Getting There: Maya Angelou
Over 86 years, Maya Angelou set the standard on Getting There. Born into poverty in St. Louis and raised in rural Arkansas, she overcame a childhood of trauma — and years of struggle as a young single mother — to become an award-winning poet and author, one of the leading voices of her generation. Her first book — the memoir “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” — drew international acclaim in 1969, and the plaudits continued over the more than four decades that followed.
“A childhood of suffering and abuse actually drove her to stop speaking – but the voice she found helped generations of Americans find their rainbow amidst the clouds, and inspired the rest of us to be our best selves,” President Barack Obama said Wednesday, soon after the world learned that she had passed away hours earlier.
Over the years, Angelou used that voice to offer guidance to women on how to shape their own destinies, as she had. “If you cannot make a change, change the way you have been thinking,” she once said. “You might find a new solution.”
( PHOTOS: Maya Angelou’s life and career)
“I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass.”
— Interview, Girl About Town
“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”
— Letter to My Daughter
“I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life. I’ve learned that making a ‘living’ is not the same thing as making a ‘life.’ I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back. I’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. I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
— MayaAngelou.com
( Also on POLITICO: Maya Angelou dies at 86)
“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.”
— Facebook, May 1, 2009
“A person is the product of their dreams. So make sure to dream great dreams. And then try to live your dream.”
— Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now
“Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.”
— Interview with The New York Times, July 23, 2007
( Also on POLITICO: Obama: Angelou a ‘fierce friend’)
“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?’”
— Interview with Oprah Winfrey, December 2000 issue of O magazine
“Let’s tell the truth to people. When people ask, ‘How are you?’ have the nerve sometimes to answer truthfully. You must know, however, that people will start avoiding you because, they, too, have knees that pain them and heads that hurt and they don’t want to know about yours. But think of it this way: If people avoid you, you will have more time to meditate and do fine research on a cure for whatever truly afflicts you.”
— Letter to My Daughter
“Each of us has the right and the responsibility to assess the roads which lie ahead, and those over which we have traveled — and if the future road looms ominous or unpromising, and the roads back uninviting, then we need to gather our resolve and, carrying only the necessary baggage, step off that road into another direction. If the new choice is also unpalatable, without embarrassment, we must be ready to change that as well.”
— Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now
“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.”
— Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now
“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them. Try to be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud. Do not complain. 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.”
— Letter to My Daughter