Background Image
...
Hatred Is The Ballast Of The Rock Which Lies Upon Our Necks And Underfoot.
-Maya Angelou
...
Please Wait....
Translating....

Hatred Is The Ballast

Maya Angelou
...
Hatred Is The Ballast Of The Rock Which Lies Upon Our Necks And Underfoot.

Understanding the Quote: "hatred is the ballast of the rock which lies upon our necks..."

This quote by Maya Angelou reflects deeply on the theme of lying. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Lying, Hate, Rocks, 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 lying and hate. 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: 17175
Topic
Lying
Hate
Rocks
More From Maya Angelou
Something Made Greater By Ourselves And In Turn That Makes Us Greater.
Positive
Made
Turns
The Question Is Not How To Survive, But How To Thrive With Passion, Compassion, Humor And Style.
Life
Success
Passion
If We Don't Plant The Right Things, We Will Reap The Wrong Things. It Goes Without Saying. And You Don't Have To Be, You Know, A Brilliant Biochemist And You Don't Have To Have An Iq Of 150. Just Common Sense Tells You To Be Kind, Ninny, Fool. Be Kind.
Common Sense
Be Kind
Fool
I Can Be Changed By What Happens To Me. But I Refuse To Be Reduced By It.
Inspirational
Motivational
Change
You Know, I Never Trust People Who Don't Laugh, Who Said, "i Am Serious" And Act As If They Put Airplane Glue On The Back Of Their Hands And Stuck The Glue To Their Foreheads. I Think, "you're Not Serious; You're Boring As Hell."
Serious
Hell
Boring
Creativity Or Talent, Like Electricity, Is Something I Don't Understand But Something I'm Able To Harness And Use.
Creativity
Use
Able
I Do Not Think Of Myself As Unusually Creative. I Think We All Come From The Creator, Each Human Being Streaming With The Glory. So Each One Of Us Is Creative.
Thinking
Creative
Glory
If You Want To Liberate Someone, Love Them.not Be In Love With Them - That's Dangerous. If You're In Love With Your Children, You're In Their Lives All The Time. Leave Them Alone! Let Them Grow And Make Some Mistakes. Tell Them, "you Can Come Home. My Arms Are Here - And My Mouth Is Too." When You Really Love Them, You Don't Want To Possess Them. You Don't Say, "i Love You And I Want You Here With Me."
Children
Mistake
Love You
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
Life Loves The Liver Of It.
Inspirational
Life
Spiritual
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, I Decided, A Long Time Ago, I Wouldn't Accept Any Manmade Differences Between Human Beings, Differences Made At Somebody Else's Insistence Or Someone Else's Whim Or Convenience.
Growing Up
Differences
Long
Dr. [martin Luther] King Was A Human Being. He Had A Sense Of Humor Which Was Wonderful.
Kings
Drs
Sense Of Humor
Life Offers Us Tickets To Places Which We Have Not Knowingly Asked For.
Tickets
Offers
You Have To Develop Ways So That You Can Take Up For Yourself, And Then You Take Up For Someone Else. And So Sooner Or Later, You Have Enough Courage To Really Stand Up For The Human Race And Say, 'i'm A Representative. '
Race
Way
Enough
Courage Is The Most Important Of All The Virtues, Because Without Courage You Can't Practice Any Other Virtue Consistently. You Can Practice Any Virtue Erratically, But Nothing Consistently Without Courage.
Life
Happiness
Inspiring
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 Don't Know How Much Longer I'll Be Around. I'll Probably Be Writing When The Lord Says, 'maya, Maya Angelou, It's Time.'
Writing
Lord
Angelou
Facts Can Obscure The Truth.
Facts
Obscure
I Live In An Atmosphere Of Music.
Atmosphere
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
Having Courage Does Not Mean We Are Unafraid.
Mean
Doe
Unafraid
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.
Happiness
Success
Hope
Women Been Gittin' Pregnant Ever Since Eve Ate That Apple.
Apples
Pregnant
My People Couldn't Have Survived Slavery Without Having Hope That It Would Get Better. And There's Some Songs From The 19th And 18th Century That Say [sings], "by And By, By And By, I Will Lay Down, This Heavy Load." And I Mean, So Many Songs That Spoke Of Hope And Understand It Better By And By. Amazing Songs. So That The Slaves, Just Knowing That He, She, Did Not Have The Right Legally To Walk Within One Inch Away From Where The Slave Owner Dictated, And Yet The Same Person, Wrote And Sang With Fervor, "if The Lord Wants Somebody, Here Am I, Send Me." It's Amazing.
