“The first time someone shows you who they are, believe them.”
“I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.”
― Maya Angelou
“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”
― Maya Angelou
“I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass.”
― Maya Angelou
“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”
― Maya Angelou, Letter to My Daughter
“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.”
― Maya Angelou
“I do not trust people who don't love themselves and yet tell me, 'I love you.' There is an African saying which is: Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt.”
― Maya Angelou
“Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.”
― Maya Angelou
“Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it!”
― Maya Angelou
“If I am not good to myself, how can I expect anyone else to be good to me?”
― Maya Angelou
“Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.”
― Maya Angelou
“You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.”
― Maya Angelou
“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.”
― Maya Angelou
“A woman's heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her.”
― Maya Angelou
“Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.”
― Maya Angelou, Phenomenal Woman: Four Poems Celebrating Women