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It's Very Important To Know The Neighbor Next Door And The People Down The Street And The People In Another Race.
-Maya Angelou
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It's Very Important To

Maya Angelou
...
It's Very Important To Know The Neighbor Next Door And The People Down The Street And The People In Another Race.

Understanding the Quote: "it's very important to know the neighbor next door and the people..."

This quote by Maya Angelou reflects deeply on the theme of race. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Race, Doors, People, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Maya Angelou interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou is celebrated for insightful thoughts on race and doors. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

Views: 41178
Topic
Race
Doors
People
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Doe
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Inspirational
Motivational
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Leadership
Wisdom
Country
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Attitude
Who I Am
Life Loves The Liver Of It.
Inspirational
Life
Spiritual
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Twenties
Fifty
We Must Create A Climate Where People Agree That Human Beings Are More Alike Than Unalike. The Only Way To Do That Is Through Education.
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People
Climate
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Heart
Rainy Day
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Ignorance
Years
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Mean
Responsibility
When Someone Shows You Who They Are, Believe Them The First Time. People Know Themselves Much Better Than You Do. That's Why It's Important To Stop Expecting Them To Be Something Other Than Who They Are
Believe
People
Important
Through The Centuries, We Faced Down Death By Daring To Hope.
Hopeful
Century
Daring
If You Were The President Of The United States Or The Queen Of England - You Couldn't Have A Person Who Would Be More Protective Than My Mother Was For Me. Which Meant Really That I Could Dare To Do All Sorts Of Things.
Mother
Queens
President
If I Have A Monument In This World, It Is My Son.
Thank You
Mother
Children
I Would Like To Be Known As An Intelligent Woman, A Courageous Woman, A Loving Woman, A Woman Who Teaches By Being.
Life
Intelligent
Powerful Women
Happiness Is A Chance To Talk To A Friend, To Hear Good Music, To Have A Good Glass Of Wine. Happiness Is A Chance To Be Myself And To Find People With Whom I Agree Or Who I Don't Agree But I Can Learn Something.
Wine
Glasses
People
I Agreed A Long Time Ago, I Would Not Live At Any Cost. If I Am Moved Or Forced Away From What I Think Is The Right Thing, I Will Not Do It.
Moving
Thinking
Long
We Need Language To Tell Us Who We Are, How We Feel, What We're Capable Of- To Explain The Pains And Glory Of Our Existence.
Pain
Needs
Who We Are
I Have Forgiven Myself; I'll Make A Change. Once That Forgiveness Has Taken Place You Can Console Yourself With The Knowledge That A Diamond Is The Result Of Extreme Pressure. Less Pressure Is Crystal, Less Than That Is Coal, Less Than That Is Fossilized Leaves Or Plain Dirt. Pressure Can Change You Into Something Quite Precious, Quite Wonderful, Quote Beautiful And Extremely Hard.
Beautiful
Taken
Coal
You May Encounter Many Defeats, But You Must Not Be Defeated. In Fact, It May Be Necessary To Encounter The Defeats, So You Can Know Who You Are, What You Can Rise From, How You Can Still Come Out Of It.
Moving On
Spiritual
Strong Women
Love Life. Engage In It. Give It All You've Got. Love It With A Passion Because Life Truly Does Give Back, Many Times Over, What You Put Into It.
Inspirational
Life
Passion
No One Comes From The Earth Like Grass. We Come Like Trees. We All Have Roots.
Roots
Tree
Earth
I Believe That People Want The Scent Of Love, More Than Anything Else. And I Don't Mean Sentimentality, I Don't Mean Mush. I Mean That Idea, That Human Beings Are More Alike Than We Are Different. And That Means That I Can Love You. I Don't Mean Support You In Bad Things You Do, That I Can Understand Because You're A Human Being.
Believe
Love You
Mean
Freedom Is Never Free.
Veterans Day
Veteran
I Became The Kind Of Parent My Mother Was To Me.
Mother
Parent
Kind
You Will Face Many Defeats In Your Life, But Never Let Yourself Be Defeated.
Inspirational
Life
Courage
Develop Enough Courage So That You Can Stand Up For Yourself And Then Stand Up For Somebody Else.
Encouraging
Courage
Bravery
Love Is Many Things. It Is Varied. One Thing Love Is Not, Is Unsure.
Love Is
One Thing
Unsure
You Can Only Accomplish What I Really Love. Do Not Take The Money As A Goal. Instead, Pursue The Things You Passionate About, And Do Good To Others Can Not Take My Eyes Off You
Eye
Goal
Passionate
Love Liberates. Love - Not Sentimentality, Not Mush - But True Love Gives You Enough Courage That You Can Say To Somebody, "don't Do That, Baby." And The Person Will Know You're Not Preaching But Teaching.
