Maya Angelou is one of the most influential voices of the last century, inspiring millions through her timeless poems and essays. Now, after her death at 86 years old, Angelou's legacy lives on through her thoughts on Christ, prayer, love, and forgiveness.
1. "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."
2. "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."
3. "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.'"
4. "Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God."
5. "You can't forgive without loving. And I don't mean sentimentality. I don't mean mush. I mean having enough courage to stand up and say, 'I forgive. I'm finished with it."
6. "Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope."
7. "I know that when I pray, something wonderful happens. Not just to the person or persons for whom I'm praying, but also something wonderful happens to me. I'm grateful that I'm heard."
8. "Timidity makes a person modest. It makes him or her say, 'I'm not worthy of being written up in the record of deeds in heaven or on earth.' Timidity keeps people from their good. They are afraid to say, 'Yes, I deserve it.'
9. "I believe that each of us comes from the creator trailing wisps of glory."
10. "It's a wonderful thing to know that there is something to know there is something greater than I am, and that is God itself."