Song
Mean
Slave Owners
I Would Ask Every Man And Every Woman Who's Had The Blessing Of Having Children, 'would You Deny Your Son Or Your Daughter The Ecstasy Of Finding Someone To Love?' To Love Someone Takes A Lot Of Courage. So How Much More Is One Challenged When The Love Is Of The Same Sex And The Laws Say, 'i Forbid You From Loving This Person'?
Daughter
Sex
Children
My Pride Had Been Starched By A Family Who Assumed Unlimited Authority In Its Own Affairs.
Family
Pride
Affair
Don't Trust People Who Don't Laugh. I Don't.
Trust
Drinking
Laughing
Take A Month And Show Some Kindness For The Folks Who Thought That Blindness Was An Illness That Affected Eyes Alone.
Kindness
Eye
Months
I Like To Go Back And Read Poems That I Wrote Fifty Years Ago, Twenty Years Ago, And Sometimes They Surprise Me - I Didn't Know I Knew That Then. Or Maybe I Didn't Know It Then, And I Know More Now.
Years
Twenties
Fifty
I’ve Got A Magic Charm That I Keep Up My Sleeve, I Can Walk The Ocean Floor And Never Have To Breathe.
Ocean
Magic
Breathe
My Work Is To Be Honest. My Work Is To Try To Think Clearly, Then Have The Courage To Make Sure That What I Say Is The Truth.
Thinking
Trying
Honest
Life Is A Gift, And I Try To Respond With Grace And Courtesy.
Life
Grace
Trying
Hold Those Things That Tell Your History And Protect Them. During Slavery, Who Was Able To Read Or Write Or Keep Anything? The Ability To Have Somebody To Tell Your Story To Is So Important. It Says: 'i Was Here. I May Be Sold Tomorrow. But You Know I Was Here.'
Life Changing
Writing
Important
All Great Artists Draw From The Same Resource: The Human Heart, Which Tells Us That We Are All More Alike Than We Are Unalike.
Heart
Artist
Resources
The Music Was My Friend, My Lover, My Family.
Music
Lovers
My Family
Do The Best You Can Until You Know Better. Then When You Know Better, Do Better.
Success
Cancer
Positivity
Of Course, There Are Those Critics - New York Critics As A Rule - Who Say, 'well, Maya Angelou Has A New Book Out And Of Course It's Good But Then She's A Natural Writer.' Those Are The Ones I Want To Grab By The Throat And Wrestle To The Floor Because It Takes Me Forever To Get It To Sing. I Work At The Language.
New York
Book
Forever
When I Want To Think About What Would Be The Right Thing To Do, The Fair Thing To Do, The Wise Thing To Do, I Can Just Think Of My Grandmother. I Can Always Hear Her Say, "now Sister, You Know What's Right. Just Do Right!"
Wise
Grandmother
Thinking
Shakespeare Must Be A Black Girl.
Girl
Black
Black Girl
The Root Cause Of All The Problems We Have In The World Today Is Ignorance Of Course. But Most, Polarization.
Ignorance
Roots
World
I Know That I've Been Guided By God. I Am Obedient.
Knows
Obedient
If You're Serious, You Really Understand That It's Important That You Laugh As Much As Possible And Admit That You're The Funniest Person You Ever Met. You Have To Laugh. Admit That You're Funny. Otherwise, You Die In Solemnity.
Laughing
Important
Serious
I Believe What I Have To Say Is Important, And I Believe The People Coming To Hear Me Are Important, And So The Occasion Of Itself Alone Has An Importance, Which Forces Me To Stare Down My Nerves.
Believe
People
Important
Each Of Us Has That Right, That Possibility, To Invent Ourselves Daily. If A Person Does Not Invent Herself, She Will Be Invented. So, To Be Bodacious Enough To Invent Ourselves Is Wise.
Life
Wise
Doe
The Thorn From The Bush One Has Planted, Nourished And Pruned Pricks More Deeply And Draws More Blood.
