strong in being able to say, ‘I forgive you’, and truly mean it.
That isn’t to say every slight can be erased with those words, but for those silly grudges and spats, being the bigger person by forgiving the other person can have so many positive benefits. You can regain a friendship or relationship you once thought lost, you gain back some of your energy that was focused on hating the other person, and many more.
