Background Image
...
The Hope, The Hope That Lives In The Breast Of The Black American, Is Just So Tremendous That It Overwhelms Me Sometimes.
-Maya Angelou
...
Please Wait....
Translating....

The Hope, The Hope

Maya Angelou
...
The Hope, The Hope That Lives In The Breast Of The Black American, Is Just So Tremendous That It Overwhelms Me Sometimes.

Understanding the Quote: "the hope, the hope that lives in the breast of the black..."

This quote by Maya Angelou reflects deeply on the theme of black. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Black, Sometimes, Breasts, 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 black and sometimes. 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: 16017
Topic
Black
Sometimes
Breasts
More From Maya Angelou
When It Looks Like The Sun Isn't Going To Shine Any More, God Puts A Rainbow In The Clouds. Each One Of Us Has The Possibility, The Responsibility, The Probability To Be The Rainbow In The Clouds.
Responsibility
Clouds
Rainbow
If Funkytown Was A Trailerpark, This Guy Would Be A Double-wide.
Guy
Would Be
Wide
To Be Angry Is Very Good. It Burns Out Things And Leaves Nutrients In The Soil. You Should Always Be Ready To Be Angry At Injustice And Cruelty.
Anger
Soil
Injustice
All Great Achievements Require Time.
Success
Encouraging
Patience
If You Have Done The Best You Can Do And If You Have Gotten All You Could Extract From Something, You Have Given All You Had To Give, Then The Time Has Come When You Can Do No More Than Say Thank You And Move On.
Inspirational
Moving On
Thank You
In Order To Win, We Pay With Energy And Effort And Discipline. If We Lose, We Pay In Disappointment, Discontent, And Lack Of Fulfillment.
Disappointment
Winning
Order
The More You Know Of Your History, The More Liberated You Are.
Knows
Liberated
The Truth Will Lead Me To All.
Silence
Telling The Truth
Leading Me
I Thought If I Could Face The Worst Danger Voluntarily, And Triumph, I Would Forever Have Power Over It.
Inspirational
Forever
Triumph
I Believe We Are Still So Innocent. The Species Are Still So Innocent That A Person Who Is Apt To Be Murdered Believes That The Murderer, Just Before He Puts The Final Wrench On His Throat, Will Have Enough Compassion To Give Him One Sweet Cup Of Water.
Positive
Sweet
Believe
Open Your Eyes To The Beauty Around You, Open Your Mind To The Wonders Of Life, Open Your Heart To Those Who Love You, And Always Be True To Yourself.
Love You
Eye
Heart
Because Of The Routines We Follow, We Often Forget That Life Is An Ongoing Adventure. . . Life Is Pure Adventure, And The Sooner We Realize That, The Quicker We Will Be Able To Treat Life As Art: To Bring All Our Energies To Each Encounter, To Remain Flexible Enough To Notice And Admit When What We Expected To Happen Did Not Happen. We Need To Remember That We Are Created Creative And Can Invent New Scenarios As Frequently As They Are Needed.
Life
Art
Adventure
When I Look Back, I Am So Impressed Again With The Life-giving Power Of Literature. If I Were A Young Person Today, Trying To Gain A Sense Of Myself In The World, I Would Do That Again By Reading, Just As I Did When I Was Young.
Inspirational
Book
Reading
My Mission In Life Is Not Merely To Survive, But To Thrive
Passion
Will To Survive
Aim Of Life
During Bad Circumstances, Which Is The Human Inheritance, You Must Decide Not To Be Reduced. You Have Your Humanity, And You Must Not Allow Anything To Reduce That. We Are Obliged To Know We Are Global Citizens. Disasters Remind Us We Are World Citizens, Whether We Like It Or Not.
Humanity
World
Citizens
Grace Is Like A Lake Of Drinkable Water Right Outside Your Door. But You Stay Inside And Die Of Thirst.
Lakes
Doors
Water
During Bad Circumstances, Which Is The Human Inheritance, You Must Decide Not To Be Reduced. You Have Your Humanity, And You Must Not Allow Anything To Reduce That. We Are Obliged To Know We Are Global Citizens. Disasters Remind Us We Are World Citizens, Whether We Like It Or Not.
Humanity
World
Citizens
I Am Convinced That Courage Is The Most Important Of All The Virtues. Because Without Courage, You Cannot Practice Any Other Virtue Consistently. You Can Be Kind For A While; You Can Be Generous For A While; You Can Be Just For A While, Or Merciful For A While, Even Loving For A While. But It Is Only With Courage That You Can Be Persistently And Insistently Kind And Generous And Fair.
Practice
Important
Be Kind
Cooking Certain Dishes, Like Roast Pork, Reminds Me Of My Mother.