Blood
Draws
The Idea Is To Write It So That People Hear It And It Slides Through The Brain And Goes Straight To The Heart.
Life
Wisdom
Communication
There Is Nothing So Pitiful As A Young Cynic Because He Has Gone From Knowing Nothing To Believing Nothing.
Life Lesson
Believe
Knowing Nothing
Nature Has No Mercy At All. Nature Says, "i'm Going To Snow. If You Have On A Bikini And No Snowshoes, That's Tough. I Am Going To Snow Anyway."
Inspirational
Motivational
Nature
I've Learned That Whenever I Decide Something With An Open Heart, I Usually Make The Right Decision.
Inspirational
Heart
Decision
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
You Can Never Be Great At Anything Unless You Love It.
Inspirational
Inspiring
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
Talent Is Like Electricity. We Don't Understand Electricity. We Use It.
Positive
Writing
Use
When I'm Writing, I Write. And Then It's As If The Muse Is Convinced That I'm Serious And Says, 'okay. Okay. I'll Come.'
Writing
Serious
Muse
We Write For The Same Reason That We Walk, Talk, Climb Mountains Or Swim The Oceans - Because We Can. We Have Some Impulse Within Us That Makes Us Want To Explain Ourselves To Other Human Beings.
Ocean
Writing
Swim
A Joyful Spirit Is Evidence Of A Grateful Heart.
Grateful
Heart
Spirit
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
Have A Purpose To Your Life: Purpose Does Not Mean Having A Job...you Can Have A Job And Still Be Unfulfilled.
Jobs
Mean
Doe
Indeed We Have Souls. And If A Person Is Religious, I Think It's Good, It Helps You A Bit. But If You're Not, At Least You Can Have The Sense That There Is A Condition Inside You Which Looks At The Stars With Amazement And Awe. That Listens To Water With A River Flowing, Or Water Falling In Rain And Is Lifted Up By That And Listens To A Wonderful Singer, Wonderful Musicians, Listens To Maybe Duke Ellington Or Frank Sinatra Or Listens To Odetta And Mary J. Blige. Yes, And Thinks Whoo! And Thinks, Yes, Hmm, All Right Now. My Soul Has Been Washed. I Feel Better, I Feel Stronger.
Religious
Stars
Rain
I've Learned That Whenever I Decide Something With An Open Heart, I Usually Make The Right Decision. I've Learned That Even When I Have Pains, I Don't Have To Be One. I've Learned That Every Day You Should Reach Out And Touch Someone. People Love A Warm Hug, Or Just A Friendly Pat On The Back. I've Learned That I Still Have A Lot To Learn.
Pain
Heart
People
You May Encounter Many Defeats, But You Must Not Be Defeated. In Fact, The Encountering May Be The Very Experience Which Creates The Vitality And The Power To Endure.
Vitality
Encounters
May
You Can Only Become Truly Accomplished At Something You Love. Don’t Make Money Your Goal. Instead Pursue The Things You Love Doing And Then Do Them So Well That People Can’t Take Their Eyes Off Of You.
Inspirational
Motivational
Moving On
We Are Missing Michael. But We Do Know We Had Him, And We Are The World.
Missing
World
Knows
There's Racism And Sexism And Ageism And All Sorts Of Idiocies. But Bad News Is Not News. We've Had Bad News As A Species For A Long Time. We've Had Slavery And Human Sacrifice And The Holocaust And Brutalities Of Such Measure.
Sacrifice
Long
Racism
Let Gratitude Be The Pillow Upon Which You Kneel To Say Your Nightly Prayer. And Let Faith Be The Bridge You Build To Overcome Evil And Welcome Good.
Birthday
Inspiring
Thanksgiving
I'm Just Someone Who Likes Cooking And For Whom Sharing Food Is A Form Of Expression.
Expression
Cooking
Likes
Whining Is Just Unbecoming.
Whining
Unbecoming
Precious Jewel, You Glow, You Shine, Reflecting All The Good Things In The World. Just Look At Yourself.
Precious Jewels
Shining
Looks
Each Time I Write A Book, Every Time I Face That Yellow Pad, The Challenge Is So Great. I Have Written Eleven Books, But Each Time I Think, ‘uh Oh, They’re Going To Find Out Now. I’ve Run A Game On Everybody And They’re Going To Find Me Out.
