Maya Angelou

Nothing will work unless you do.

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

Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.

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.

If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.

Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.

When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.

You are the sum total of everything you've ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot - it's all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive.

Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.

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

I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.

I'm grateful to intelligent people. That doesn't mean educated. That doesn't mean intellectual. I mean really intelligent. What black old people used to call 'mother wit' means intelligence that you had in your mother's womb. That's what you rely on. You know what's right to do.

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.

Independence is a heady draught, and if you drink it in your youth, it can have the same effect on the brain as young wine does. It does not matter that its taste is not always appealing. It is addictive and with each drink you want more.

The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.

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

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.

If we lose love and self respect for each other, this is how we finally die.

Love is like a virus. It can happen to anybody at any time.

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