Mother
Cooking
Pork
I Want To Be Representative Of My Race-the Human Race. I Have A Chance To Show How Kind We Can Be, How Intelligent And Generous We Can Be.
Intelligent
Race
Want
Each One Of Us Has Lived Through Some Devastation, Some Loneliness, Some Weather Superstorm Or Spiritual Superstorm, When We Look At Each Other We Must Say, I Understand. I Understand How You Feel Because I Have Been There Myself. We Must Support Each Other And Empathize With Each Other Because Each Of Us Is More Alike Than We Are Unalike.
Life
Sympathy
Spiritual
Once You Appreciate One Of Your Blessings, One Of Your Senses, Your Sense Of Hearing, Then You Begin To Respect The Sense Of Seeing And Touching And Tasting, You Learn To Respect All The Senses.
Philosophy
Blessing
Medicine
The Needs Of A Society Determine Its Ethics, And In The Black American Ghettos The Hero Is That Man Who Is Offered Only The Crumbs From His Country's Table But By Ingenuity And Courage Is Able To Take For Himself A Lucullan Feast. Hence The Janitor Who Lives In One Room But Sports A Robin's-egg-blue Cadillac Is Not Laughed At But Admired, And The Domestic Who Buys Forty-dollar Shoes Is Not Criticized But Is Appreciated. We Know That They Have Put To Use Their Full Mental And Physical Powers. Each Single Gain Feeds Into The Gains Of The Body Collective.
Life
Sports
Country
Growing Up, My Grandmother Did Not Want Worldly Music In The House. Then When I Went Out To California, I Started Listening To Spanish Music, Mostly Mexican Music. But Were I In Egypt, I Would Listen To The Music Of The People, Or If I Was In Italy, I'd Listen To Italian Music.
Growing Up
Grandmother
Italian
There Is An Intimate Laughter To Be Found Only Among Friends
Laughter
Inspirational Friendship
Intimate
Poetry Is Music Written For The Human Voice.
Voice
Poetry
Humans
When I Am Writing, I Am Trying To Find Out Who I Am, Who We Are, What We're Capable Of, How We Feel, How We Lose And Stand Up, And Go On From Darkness Into Darkness. I'm Trying For That. But I'm Also Trying For The Language. I'm Trying To See How It Can Really Sound.
Inspiring
Pain
Real
Women Been Gittin' Pregnant Ever Since Eve Ate That Apple.
Apples
Pregnant
Everybody In The World Wants The Same Thing...to Be Needed...a Job That He/she Can Do Well...to Love Somebody...everybody...there's No Mystery.
Jobs
World
Want
We Must Be Warriors In The Struggle Against Ignorance
Struggle
Ignorance
Warrior
I’m Grateful For Being Here, For Being Able To Think, For Being Able To See, For Being Able To Taste, For Appreciating Love – For Knowing That It Exists In A World So Rife With Vulgarity, With Brutality And Violence, And Yet Love Exists. I’m Grateful To Know That It Exists.
Love
Life
Positive
Let Choice Whisper In Your Ear And Love Murmur In Your Heart. Be Ready. Here Comes Life.
Love
Life
Heart
You May Encounter Many Defeats, But You Must Not Be Defeated. Please Remember That Your Difficulties Do Not Define You. They Simply Strengthen Your Ability To Overcome.
Motivational
Encounters
May
I Want All My Senses Engaged. Let Me Absorb The World's Variety And Uniqueness.
World
Want
Let Me
I've Learned That Regardless Of Your Relationship With Your Parents, You'll Miss Them When They're Gone From Your Life.
Inspirational
Parent
Missing
Loving Someone Liberates The Lover As Well As The Beloved. And That Kind Of Love Comes With Age.
Loving Someone
Age
Lovers
The Nice Thing About Hope Is That You Can Give It To Someone Else, Someone Who Needs It Even More Than You Do, And You Will Find You Have Not Given Yours Away At All.
Nice
Giving
Needs
My Pride Had Been Starched By A Family Who Assumed Unlimited Authority In Its Own Affairs.
Family
Pride
Affair
Words Are Things. You Must Be Careful, Careful About Calling People Out Of Their Names, Using Racial Pejoratives And Sexual Pejoratives And All That Ignorance. Don’t Do That. Some Day We’ll Be Able To Measure The Power Of Words. I Think They Are Things. They Get On The Walls. They Get In Your Wallpaper. They Get In Your Rugs, In Your Upholstery, And Your Clothes, And Finally In To You.
Wall
Ignorance
Thinking
Light And Shadow Are Opposite Sides Of The Same Coin. We Can Illuminate Our Paths Or Darken Our Way. It Is A Matter Of Choice.
Life
Light
Opposites
People Are Too Busy Putting Things Under Microscopes And So Forth. Creativity Is Greater Than The Sum Of Its Parts.