Inspiring
Running
Book
My Greatest Blessing Has Been The Birth Of My Son. My Next Greatest Blessing Has Been My Ability To Turn People Into Children Of Mine.
Children
Son
Blessing
All My Work, My Life, Everything I Do Is About Survival, Not Just Bare, Awful, Plodding Survival, But Survival With Grace And Faith. While One May Encounter Many Defeats, One Must Not Be Defeated.
Grace
Survival
Encounters
Bringing The Gifts That My Ancestors Gave, I Am The Dream And The Hope Of The Slave. I Rise. I Rise. I Rise.
Inspirational
Dream
Hope
One Isn't Born With Courage. One Develops It By Doing Small Courageous Things-in The Way That If One Sets Out To Pick Up A 100-pound Bag Of Rice, One Would Be Advised To Start With A Five-pound Bag, Then 10 Pounds, Then 20 Pounds, And So Forth, Until One Builds Up Enough Muscle To Lift The 100-pound Bag. It's The Same Way With Courage. You Do Small Courageous Things That Require Some Mental And Spiritual Exertion.
Spiritual
Would Be
Bags
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
We Write For The Same Reason That We Walk, Talk, Climb Mountains Or Swim The Oceans — Because We Can. We Have Some Impulse Within Us That Makes Us Want To Explain Ourselves To Other Human Beings. That’s Why We Paint, That’s Why We Dare To Love Someone- Because We Have The Impulse To Explain Who We Are. Not Just How Tall We Are, Or Thin… But Who We Are Internally… Perhaps Even Spiritually. There’s Something, Which Impels Us To Show Our Inner-souls. The More Courageous We Are, The More We Succeed In Explaining What We Know.
Life
Ocean
Writing
I Like To Speak On Matters Which Matter To Human Beings, And Almost Everything Matters To Human Beings.
Matter
Speak
Humans
Look Heavenward And Speak The Word Aloud. Peace. We Look At Our World And Speak The Word Aloud. Peace.
Peace
Our World
Looks
You Will Face Many Defeats In Your Life, But Never Let Yourself Be Defeated.
Inspirational
Life
Courage
Forgiveness. It's One Of The Greatest Gifts You Can Give Yourself, To Forgive. Forgive Everybody. You Are Relieved Of Carrying That Burden Of Resentment. You Really Are Lighter. You Feel Lighter. You Just Drop That.
Giving
Resentment
Burden
Being Thankful Helps You To Be Present.people Commit Errors Because They Are Not Present.i Would Encourage Women And Men To Be Present - You'll Avoid Falling Into Certain Pits.for Instance, If You Know That A Person Has Just Lost His Wife Or Her Husband Or Lover, It's Unlikely That You Will Say Something That Will Hurt That Person's Feelings If You're Truly Paying Attention. You'll Make A Sweeter Life For Yourself And For Those Around You If You Are Present.
Hurt
Husband
Fall
Making A Decision To Write Was A Lot Like Deciding To Jump Into A Frozen Lake.
Inspiring
Writing
Lakes
No Matter What Happens, Or How Bad It Seems Today, Life Does Go On, And It Will Be Better Tomorrow.
Inspirational
Life
Motivational
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
You Will Face Many Defeats In Your Life, But Never Let Yourself Be Defeated.
Inspirational
Life
Courage
The Breezes Of The West African Night Were Intimate And Shy, Licking The Hair, Sweeping Through Cotton Dresses With Unseemly Intimacy, Then Disappearing Into The Utter Blackness.
Night
Hair
Dresses
Just Do Right. Right May Not Be Expedient, It May Not Be Profitable, But It Will Satisfy Your Soul. It Brings You The Kind Of Protection That Bodyguards Can’t Give You. So Try To Live Your Life In A Way That You Will Not Regret Years Of Useless Virtue And Inertia And Timidity. Take Up The Battle. Take It Up. It’s Yours. This Is Your Life. This Is Your World.
Regret
Years
Giving
Anything That Works Against You Can Also Work For You Once You Understand The Principle Of Reverse.
Inspirational
Principles
Reverse
It Is This Belief In A Power Larger Than Myself And Other Than Myself Which Allows Me To Venture Into The Unknown And Even The Unknowable.
