Smartyfair
Authors

Maya Angelou

1928 – 2014

1900s-2000s USA · Writer

Maya Angelou was an American poet and author best known for her memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. She overcame a difficult childhood and worked as San Francisco's first Black female streetcar conductor as a teenager before going on to become a celebrated writer, performer, and civil rights activist. In 1993 she read one of her poems at a U.S. presidential inauguration, a rare honor for a poet, and in 2011 she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

Quotes

9
When someone shows you who they are, believe them.
Source not found yetWisdom1900s
Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.
Source foundKindness1900s
Develop enough courage so that you can stand up for yourself and then stand up for somebody else.
Source foundCourage1900s
Without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.
Source foundCourage1900s
You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.
Source foundCreativity1900s
Nothing can dim the light that shines from within.
Source foundIndividuality1900s
Do not complain. Make every effort to change things you do not like.
Source foundPerseverance1900s
We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.
Source not found yetPerseverance1900s
Nothing will work unless you do.
Source not found yetIndividuality1900s

Sources

  • en.wikipedia.org

    Wikipedia's article on Maya Angelou. Not yet checked against the books it cites.

    Added 20 Aug 2026 · claude-sonnet-5

How this life story was put together

Put together from what’s generally known about Maya Angelou, not from the sources above. The dates and details haven’t been checked against them yet.

Leave without saving?

You have a change that hasn’t been saved yet. Clicking out of the box saves it — closing now throws that change away.