Creativity
People
Busy
Live As Though Life Was Created For You.
At The End Of The Day People Won't Remember What You Said Or Did, They Will Remember How You Made Them Feel.
Love
People
The End Of The Day
My Son Is The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me. And Through Me - To A Lot Of People.
Son
People
Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me
I Make Writing As Much A Part Of My Life As I Do Eating Or Listening To Music.
Life
Communication
Writing
In Order To Be A Mentor, And An Effective One, One Must Care. You Must Care. You Don't Have To Know How Many Square Miles Are In Idaho, You Don't Need To Know What Is The Chemical Makeup Of Chemistry, Or Of Blood Or Water. Know What You Know And Care About The Person, Care About What You Know And Care About The Person You're Sharing With.
Makeup
Blood
Order
How Important It Is For Us To Recognize And Celebrate Our Heroes And She-roes!
Strong Women
Veterans Day
Courage
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
When I Passed Forty I Dropped Pretense, 'cause Men Like Women Who Got Some Sense.
Birthday
Men
Age
It Is A No-fail, Incontrovertible Reality: If You Get, Give. If You Learn, Teach. You Can't Do Anything With That Except Do It.
Reality
Giving
Failing
Because Of Technological Breakthroughs, The Society Will Need Fewer And Fewer Unskilled Laborers.
Needs
Breakthrough
Technological
I Love Wisdom. And You Can Never Be Great At Anything Unless You Love It. Not Be In Love With It, But Love The Thing, Admire The Thing. And It Seems That If You Love The Thing, And You Don't Just Want To Possess It, It Will Find You.
Want
Admire
Love Wisdom
Tragedy, No Matter How Sad, Becomes Boring To Those Not Caught In Its Addictive Caress.
Tragedy
Matter
Boring
Y’all Dropped The Ball And You Should Be Shamed.
Balls
Should
Something Made Greater By Ourselves And In Turn That Makes Us Greater.
Positive
Made
Turns
On The Day Of Your Birth, The Creator Filled Countless Storehouses, Set Aside For Your Use And Yours Alone.
Life
Use
Birth
Courage - You Develop Courage By Doing Small Things Like Just As If You Wouldn't Want To Pick Up A 100-pound Weight Without Preparing Yourself.
Weight
Want
Pounds
Living Well Is An Art That Can Be Developed: A Love Of Life And Ability To Take Great Pleasure From Small Offerings And Assurance That The World Owes You Nothing And That Every Gift Is Exactly That, A Gift.
Art
Philosophy
Love Life
Would You Deny Your Son Or Your Daughter The Ecstasy Of Finding Someone To Love?
Daughter
Son
Finding Someone
Let Us Live So We Do Not Regret Years Of Inertia And Ignorance, So When We Die We Can Say All Of Our Energy Was Dedicated To The Noble Liberation Of The Human Mind And Spirit, Beginning With My Own.
Regret
Ignorance
Years
There Are Some Nights When Sleep Plays Coy, Aloof And Disdainful. And All The Wiles That I Employ To Win Its Service To My Side Are Useless As Wounded Pride, And Much More Painful.
Sleep
Pride
Winning
Be Certain That You Do Not Die Without Having Done Something Wonderful For Humanity.
Inspiring
Death
Inspirational Life
Never Whine. Whining Lets A Brute Know That A Victim Is In The Neighborhood.
Inspiring
Whining
Victim
Everything In The Universe Has A Rhythm, Everything Dances.
Music
Dance
Earth Day
Try To Live Your Life In A Way That You Will Not Regret Years Of Useless Virtue And Inertia And Timidity.
Regret
Years
Live Your Life
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.
Gratitude
Time
Add
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
I Not Only Have The Right To Stand Up For Myself, But I Have The Responsibility. I Can't Ask Somebody Else To Stand Up For Me If I Won't Stand Up For Myself. And Once You Stand Up For Yourself, You'd Be Surprised That People Say, "can I Be Of Help?".
Responsibility
People
Helping
I Wish That We Could Look Into Each Other's Faces, In Each Other's Eyes, And See Our Own Selves. I Hope That The Children Have Not Been So Scarred By Their Upbringing That They Only Think Fear When They See Someone Else Who Looks Separate From Them.
Children
Eye
Thinking
I Admire People Who Dare To Take The Language, English, And Understand It And Understand The Melody.
People
Language
Admire
I Will Write On The Pages Of History What I Want Them To Say. I Will Be Myself. I Will Speak My Own Name.
Writing
Names
Want
When We Cast Our Bread Upon The Waters We Can Presume That Someone Downstream Whose Face We Will Never Know Will Benefit From Our Action, As We Who Are Downstream From Another Will Profit From The Grantor's Gift.
Water
Benefits
Our Actions
I'm Here, And I Do My Best To Be Completely Centered At The Place I'm At, Then I Go Forward To The Next Place.