Inspirational
Motivational
Positive
If A Human Being Dreams A Great Dream, Dares To Love Somebody; If A Human Being Dares To Be Martin King, Or Mahatma Gandhi, Or Mother Theresa, Or Malcolm X; If A Human Being Dares To Be Bigger Than The Condition Into Which She Or He Was Born-it Means So Can You. And So You Can Try To Stretch, Stretch, Stretch Yourself So You Can Internalize, 'homo Sum, Humani Nil A Me Alienum Puto. I Am A Human Being, Nothing Human Can Be Alien To Me.' That's One Thing I'm Learning.
Mother
Dream
Kings
When We Know Better, We Do Better.
Climate Change
Knows
At 50, I Began To Know Who I Was. It Was Like Waking Up To Myself.
Waking
Wake Up
Knows
People Don't Always Remember What You Say Or Even What You Do, But They Always Remember How You Make Them Feel.
People
Remember
Feels
We Are Missing Michael. But We Do Know We Had Him, And We Are The World.
Missing
World
Knows
In All The World, There Is No Heart For Me Like Yours. In All The World, There Is No Love For You Like Mine.
Love
Life
Romantic
Hatred Is The Ballast Of The Rock Which Lies Upon Our Necks And Underfoot.
Lying
Hate
Rocks
To Be Human Is To Be Challenged To Be More Divine. Not Even To Try To Meet Such A Challenge Is The Biggest Defeat Imaginable.
Challenges
Trying
Defeat
If One Is Lucky, A Solitary Fantasy Can Totally Transform One Million Realities.
Inspirational
Life
Motivational
It's Good To Remember That In Crises, Natural Crises, Human Beings Forget For Awhile Their Ignorances, Their Biases, Their Prejudices. For A Little While, Neighbors Help Neighbors And Strangers Help Strangers.
Ignorance
Littles
Prejudice
No Human Being Can Be More Human Than Another Human Being. I Liberate You From My Ignorance.
Ignorance
African American
Humanity
If I Insist On Being Pessimistic, There Is Always Tomorrow. Today I Am Blessed.
Blessed
Pessimistic
Today
We Need To Haunt The House Of History And Listen Anew To The Ancestors' Wisdom.
Learning
House
Words Of Wisdom
No Not Me Go Find Someone Else To Bring Down
Survival
Live As Though Life Was Created For You.
The Truth Is, No One Of Us Can Be Free Until Everybody Is Free.
Truth Is
Moderation In All Things. And Even Moderation In Moderation. Don't Get Too Much Moderation, You Know?
Too Much
Moderation
All Things
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
Like A Pianist Runs Her Fingers Over The Keys, I'll Search My Mind For What To Say. Now, The Poem May Want You To Write It. And Then Sometimes You See A Situation And Think, 'i'd Like To Write About That.' Those Are Two Different Ways Of Being Approached By A Poem, Or Approaching A Poem.
Running
Writing
Thinking
We Have To Confront Ourselves. Do We Like What We See In The Mirror? And, According To Our Light, According To Our Understanding, According To Our Courage, We Will Have To Say Yea Or Nay - And Rise!
Inspirational
Mirrors
Light
Look What You've Already Come Through! Don't Deny It. Say I'm Stronger Than I Thought I Was
Stronger
Looks
Aging
Politicians Must Set Their Aims For The High Ground And According To Our Various Leanings, Democratic, Republican, Independent, We Will Follow. Politicians Must Be Told If They Continue To Sink Into The Mud Of Obscenity, They Will Proceed Alone.
Independent
Mud
Republican
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
The Love Of The Family, The Love Of One Person Can Heal. It Heals The Scars Left By A Larger Society. A Massive, Powerful Society.
Inspirational
Family
Powerful
Every Experience Shapes Your Writing, Being Stuck In A Car On A Lonely Bridge, Or Dancing At A Prom, Being The It Girl On The Beach, All Of Those Things Influence Your Life, They Influence How You Write, And The Topics You Choose To Write About.
Girl
Dance
Beach
There Is Something More - The Spirit, Or The Soul. I Think That That Quality Encourages Our Courtesy And Care And Our Minds. And Mercy, And Identity.
Thinking
Soul
Mind
Modesty Is A Learned Affectation. It's No Good. Humility Is Great, Because Humility Says, 'there Was Someone Before Me. I'm Following In Somebody's Footsteps.'
