Maya Angelou

I'm always disappointed when people don't live up to their potential. I know that a number of people look down on themselves and consequently on everybody who looks like them. But that, too, can change.

I'm convinced of this: Good done anywhere is good done everywhere. For a change, start by speaking to people rather than walking by them like they're stones that don't matter. As long as you're breathing, it's never too late to do some good.

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

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

In so many ways, segregation shaped me, and education liberated me.

During bad circumstances, which is the human inheritance, you must decide not to be reduced. You have your humanity, and you must not allow anything to reduce that. We are obliged to know we are global citizens. Disasters remind us we are world citizens, whether we like it or not.

I like to speak on matters which matter to human beings, and almost everything matters to human beings.

I refuse to allow any man-made differences to separate me from any other human beings.

All great artists draw from the same resource: the human heart, which tells us that we are all more alike than we are unalike.

We can learn to see each other and see ourselves in each other and recognize that human beings are more alike than we are unalike.

Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.

If you're a human being, you can attempt to do what other human beings have done. We don't understand talent any more than we understand electricity.