Next
All Men Are Prepared To Accomplish The Incredible If Their Ideals Are Threatened.
Inspiring
Courage
Thoughtful
I Know That I've Been Guided By God. I Am Obedient.
Knows
Obedient
When I Love Somebody, I Like Him To Be Around; I Like Him To Take Me Out To Dinner; I Like To Look At The Sunset With Him. But If Not, I Love Him And I Hope He's Looking At The Same Sun I Am. Loving Someone Liberates The Lover As Well As The Beloved. And That Kind Of Love Comes With Age. Some Of This Wisdom Came To Me After I Was 50 Or 60.
Sunset
I Love Him
Loving Someone
Don't Bring Negative To My Door.
Inspirational
Positive
Attitude
That Knowledge Humbles Me, Melts My Bones, Closes My Ears, And Makes My Teeth Rock Loosely In Their Gums. And It Also Liberates Me. I Am A Big Bird Winging Over High Mountains, Down Into Serene Valleys. I Am Ripples Of Waves On Silver Seas. I'm A Spring Leaf Trembling In Anticipation.
Spring
Sea
Rocks
All Of Childhood's Unanswered Questions Must Finally Be Passed Back To The Town And Answered There. Heroes And Bogey Men, Values And Dislikes, Are First Encountered And Labeled In That Early Environment. In Later Years They Change Faces, Places And Maybe Races, Tactics, Intensities And Goals, But Beneath Those Penetrable Masks They Wear Forever The Stocking-capped Faces Of Childhood.
Hero
Men
Race
Home Is That Youthful Region Where A Child Is The Only Real Living Inhabitant. Parents, Siblings, And Neighbors Are Mysterious Apparitions Who Come, Go, And Do Strange Unfathomable Thing In And Around The Child, The Region's Only Enfranchised Citizen.
Children
Sibling
Real
Love Is That Condition In The Human Spirit So Profound That It Allows Me To Survive, And Better Than That, To Thrive With Passion, Compassion, And Style.
Love
Passion
Profound
As Far As I Knew White Women Were Never Lonely, Except In Books. White Men Adored Them, Black Men Desired Them And Black Women Worked For Them.
Lonely
Loneliness
Book
Yet It Is Only Love Which Sets Us Free.
Be Brave
Only Love
Being Free Is Being Able To Accept People For What They Are, And Not Try To Understand All They Are Or Be What They Are.
People
Being Free
Trying
Whenever I'm Around Some Who Is Modest, I Think, 'run Like Hell And All Of Fire.' You Don't Want Modesty, You Want Humility.
Running
Humility
Thinking
Whining Is Just Unbecoming.
Whining
Unbecoming
Don't Trust People Who Don't Laugh. I Don't.
Trust
Drinking
Laughing
Some Critics Will Write 'maya Angelou Is A Natural Writer' - Which Is Right After Being A Natural Heart Surgeon.
Powerful
Writing
Heart
Hold Those Things That Tell Your History And Protect Them.
Protect
The Area Where We Are The Greatest Is The Area In Which We Inspire, Encourage And Connect With Another Human Being.
Inspire
Humans
Areas
I Long, As Does Every Human Being, To Be At Home Wherever I Find Myself.
Travel
Home
Positivity
I Don't Believe An Accident Of Birth Makes People Sisters Or Brothers. It Makes Them Siblings, Gives Them Mutuality Of Parentage. Sisterhood And Brotherhood Is A Condition People Have To Work At.
Sister
Brother
Sibling
I Can Be Changed By What Happens To Me. But I Refuse To Be Reduced By It.
Inspirational
Motivational
Change
Growing Up, My Grandmother Did Not Want Worldly Music In The House. Then When I Went Out To California, I Started Listening To Spanish Music, Mostly Mexican Music. But Were I In Egypt, I Would Listen To The Music Of The People, Or If I Was In Italy, I'd Listen To Italian Music.
Growing Up
Grandmother
Italian
When You Wish Someone Joy, You Wish Them Peace, Love, Prosperity, Happiness... All The Good Things.
Happiness
Laughter
Blessing
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
Most Plain Girls Are Virtuous Because Of The Scarcity Of Opportunity To Be Otherwise.
Beauty
Girl
Opportunity
Then The Question Began To Live Under My Blankets: How Did Lesbianism Begin? What Were The Symptoms? The Public Library Gave Information On The Finished Lesbian--and That Woefully Sketchy--but On The Growth Of A Lesbian, There Was Nothing. I Did Discover That The Difference Between Hermaphrodites And Lesbians Was That Hermaphrodites Were "born That Way." It Was Impossible To Determine Whether Lesbians Budded Gradually, Or Burst Into Being With A Suddenness That Dismayed Them As Much As It Repelled Society.