Humility
Compassion
Modesty
There Is A Lot Of Ignorance, And I Don't Mean Intellectual Ignorance. I Mean People Think That If You Get Something, It Will Take Away From What I Have. It's Just Ignorance.
Ignorance
Mean
Thinking
I'm Considered Wise, And Sometimes I See Myself As Knowing. Most Of The Time, I See Myself As Wanting To Know. And I See Myself As A Very Interested Person. I've Never Been Bored In My Life.
Wise
Knowing
Bored
Take A Day To Heal From The Lies You've Told Yourself And The Ones That Have Been Told To You.
Lying
Healing
Heal
The Charitable Say In Effect, 'i Seem To Have More Than I Need And You Seem To Have Less Than You Need. I Would Like To Share My Excess With You.' Fine, If My Excess Is Tangible, Money Or Goods, And Fine If Not, For I Learned That To Be Charitable With Gestures And Words Can Bring Enormous Joy And Repair Injured Feelings.
Joy
Feelings
Needs
I Find It Interesting That The Meanest Life, The Poorest Existence, Is Attributed To God's Will, But As Human Beings Become More Affluent, As Their Living Standard And Style Begin To Ascend The Material Scale, God Descends The Scale Of Responsibility At Commensurate Speed.
Life
God
Responsibility
Glory Falls Around Us As We Sob A Dirge Of Desolation On The Cross
Fall
Glory
Crosses
Each Child Belongs To All Of Us And They Will Bring Us A Tomorrow In Direct Relation To The Responsibility We Have Shown To Them.
Children
Responsibility
Tomorrow
A Societies Needs Determines Their Ethics
Needs
Ethics
Determine
The Love Of The Family, The Love Of One Person Can Heal. It Heals The Scars Left By A Larger Society. A Massive, Powerful Society.
Inspirational
Family
Powerful
I Made The Decision To Quit Show Business. Give Up The Skintight Dresses And Manicured Smiles. The False Concern Over Sentimental Lyrics. I Would Never Again Work To Make People Smile Inanely And Would Take On The Responsibility Of Making Them Think.
Giving Up
Responsibility
Thinking
If You Will Have A Person Enslaved, The First Thing You Must Do Is Convince Yourself That The Person Is Subhuman. The Second Thing You Have To Do Is Convince Your Allies So You'll Have Some Help, And The Third And Probably Unkindest Cut Of All Is To Convince That Person That He Or She Is Subhuman And Deserves It.
Cutting
Allies
Firsts
I Believe That The Most Important Single Thing, Beyond Discipline And Creativity Is Daring To Dare.
Inspiring
Courage
Believe
Precious Jewel, You Glow, You Shine, Reflecting All The Good Things In The World. Just Look At Yourself.
Precious Jewels
Shining
Looks
You May Not Remember What A Person Said To You, You May Not Remember What A Person Did To You, But You Will Never Forget How A Person Made You Feel!
May
Remember
Never Forget
I Was Raped When I Was Very Young. I Told My Brother The Name Of The Person Who Had Done It. Within A Few Days The Man Was Killed. In My Child's Mind--seven And A Half Years Old--i Thought My Voice Had Killed Him. So I Stopped Talking For Five Years.
Brother
Children
Men
Modesty Is A Learned Affectation. And As Soon As Life Slams The Modest Person Against The Wall, That Modesty Drops.
Wall
Modesty
Slam
I've Learned That Making A 'living' Is Not The Same Thing As 'making A Life'.
Inspirational
Life
Second Chance
Each Time A Dancer Moves Devoutly Or A Composer Faithfully Searches The Silence For The Veiled Melodies, Eternity Is Engaged.
Moving
Silence
Dancer
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
You Never Get Over The Fear Of Writing.
Writing
Get Over
Difficult Is A Far Cry From Impossible. The Distance Between These Two Lies Hope. Hope And Fear Cannot Occupy The Same Space At The Same Time. Invite One To Stay.
Distance
Lying
Two
Until Blacks And Whites See Each Other As Brother And Sister, We Will Not Have Parity. It's Very Clear.
Brother
Clear
Parity
Love Recognizes No Barriers. It Jumps Hurdles, Leaps Fences, Penetrates Walls To Arrive At Its Destination Full Of Hope.
