# Maya Angelou's best quotes (with sources)

"Still I Rise", believing people the first time they show who they are and courage as the first virtue: Maya Angelou's most quoted lines, each with the poem, book or interview it comes from (and without the misattributed ones).

- 98 votes · 11 items
- Sep 4, 2021 · Grace Morris
- https://even.best/en/l/4990/maya-angelou-s-best-quotes-with-sources

## Top 11

1. **When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.** (11 · ▲13 ▼2) — Told to Oprah Winfrey, who has repeated it since her 1997 interview with Angelou.
2. **You may write me down in history / With your bitter, twisted lies, / You may trod me in the very dirt / But still, like dust, I'll rise.** (11 · ▲11 ▼0) — Poem "Still I Rise", in And Still I Rise (1978).
3. **Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency.** (9 · ▲10 ▼1) — Interview in USA Today (1988).
4. **You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.** (9 · ▲9 ▼0) — Letter to My Daughter (2009).
5. **Self-pity in its early stages is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.** (7 · ▲7 ▼0) — Gather Together in My Name (1974).
6. **You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.** (6 · ▲7 ▼1) — Interview (1982), in Conversations with Maya Angelou (1989).
7. **This is a wonderful day. I've never seen this one before.** (5 · ▲6 ▼1) — Tweet (2013), recalled in her obituaries.
8. **Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.** (4 · ▲7 ▼3) — I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969).
9. **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.** (4 · ▲6 ▼2) — Post on her Facebook page (2011).
10. **Develop enough courage so that you can stand up for yourself and then stand up for somebody else.** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — Rainbow in the Cloud: The Wisdom and Spirit of Maya Angelou (2014).
11. **I don't trust people who don't love themselves and tell me "I love you."** (1 · ▲4 ▼3) — Lecture at Weber State University (1997).

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.