Differences
Growth
Library
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.
Life
Mother
Grateful
My Mission In Life Is Not Merely To Survive, But To Thrive
Passion
Will To Survive
Aim Of Life
Creativity Or Talent, Like Electricity, Is Something I Don't Understand But Something I'm Able To Harness And Use.
Creativity
Use
Able
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.
Inspirational
Inspiring
Grateful
It Is Sad But True That Sometimes We Need The Tragedy To Help Us To See How Human We Are And How We Are More Alike Than We Are Different.
Inspiring
Thoughtful
Loving Life
Be Certain That You Do Not Die Without Having Done Something Wonderful For Humanity.
Inspiring
Death
Inspirational Life
I'm Not Sure If Resilience Is Ever Achieved Alone. Experience Allows Us To Learn From Example. But If We Have Someone Who Loves Us-i Don't Mean Who Indulges Us, But Who Loves Us Enough To Be On Our Side-then It's Easier To Grow Resilience, To Grow Belief In Self, To Grow Self-esteem. And It's Self-esteem That Allows A Person To Stand Up.
Self Esteem
Mean
Resilience
I Make Writing As Much A Part Of My Life As I Do Eating Or Listening To Music.
Life
Communication
Writing
Naturally, If You Love Somebody, You Do Want To See Their Face Every Now And Again, But That's Not A Condition Of Your Love. People Often Get Possession Mixed Up With Love, And They Say, "if You Really Loved Me, You Would Call Me." How - When Life Is Going On? I Think Of You All The Time, And The Thought Of You Always Lifts My Spirits. But I'm Not Right At The Phone!
Thinking
Phones
People
I Certainly Do Not Adore The Writer's Discipline. I Have Lost Lovers, Endangered Friendships, And Blundered Into Eccentricity, Impelled By A Concentration Which Usually Is To Be Found Only In The Minds Of People About To Be Executed In The Next Half Hour.
Lost Love
Discipline
People
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
I Think We All Have Empathy. We May Not Have Enough Courage To Display It.
Courage
Thinking
Generosity
I Try To Live What I Consider A "poetic Existence." That Means I Take Responsibility For The Air I Breathe And The Space I Take Up. I Try To Be Immediate, To Be Totally Present For All My Work.
Appreciation
Mean
Responsibility
I Do Like To Have Guns Around. I Don't Like To Carry Them. But I Like - If Somebody Is Going To Come Into My House And I Have Not Put Out The Welcome Mat, I Want To Stop Them.
Gun
House
Want
I Can See In The Acorn The Oak Tree. I See The Growth, The Rebuilding, The Restoring. I See That Is The American Psyche. There Is So Much We Can Draw Understanding From. One Of The Lessons Is The Development Of Courage. Because Without Courage, You Can't Practice Any Of The Other Virtues Consistently.
Courage
Practice
Tree
We Will Sometimes Have Defeats In Life But You Can Have Defeats Without Being Defeated, You Could Fail Without Being A Failure. When You See Failure And Defeats As Merely Part Of The Process To Get To When.
Inspirational
Defeated You
Challenges
Being A Woman Is Hard Work.
Inspiring
Women
Hard Work
I Am A Very Religious Person, So It Is The Presence Of God, The Constant Unwavering, Unrelenting Presence Of God Which Continues To Help Me To Keep A Character Which I Am Proud To Show.
Religious
Character
Proud
Prepare Yourself So That You Can Be A Rainbow In Somebody Else's Cloud.
Clouds
Rainbow
Nothing Will Work Unless You Do.
Inspirational
Motivational
Moving On
You Can't Really Know Where You Are Going Until You Know Where You Have Been.
Where You Are
Where You Are Going
Knows
But A Caged Bird Stands On The Grave Of Dreams.
Dream
Powerful
Bird
I'm A Religious Woman. And I Feel I Have Responsibility. I Have No Modesty At All. I'm Even Afraid Of It - It's A Learned Affectation And It's Just Stuck On Me Like Decals.
Religious
Responsibility
Modesty
Making A Decision To Write Was A Lot Like Deciding To Jump Into A Frozen Lake.
Inspiring
Writing
Lakes
I Thank God That I've Lived Long Enough To See What I Have Seen, And I Pray That People Will Continue To Do Better. We Are Doing Better, It May Not Seem So, But There Was A Time When People Were Lynched In The Middle Of The Street And It Was Not Against The Law. We Are Doing Better, But We Have So Much More To Do.
Inspiring
Law
Long
The Dread Of Futility Has Been My Life-long Plague.
Life
Long
Futility
I Think All Poems Are Commissioned. They Just Come To Me Without Somebody Outside Commissioning Them. The Idea Comes And I Will Live With Them 'til I Get It As Close To What I Mean. I've Never Been Totally Satisfied. I've Come Close A Few Times.