Love
Inspirational
Life
When You Know Better You Do Better.
Inspirational
Life
Motivational
We Grow Despite The Horror That We Feed Upon Our Own Tomorrow. We Grow.
Tomorrow
Horror
Grows
It May In Fact Be Utterly Impossible To Be Successful Without Helping Others To Become Successful.
Successful
Helping Others
May
Thank You, Always Say Thank You; It's The Greatest Gift You Can Give Someone; Because Thank You Is What You Say To God.
Giving
Saying Thank You
Greatest Gifts
I Liked To Write From The Time I Was About 12 Or 13. I Loved To Read. And Since I Only Spoke To My Brother, I Would Write Down My Thoughts. And I Think I Wrote Some Of The Worst Poetry West Of The Rockies. But By The Time I Was In My 20s, I Found Myself Writing Little Essays And More Poetry - Writing At Writing.
Brother
Writing
Thinking
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
Listen Carefully To What Country People Call Mother Wit. In Those Homely Sayings Are Couched The Collective Wisdom Of Generations.
Mother
Country
People
I Have A Son, Who Is My Heart. A Wonderful Young Man, Daring And Loving And Strong And Kind.
Strong
Heart
Son
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
If I'm Here, I'll Be Trying To Be A Better Human Being, A Better Writer, A Better Friend And A Better Beloved.
Trying
Beloved
Humans
You Can't Use Up Creativity. The More You Use, The More You Have.
Inspirational
Positive
Art
I Think When We Don't Know What To Do It's Wise To Do Nothing. Sit Down Quietly; Quiet Our Hearts And Minds And Breathe Deeply.
Wise
Heart
Thinking
Whenever Something Went Wrong When I Was Young - If I Had A Pimple Or If My Hair Broke - My Mom Would Say, 'sister Mine, I'm Going To Make You Some Soup.' And I Really Thought The Soup Would Make My Pimple Go Away Or My Hair Stronger.
Mom
Hair
Stronger
Hate, It Has Caused A Lot Of Problems In The World, But Has Not Solved One Yet.
Inspirational
Positive
Hate
Preach It, I Say Preach It.
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.
4th Of July
Wine
Brain
Success Is Loving Life And Daring To Live It.
Life
Success
Loving Life
I'm Just Someone Who Likes Cooking And For Whom Sharing Food Is A Form Of Expression.
Expression
Cooking
Likes
Be Wary When A Naked Person Offers You His Shirt
Life
Naked
Shirts
I Am Not Competing With Anyone Other Than Myself. I Want To Be Excellent At Whatever I Do.
Want
Excellent
Competing
Elimination Of Illiteracy Is As Serious An Issue To Our History As The Abolition Of Slavery.
Abolition Of Slavery
Issues
Serious
People Feel Guilty. And Guilt Is Stymieing. Guilt Immobilizes. Guilt Closes The Air Ducts And The Veins, And Makes People Ignorant.
Air
People
Ignorant
My Mother Is So Full Of Joy And Life. I Am Her Child. And That Is Better Than Being The Child Of Anyone Else In The World.
Mother
Children
Joy
The Devil Lives In Our Mistakes, The Lord Lives In Our Rights. Who Lives In Our Ignorance, And Who Wins After All?
Life
Mistake
Ignorance
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
You Can Practice Any Virtue Erratically, But Nothing Consistently Without Courage.
Courage
Practice
Aries
Courage Allows The Successful Woman To Fail - And To Learn Powerful Lessons From The Failure - So That In The End, She Didn't Fail At All.
Inspirational
Courage
Powerful
Among Other Things, I'm Thinking "i'm A Child Of God." That's Amazing. And "i'm Not Only A Child Of God, But God Loves Me." The Hardest Part For Me Is To Realize That While God Loves Me, And I Am A Child Of God, I Have To See The Bigot And The Brute And The Rapist, And Whether He Or She Knows It Or Not, I Have To Know That That Person Is A Child Of God. That Is Part Of The Responsibility - And It's Hard.
Children
Responsibility
Thinking
There Is A Kind Of Strength That Is Almost Frightening In Black Women. It's As If A Steel Rod Runs Right Through The Head Down To The Feet.