Baby
Teaching
Giving
Nothing Succeeds Like Success. Get A Little Success, And Then Just Get A Little More.
Littles
Succeed
Truth Of Life
Nothing Hurts More Than Realizing They Meant Everything To You, But You Meant Nothing To Them.
Sad Love
Hurt
Realizing
I Thought If I Could Face The Worst Danger Voluntarily, And Triumph, I Would Forever Have Power Over It.
Inspirational
Forever
Triumph
To Know And Not To Do Is In Fact Not To Know. We Need To Be Active Instruments Against Evil. We Need To Do.
Evil
Needs
Facts
Tragedy, No Matter How Sad, Becomes Boring To Those Not Caught In Its Addictive Caress.
Tragedy
Matter
Boring
All People In The World - Who Are Not Hermits Or Mutes - Speak Words. They Speak Different Languages, But They Speak Words. They Say, "how Are You" Or "i'm Not Feeling Well" All Over The World. These Common Words - These Common Elements That We Have Between Us - The Writer Has To Take Some Verbs And Nouns And Pronouns And Adjectives And Adverbs And Arrange Them In A Way That Sound Fresh.
People
Feelings
Sound
We Grow Despite The Horror That We Feed Upon Our Own Tomorrow. We Grow.
Tomorrow
Horror
Grows
I Write Because I Am A Black Woman, Listening Attentively To Her People.
Writing
People
Black
In The Fifties, You Have Your Beauty As A Treat. I Thought That Until I Hit The Sixties.in Your Sixties, Life Decides To Reward You With Certain Kinds Of Profound Appreciation, So That People Name Their Children And Schools And Libraries After You! And You Still Have Your Sexuality And Your Sensuality. If You Want Your Sexuality, You Still Have It.
Appreciation
Children
School
One Isn't Necessarily Born With Courage, But One Is Born With Potential. Without Courage, We Cannot Practice Any Other Virtue With Consistency. We Can't Be Kind, True, Merciful, Generous, Or Honest.
Inspirational
Strength
Inspiring
Make Every Effort To Change Things You Do Not Like. If You Cannot Make A Change, Change The Way You Have Been Thinking. You Might Find A New Solution.
Thinking
Effort
Might
The World Had Taken A Deep Breath And Was Having Doubts About Continuing To Revolve.
Taken
Doubt
Caged Birds
In Diversity There Is Beauty And There Is Strength.
Inspirational
Strength
Beauty
He Thrived With Passion And Compassion, Humor And Style. We Had Him Whether We Know Who He Was Or Did Not Know, He Was Ours And We Were His.
Passion
Compassion
Style
I Would Welcome A Friendship With Lynne Hinton. I Would Welcome An Invitation To Sit Down At Her Table, But Mostly I Would Welcome Her Next Book.
Book
Tables
Next
Be Present In All Things And Thankful For All Things.
Inspirational
Life
Thanksgiving
People Have To Feel Needed. Frequently, We Just Offer A Job And 'perks.' We Don't Always Offer People A Purpose. When People Feel There Is A Purpose And That They're Needed, There's Not Much Else To Do Except Let Them Do The Work.
Jobs
People
Purpose
Black People Comprehend The South. We Understand Its Weight. It Has Rested On Our Backs... I Knew That My Heart Would Break If Ever I Put My Foot Down On That Soil, Moist, Still, With Old Hurts. I Had To Face The Fear/loathing At Its Source Or It Would Consume Me Whole.
Hurt
Heart
Feet
I Keep Hitting The Escape Button But I Am Still Here!
Buttons
Hitting
Stills
You Can Only Accomplish What I Really Love. Do Not Take The Money As A Goal. Instead, Pursue The Things You Passionate About, And Do Good To Others Can Not Take My Eyes Off You
Eye
Goal
Passionate
I Know That I'm Not The Easiest Person To Live With. The Challenge I Put On Myself Is So Great That The Person I Live With Feels Himself Challenged. I Bring A Lot To Bear, And I Don't Know How Not To.
Challenges
Bears
Feels
Every Day Offers You 10,000 Reasons To Cry, But If You Can Find Just One Reason To Laugh Then You Will Be All Right.
Laughing
Cry
Reason
One Of The Problems We Have As Writers Is We Don't Take Ourselves Seriously While Writing; Being Serious Is Setting Aside A Time And Saying If It Comes, Good; If It Doesn't Come, Good, I'll Just Sit Here.
Writing
Serious
Problem
You Might Encounter Defeats But You Must Never Be Defeated... Love A Lot. Laugh A Lot At The Silliest Things And Be Very Serious... Love Life.