Mean
Thinking
Ideas
My Life Has Been One Great Big Joke, A Dance That's Walked A Song That's Spoke, I Laugh So Hard I Almost Choke When I Think About Myself.
Inspirational
Life
Motivational
Ain't Nothin' To It, But To Do It.
Volunteer
Let The Brain Go To Work, Let It Meet The Heart And You Will Be Able To Forgive.
Inspiring
Forgiveness
Heart
Be Wary When A Naked Person Offers You His Shirt
Life
Naked
Shirts
It's Hard Because People Think They Have Something To Lose And The Truth Is They Have Everything To Gain In Trying To Love Somebody.
Thinking
People
Trying
Most People Don't Grow Up. Most People Age. They Find Parking Spaces, Honor Their Credit Cards, Get Married, Have Children, And Call That Maturity. What That Is, Is Aging.
Inspirational
Motivational
Children
Don't Face The Day Until You've Faced God.
Faces
While I Know Myself As A Creation Of God, I Am Also Obligated To Realize And Remember That Everyone Else And Everything Else Are Also God's Creation.
Life
God
Collaboration
The Music Was My Friend, My Lover, My Family.
Music
Lovers
My Family
Try To Be A Rainbow In Someone's Cloud.
Inspirational
Relationship
Inspiring
A Leader Sees Greatness In Other People. He Nor She Can Be Much Of A Leader If All She Sees Is Herself.
Greatness
People
Leader
If We Lose Love And Self Respect For Each Other, This Is How We Finally Die.
Love
Respect
Self
I've Had People Explain To Me What One Of My Poems Meant, And I've Been Surprised That It Means That To Them. If A Person Can Use A Poem Of Mine To Interpret Her Life Or His Life, Good. I Can't Control That. Nor Would I Want To.
Good Life
Mean
People
Here On The Pulse Of This New Day You May Have The Grace To Look Up And Out And Into Your Sister's Eyes, Into Your Brother's Face, Your Country And Say Simply Very Simply With Hope Good Morning.
Country
Morning
Brother
Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now.
Inspirational Life
Journey
My Journey
I Do Not Need To Know All Things. I Remind Myself That It Is Sufficient That I Know What I Know And Know That Without Believing That I Will Always Know What I Know Or That What I Know Will Always Be True.
Believe
Needs
Being True
If You Do Not Like Anything, Alter It. If You Can Not Change It, Adjust Your Mindset. Will Not Complain.
Complaining
Mindset
Can Not
You Don't Want Modesty, You Want Humility. Humility Comes From Inside Out. It Says Someone Was Here Before Me And I'm Here Because I've Been Paid For. I Have Something To Do And I Will Do That Because I'm Paying For Someone Else Who Has Yet To Come.
Humility
Want
Modesty
One Must Know Not Just How To Accept A Gift, But With What Grace To Share It.
Christmas
Thank You
Karma
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.
Inspirational
Life
Positive
When Someone Shows You Who They Are, Believe Them The First Time.
Inspirational
Relationship
Inspiring
I Love Wisdom. And You Can Never Be Great At Anything Unless You Love It. Not Be In Love With It, But Love The Thing, Admire The Thing. And It Seems That If You Love The Thing, And You Don't Just Want To Possess It, It Will Find You. But If You're In Love With The Thing, It May Run Like Hell Away From You.
Running
May
Want
Every Person Needs To Take One Day Away. A Day In Which One Consciously Separates The Past From The Future.
Past
One Day
Needs
It Is Important That We Learn Humility, Which Says There Was Someone Else Before Me Who Paid For Me. My Responsibility Is To Prepare Myself So That I Can Pay For Someone Else Who Is Yet To Come.
Humility
Responsibility
Important
I Believe That One Can Never Leave Home. I Believe That One Carries The Shadows, The Dreams, The Fears And The Dragons Of Home Under One's Skin, At The Extreme Corners Of One's Eyes And Possibly In The Gristle Of The Earlobe.
Dream
Believe
Home
A Great Soul Serves Everyone All The Time. A Great Soul Never Dies. It Brings Us Together Again And Again.
Sympathy
Condolences
Together Again
When Asked How She Knows When Her Writing Is Where She Wants It To Be: "i Know When It's The Best I Can Do. It May Not Be The Best There Is. Another Writer May Do It Much Better. But I Know When It's The Best I Can Do. I Know That One Of The Great Arts That The Writer Develops Is The Art Of Saying, 'no. No, I'm Finished. Bye.' And Leaving It Alone. I Will Not Write It Into The Ground. I Will Not Write The Life Out Of It. I Won't Do That."
Art
Life Changing
Writing
We May Encounter Many Defeats, But We Must Not Be Defeated. It May Even Be Necessary To Encounter The Defeat, So That We Can Know Who We Are.
