Maya Angelou was one of the most influential and greatest American poets of all time. In the time frame of 50 years, she published numerous books of poems, autobiographies, books of essays, and also scripts and plays for television shows. And she was righteously honoured with awards and honorary degrees for her talented work.
Angelou was also a civil rights activist, and her work in this area was as good as her work in the area of literature, so good that she also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and many more.
Here is a list of some of the most eye-opening Maya Angelou quotes on success, attitude and life.
What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it. Don't complain.
If there is something that you do not like or is not your way, then change that thing because it is only in your control to do so. But if it is not in your hands to change it or if you are unable to do so for any reason, then try and change the way you think about the situation or the thing and the way you look at it. One way or another, you can do something about it rather than just complaining, so do it!
We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.
Before growing into a full-grown butterfly, it tends to pass various stages of life and growth where it comes out of its cocoon, develops from being an egg, takes time to turn into an adult, etc. But we tend to stay fixated on the end of the process only, when it turns into a beautiful butterfly; we seldom talk about what it has gone through to finally reach that stage, the work, the efforts, and the time needed, are often ignored.
Angelou here has given the life stages of a butterfly as a reference to the growth of an individual towards success in life; when someone gets successful or achieves their dreams, we only see that part and appreciate them for that, but tend to miss appreciating all the efforts, the energy, the time, and the dedication they put into their work to reach that stage.
You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.
It is not humanely possible for anyone to control each and everything that happens to them, but that does not mean you cannot control your reaction and behaviour towards that particular thing which is out of your control.
For instance, you might not be able to control whether or not a hurdle or obstacle will stop you in your journey of success. But what you can do is prepare yourself for all the possible situations, and when it does come, you must not let it harm your will power and your determination.
Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.
Treating someone as a priority can be draining when they don't see you as number one and keep treating you as an option. Don't let anybody treat you lesser than what your worth is and how you treat them because if you keep someone above everyone, but they aren't willing to do the same for you, then they would just be using you for their personal gains or benefits.
Know your value, and then treat people accordingly.
You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.
The only person to which you have to prove something is yourself, and nobody else. You don't need anybody else but you because you alone are enough. And you don't owe any explanation or any kind of proof to anybody else because one's goal should be trying to be a better version of oneself and prove it to oneself, not to somebody else.
No matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.
There might be a challenge that you might be facing today, or something that upsets you deeply might have taken place today, but that does not mean it will stay the same tomorrow too. No matter how bad a situation looks like, it can, and it always does get turned around because if there is something bad, then good is bound to follow.
Life is an infusion of both the good and the bad, the ups and the downs; it might take time for a wound to heal or a situation to get better, but it will.
Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.
If your spirit is determined and you believe in yourself, then nobody and nothing would be able to stop you from becoming who you are and going after your dreams. Because if the light shines brightly from within oneself, then the darkness and the shade thrown by other people won't matter and won't be able to dim the light.
Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realise that the quicker we will be able to treat life as art.
Life is one big adventure and is all about taking risks and facing challenges, and there is no reason to resent change for it is an inescapable part of life. Thus, the sooner you accept life for what it is, the better it would be for you to live to the fullest!
One should treat life as art and enjoy every bits and piece and everything that it has to offer because once something passes you by, you will regret taking it for granted.
All great achievements require time.
If you wish to excel or succeed in any area or field, or even in life in general, you need to put into the work and the efforts required for that to happen, and then you need to be patient enough for your hard work to bore its fruit. Everything takes time and work, especially great things, because good things seldom come to anybody without a little sweat and a little blood; patience is also a must.
Continue reading some more best quotes of Maya Angelou.....
Talent is like electricity. We don't understand electricity, we use it.
We don't need to understand how a particular talent works or why it does in such a way; we just have to use it to see for ourselves! Angelou has compared talent with electricity here; we don't understand the usage and the process of electricity, we simply use it and utilise it, and in a similar way, we don't have to understand talent either, we simply have to utilise it and discover our true potential.
While one may encounter many defeats, one must not be defeated.
There are going to be numerous obstacles and downfalls in your journey of life, but it is on you to not lose hope and not give up by them, for failures are only lessons in disguise which help you in learning and growing, further in life. You need to accept your mistakes and learn from them, rather than getting discouraged by them and surrendering to them.
Nothing will work unless you do.
If you wish to achieve your dreams or attain success and respect, you need to work for it, and you need to work extremely hard for it because good things don't come off as easy to anybody. If you want things to work, you have to put in your honest efforts, your time and energy, your determination, and your dedication. And only then will your hard work be able to bore any fruit. If you don't work hard, you cannot complain about not getting what you want either.
There is a very fine line between loving life and being greedy for it.
There is a very thin line between loving one's life and being content with it and wanting more and more from it than it is already providing.
If you keep on wishing for more and more and are not satisfied with all that you have, then you would be letting your greed take over you and ruin you in the long run. And loving and living one's life to the fullest is not this; rather, it is being happy with all that life has given you and making the most out of it.
Never whine. Whining lets a brute know that a victim is in the neighbourhood.
If you keep on whining and fussing about something, be it your weakness, or how you don't have enough in life or anything for that matter, it will lead to ugly consequences for no one else but only you. This is because if you whine, you are directly giving an opportunity to a person to use it against you, thereby leading to your own downfall.
Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible.
Prejudice is like a pre-conceived opinion about a particular topic or issue, or about someone, which is not exactly based on factual information or on logical arguments and is more of a biased perspective.
Prejudice is rather dangerous because it tends to confuse the past and what it actually was, threatens the future as it poses a serious challenge of not being able to witness change and growth, and makes the present inaccessible due to the rigidity of the prejudice.
We are only as blind as we want to be.
If someone is unable to see something which is already crystal clear, then it is not because they are blinded by the lie that covers it or are not able to see it, it is because that they do not wish to see something as it is and choose to not face the reality, that they don't see it.
People are only as blind as they choose to become.
Since time is the one immaterial object which we cannot influence—neither speed up nor slow down, add to nor diminish—it is an imponderably valuable gift.
Time is indiscriminately unstoppable, for it tends to stop for nobody, regardless of what the situation is; once time passes you by, it never comes back to you. You cannot slow time and make your own way, and you cannot speed it up either. You cannot make time walk according to you, it is you who has to work according to the time, which is why it is wise of one never to take time for granted and value it instead of wasting it, while they still have it.
Forgive yourself for not knowing what you didn't know before you learned it.
Rather than sulking over what went down and wishing how you could have avoided a particular situation or a mistake, accept it and learn from it. You need to forgive yourself for things that you did not know before you learned them, and that is one of the greatest signs of growth and accomplishments.
The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself
The negative opinions and perspectives of other people regarding you don't matter as much as your perception about yourself matters. People don't have to live your life or bear with the consequences of your actions, it is only you who has to do that. This is why it is of utter importance to believe in oneself and support yourself first, before anybody else.
Having courage does not mean that we are unafraid. Having courage and showing courage means we face our fears.
Being strong and courageous does not mean that nothing scares us, because there is always going to be some fear that will linger upon us. Being courageous means to have the audacity to know and accept that we have fears, and to face them head-on instead of giving up or getting discouraged. That is what true strength is about, facing your fears rather than dismissing them.
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Co-author: Khushi Shah
Khushi has just passed her school and is now studying at PDPU. Apart from writing, she likes to sketch and dance. She also has other blogs where she posts proses and poetry.