Uplifting
Love Life
Laughing
Pretty Women Wonder Where My Secret Lies, Im Not Cute Or Built To Fit A Fashion Models Size.
Cute
Fashion
Lying
I've Had Rainbows In My Clouds.
Clouds
Rainbow
I've Learned That Whenever I Decide Something With An Open Heart, I Usually Make The Right Decision.
Inspirational
Heart
Decision
Preach It, I Say Preach It.
This Is My Life. It Is My One Time To Be Me. I Want To Experience Every Good Thing.
Life
Want
Good Things
Anger Is Like Fire. It Burns All Clean.
Fire
Clean
Poetry Gave Me Back My Voice.
Voice
No Not Me Go Find Someone Else To Bring Down
Survival
You May Shoot Me With Your Words, You May Cut Me With Your Eyes, You May Kill Me With Your Hatefulness, But Still, Like Air, I'll Rise!
Inspirational
Life
Motivational
It's Amazing. I Can Do Anything. And Do It Well. Any Good Thing, I Can Do It. That's Why I Am Who I Am, Yes, Because God Loves Me And I'm Amazed At It. I'm Grateful For It.
Grateful
Who I Am
God Love
If I Could Give You One Thought, It Would Be To Lift Someone Up. Lift A Stranger Up--lift Her Up. I Would Ask You, Mother And Father, Brother And Sister, Lovers, Mother And Daughter, Father And Son, Lift Someone. The Very Idea Of Lifting Someone Up Will Lift You, As Well.
Daughter
Mother
Brother
Each Person Deserves A Day Away In Which No Problems Are Confronted, No Solutions Searched For.
Relax
Taking A Break
Problem
By No Amount Of Agile Exercising Of A Wistful Imagination Could My Mother Have Been Called Lenient. Generous She Was; Indulgent Never. Kind, Yes, Permissive, Never. In Her World, People She Accepted Paddled Their Own Canoes, Pulled Their Own Weight, Put Their Own Shoulders To Their Own Plows And Pushed Like Hell.
Mother
Exercise
People
Whatever You Want To Do, If You Want To Be Great At It, You Have To Love It And Be Able To Make Sacrifices For It.
Positive
Sacrifice
Able
When My Grandmother Died, I Realized That Even If I Had Millions Of Dollars, I Couldn't Find Her Anywhere On Earth. My Next Thought Was That I Would Die. I Looked At My Life And Thought, "i'm Afraid To Die." I Concluded That Whether I Was Afraid Or Not, I Would Die. It Was One Of The Most Important Crossroads In My Life, Once I Realized That No Matter What, I Would Do This Thing, The Next Step Was To Think, "if I Am Going To Do The Most Difficult And Frightening Thing - Dying - Is It Possible That I Could Do Some Difficult And Impossible Things That Are Good?"
Grandmother
Thinking
Impossible Things
Most People Don't Grow Up. It's Too Damn Difficult. What Happens Is Most People Get Older.
Growing Up
People
Damn
Poetry Puts Starch In Your Backbone So You Can Stand, So You Can Compose Your Life.
Inspiring
Writing
Poetry
Women Should Be Tough, Tender, Laugh As Much As Possible, And Live Long Lives.
Life
Long
Laughing
History, Despite Its Wrenching Pain, Cannot Be Unlived, But If Faced With Courage, Need Not Be Lived Again.
Inspirational
Life
Encouragement
Hope Is Born Again In The Faces Of Children.
Children
Faces
Born Again
A Single Fantasy Can Transform A Million Realities.
Reality
Fantasy
Millions
Love Liberates. It Doesn't Just Hold - That's Ego. Love Liberates. It Doesn't Bind.
I Am A Woman Phenomenally, Phenomenal Woman That Is Your Grandmother, That Is Your Mother, That Is Your Sister, That Is You And That Is Me.
Mother
Phenomenal Woman
Grandmother
Growing Up At My Grandmother's Table, She Always Had Rice. She Might Do Something As Exotic As Potatoes Or Spaghetti, But There Was Still Always Rice, Just In Case You Needed A Little Rice Fix.
Growing Up
Grandmother
Exotic
I Believe In Living A Poetic Life, An Art Full Life. Everything We Do From The Way We Raise Our Children To The Way We Welcome Our Friends Is Part Of A Large Canvas We Are Creating.
Art
Children
Inspirational Life
Nobody Can Enjoy Unless We All Enjoy, Truly Enjoy.
Enjoy
Jealousy In Romance Is Like Salt In Food. A Little Can Enhance The Savor, But Too Much Can Spoil The Pleasure And, Under Certain Circumstances, Can Be Life-threatening.
Jealousy
Envy
Romance
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