Encounters
May
Who We Are
Find Something You Like, Go Into A Room, Close The Door And Read It Aloud. Read It Aloud. Everybody In The World Who Likes Dance Can See Dance, Or Hear Music, Or See Art, Or Admire Architecture - But Everybody In The World Uses Words Who Is Not A Recluse Or Mute. But The Writer Has To Take These Most Common Things, More Common Than Musical Notes Or Dance Positions, A Writer Has To Take Some Adverbs, And Verbs And Nouns And Ball Them Up Together And Make Them Bounce.
Art
Doors
Musical
Sisterhood Means If You Happen To Be In Burma And I Happen To Be In San Diego And I'm Married To Someone Who Is Very Jealous And You're Married To Somebody Who Is Very Possessive, If You Call Me In The Middle Of The Night, I Have To Come.
Jealous
Mean
Night
Listen Carefully To What Country People Call Mother Wit. In Those Homely Sayings Are Couched The Collective Wisdom Of Generations.
Mother
Country
People
I Want To Be Representative Of My Race-the Human Race. I Have A Chance To Show How Kind We Can Be, How Intelligent And Generous We Can Be.
Intelligent
Race
Want
In Stamps The Segregation Was So Complete That Most Black Children Didn't Really, Absolutely Know What Whites Looked Like.
Children
Black
Race Relations
The Truth Is, No One Of Us Can Be Free Until Everybody Is Free.
Truth Is
A Woman In Harmony With Her Spirit Is Like A River Flowing.
Rivers
Spirit
Harmony
We All Have That Possibility, That Potential And That Promise Of Seeing Beyond The Seeming.
Promise
Possibility
Seeming
We Are All Human; Therefore, Nothing Human Can Be Alien To Us.
Aliens
Humans
Look What You've Already Come Through! Don't Deny It. Say I'm Stronger Than I Thought I Was
Stronger
Looks
Aging
You Can See In Others What They Don't See In Themselves And What The World Doesn't See In Them.
World
When I Was Asked To Do Something Good, I Often Say Yes, I'll Try, Yes, I'll Do My Best. And Part Of That Is Believing, If God Loves Me, If God Made Everything From Leaves To Seals And Oak Trees, Then What Is It I Can't Do?
Believe
Tree
Trying
My Mother Said I Must Always Be Intolerant Of Ignorance But Understanding Of Illiteracy. That Some People, Unable To Go To School, Were More Educated And More Intelligent Than College Professors.
Education
Mother
School
A Person Is The Product Of Their Dreams. So Make Sure To Dream Great Dreams. And Then Try To Live Your Dream.
Dream
Trying
Persons
The Horizon Leans Forward, Offering You Space To Place New Steps Of Change.
Graduation
Space
Offering
Nothing Hurts More Than Realizing They Meant Everything To You, But You Meant Nothing To Them.
Sad Love
Hurt
Realizing
My Life Has Been Long, And Believing That Life Loves The Liver Of It, I Have Dared To Try Many Things, Sometimes Trembling, But Daring Still.
Inspiring
Believe
Love Life
I Pray For Humility Because That Comes From Inside Out. And What Humility Does For One, Is It Reminds Us That There Are People Before Me. I Have Already Been Paid For. And What I Need To Do Is Prepare Myself So That I Can Pay For Someone Else Who Has Yet To Come, But Who May Be Here And Needs Me.
Humility
People
Doe
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.
Inspirational
Life
Inspiring
At The End Of The Day People Won't Remember What You Said Or Did, They Will Remember How You Made Them Feel.
Love
People
The End Of The Day
We All Should Know That Diversity Makes For A Rich Tapestry, And We Must Understand That All The Threads Of The Tapestry Are Equal In Value No Matter What Their Color.
Color
Kwanzaa
Common Threads
Our Stories Come From Our Lives And From The Playwright's Pen, The Mind Of The Actor, The Roles We Create, The Artistry Of Life Itself And The Quest For Peace.
Mind
Identity
Roles
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
I Believe That A Negative Statement Is Poison.i'm Convinced That The Negative Has Power. It Lives. And If You Allow It To Perch In Your House, In Your Mind, In Your Life, It Can Take You Over. So When The Rude Or Cruel Thing Is Said - The Lambasting, The Gay Bashing, The Hate - I Say, "take It All Out Of My House!" Those Negative Words Climb Into The Woodwork And Into The Furniture, And The Next Thing You Know They'll Be On My Skin.
Hate
Believe
Gay
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.
Education
People
Climate
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
Every Person Needs To Take One Day Away. A Day In Which One Consciously Separates The Past From The Future. Jobs, Family, Employers, And Friends Can Exist One Day Without Any One Of Us, And If Our Egos Permit Us To Confess, They Could Exist Eternally In Our Absence. Each Person Deserves A Day Away In Which No Problems Are Confronted, No Solutions Searched For. Each Of Us Needs To Withdraw From The Cares Which Will Not Withdraw From Us.