Running
Feet
Black
To Those Who Have Given Up On Love: I Say, "trust Life A Little Bit.
I Hate You
Littles
Aging
I Come As One, But Stand As 10,000.
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
Courage Is The Most Important Of All The Virtues, Without It, You Can Practice No Other.
Practice
Important
Virtue
At One Time, You Could Sit On The Rue De La Paix In Paris Or At The Habima Theater In Tel Aviv Or In Medina And You Could See A Person Come In, Black, White, It Didn't Matter. You Said, 'that's An American' Because There's A Readiness To Smile And To Talk To People.
Paris
White
People
Love Costs All We Are And Will Ever Be. Yet It Is Only Love Which Sets Us Free. A Brave And Startling Truth.
Love
Life
Brave
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
A Single Fantasy Can Transform A Million Realities.
Reality
Fantasy
Millions
There Is No Place Where God Is Not.
Faith In God
But Still, Like Air, I'll Rise
Recovery
Air
Backstabbing
There Is No Greater Agony Than Bearing An Untold Story Inside You.
Inspirational
Moving On
Powerful
When You Wish Someone Joy, You Wish Them Peace, Love, Prosperity, Happiness... All The Good Things.
Happiness
Laughter
Blessing
Beneath The Skin, Beyond The Differing Features And Into The True Heart Of Being, Fundamentally, We Are More Alike, My Friend, Than We Are Unalike.
Heart
Skins
My Friends
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
I Always Felt, If I Can Get To A Library, I'll Be Ok.
Healing
Library
Felt
Everybody Born Comes From The Creator Trailing Wisps Of Glory.
Compassion
Glory
Wisps
The Children To Whom We Read Simple Stories May Or May Not Show Gratitude, But Each Boon We Give Strengthens The Pillars Of The World.
Gratitude
Children
Simple
We Can Learn To See Each Other And See Ourselves In Each Other And Recognize That Human Beings Are More Alike Than We Are Unalike.
Inspirational
Humans
Human Beings
I've Had Rainbows In My Clouds.
Clouds
Rainbow
There's A World Of Difference Between Truth And Facts. Facts Can Obscure The Truth.
Life
Wisdom
Peace
Putting Down On Paper What You Have To Say Is An Important Part Of Writing, But The Words And Ideas Have To Be Shaped And Cleaned, Cleaned As Severely As A Dog Cleans A Bone, Cleaned Until There's Not A Shred Of Anything Superfluous.
Dog
Writing
Ideas
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
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
Laugh As Often As Possible. You Must. Because The World Will Offer You Every Reason To Weep. So As Often As Possible, You Laugh. That, I Think, Is Part Of The Great Love.
Thinking
Laughing
Great Love
It's Good To Remember That In Crises, Natural Crises, Human Beings Forget For Awhile Their Ignorances, Their Biases, Their Prejudices. For A Little While, Neighbors Help Neighbors And Strangers Help Strangers.
Ignorance
Littles
Prejudice
Courage, I Don't Think Anybody Is Born With Courage. I Think You May Be Born With A Flair To Braggadocio, You Know. That's Not Courage.
Thinking
May
Born
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 Couldn't Tell Fact From Fiction, Or If The Dream Was True My Only Sure Prediction In This World Was You. I'd Touch Your Features Inchly. Beard Love And Dared The Cost, The Sented Spiel Reeled Me Unreal And I Found My Senses Lost.
Life
Dream
Cost
Rainbows Are People Whose Lives Are Bright, Shining Examples For Others.
People
Rainbow
Shining
If You Do Not Like Anything, Alter It. If You Can Not Change It, Adjust Your Mindset. Will Not Complain.
Complaining
Mindset
Can Not
Without Willing It, I Had Gone From Being Ignorant Of Being Ignorant To Being Aware Of Being Aware. And The Worst Part Of My Awareness Was That I Didn't Know What I Was Aware Of. I Knew I Knew Very Little, But I Was Certain That The Things I Had Yet To Learn Wouldn't Be Taught To Me At George Washington High School.
School
Ignorant
Gone
Talent Is Like Electricity. We Don't Understand Electricity. We Use It.
Positive
Writing
Use
Trending Author
Chris Christie
Julie Andrews
Emma Bonino
Kelly Jones
Louis Kahn
David Ricardo
Category
Information