Maya Angelou
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"Maya Angelou" was an American author, poet, dancer, actress, and singer. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, and several books of poetry, and was 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. Angelou is best known for her series of seven autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.

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

If someone tells you who they are, believe them.

We allow our ignorance to prevail upon us and make us think we can survive alone, alone in patches, alone in groups, alone in races, even alone in genders.

I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.

There is a very fine line between loving life and being greedy for it.

Nothing will work unless you do.

While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are also God's creation.

How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!

You may encounter defeats, but you must not be defeated.

One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.

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.

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

I want all my senses engaged. Let me absorb the world's variety and uniqueness.

Determine to live life with flair and laughter.

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 you.

If you have only one smile in you give it to the people you love.

I know why the caged bird sings.

The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind.

Talent is like electricity. We don't understand electricity. We use it.

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain.

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

When you learn, teach. When you get, give.

History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, however, if faced with courage, need not be lived again.

The needs of society determine its ethics.

I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.

Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told, 'I'm with you kid. Let's go.'

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

I couldn't tell fact from fiction, Or if the dream was true My only sure prediction In this world was you. I'd touch your features inchly. Beard love and dared the cost, The sented spiel reeled me unreal And I found my senses lost.

Courage is fear that has said its prayers.

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.