Peace
Jobs
Vacation
I Am Grateful To Have Been Loved And To Be Loved Now And To Be Able To Love, Because That Liberates. Love Liberates. It Doesn't Just Hold - That's Ego. Love Liberates. It Doesn't Bind. Love Says, 'i Love You. I Love You If You're In China. I Love You If You're Across Town. I Love You If You're In Harlem. I Love You. I Would Like To Be Near You. I'd Like To Have Your Arms Around Me. I'd Like To Hear Your Voice In My Ear. But That's Not Possible Now, So I Love You. Go.'
Inspiring
Love You
Grateful
In A Long Meter Hymn, A Singer - They Call It 'lays Out A Line.' And Then The Whole Church Joins In In Repeating That Line. And They Form A Wall Of Harmony So Tight, You Can't Wedge A Pin Between It.
Wall
Hymns
Long
The Truth Is You Never Can Leave Home. You Take It With You Everywhere You Go. It's Under Your Skin. It Moves The Tongue Or Slows It, Colors The Thinking, Impedes Upon The Logic.
Moving
Home
Thinking
To Be Left Alone On The Tightrope Of Youthful Unknowing Is To Experience The Excruciating Beauty Of Full Freedom And The Threat Of Eternal Indecision.
Indecision
Threat
Left Alone
We Can See, From California To New York, From Maine To Florida, Seattle To New Mexico - Everywhere There Are Women's Groups. Everywhere There Are Women Who Have Gotten Together To Examine Global Warming, And Women Who Have Gotten Together To Prepare Each Other For Single Parenting - There Are Women Who Have Come Together To Be Supportive To Those Whose Mates Are In Prison, Male Or Female, Partners Are In Prison. All Sorts Of Gatherings Of Women. I Mean, I'm Just Celebrating My 80th Year On This Planet, And I Look Back 50 Years Ago And There Was Nothing Like That.
New York
Mean
Florida
It's True. I Can Do Anything And Do It Well Because God Loves Me. It Still Humbles Me.
Faith In God
God Love
Wells
I'm Grateful To Be An American. I Am Grateful That We Can Be Angry At The Terrorist Assault And At The Same Time Be Intelligent Enough Not To Hold A Grudge Against Every Arab And Every Muslim.
Grateful
Intelligent
Grudge
When I Was Asked To Do Something Good, I Often Say Yes, I'll Try, Yes, I'll Do My Best. And Part Of That Is Believing, If God Loves Me, If God Made Everything From Leaves To Seals And Oak Trees, Then What Is It I Can't Do?
Believe
Tree
Trying
At Fifteen Life Had Taught Me Undeniably That Surrender, In Its Place, Was As Honorable As Resistance, Especially If One Had No Choice.
Life
Choices
Caged Birds
Human Beings Love Poetry. They Don't Even Know It Sometimes... Whether They're The Songs Of Bono, Or The Songs Of Justin Bieber... They're Listening To Poetry.
Song
Listening
Sometimes
If You Must Look Back, Do So Forgivingly. If You Will Look Forward, Do So Prayerfully. But The Wisest Course Would Be To Be Present In The Present Gratefully.
Would Be
Looks
Courses
Dr. [martin Luther] King Was A Human Being. He Had A Sense Of Humor Which Was Wonderful.
Kings
Drs
Sense Of Humor
You Will Face Many Defeats In Your Life, But Never Let Yourself Be Defeated.
Inspirational
Life
Courage
I Believe That One Can Never Leave Home. I Believe That One Carries The Shadows, The Dreams, The Fears And The Dragons Of Home Under One's Skin, At The Extreme Corners Of One's Eyes And Possibly In The Gristle Of The Earlobe.
Dream
Believe
Home
No One Has Ever Become Poor From Giving.
Christmas
Giving
Poor
My People Had Used Music To Soothe Slavery's Torment Or To Propitiate God, Or To Describe The Sweetness Of Love And The Distress Of Lovelessness, But I Knew No Race Could Sing And Dance Its Way To Freedom.
Music
Freedom
Race
I Have Found That Among Its Other Benefits, Giving Liberates The Soul Of The Giver.
Inspirational
Life
Spiritual
The Desire To Reach Hearts Is Wise
Wise
Heart
Ambition
Don't Get Older Just To Get Wiser. If You Get Older, You Will Be Wiser, I Believe That - If You Dare. But Get Older Because It's Fun!
Fun
Believe
Dare
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.
Love
Inspirational
Trust
Trending Author
Indra Devi
James C. Collins
Karl Barth
Lake Bell
Russell Simmons
Margaret Chase Smith
Category
Information