Dwight Carter
From a background that included working as a nightclub dancer, fry cook and sex worker; Angelou climbed to becoming the first poet to recite for a Presidential inauguration since Robert Frost. She worked directly with Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and other Civil Rights leaders, received 50+ honorary degrees, dozens of literary awards, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. An important spokesperson for women and black people, her books are both subject to bans in libraries as well as being extensively used in universities around the world. “America's most visible black woman autobiographer,” her books and poetry both defended and appreciated Black culture, became a powerful influence on modern hip-hop music, and helped further gender and racial understanding.
“Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.”
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“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”
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“If you’re always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.”
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“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion some compassion, some humor, and some style.”
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“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.”
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“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”
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“A woman in harmony with her spirit is like a river flowing. She goes where she will without pretense and arrives at her destination prepared to be herself and only herself.”
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“Just like moons and like suns, with the certainty of tides. Just like hopes springing high, still I’ll rise.”
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“The more you know of your history, the more liberated you are.”
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“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.”
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“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”
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“You only are free when you realize you belong no place - you belong every place - no place at all. The price is high. The reward is great.”
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“Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.”
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“Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven’t done a thing. You are just talking.”
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“A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy, a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.”
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“When you learn, teach; when you get, give.”
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“Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.”
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“Forgiveness is the greatest gift you can give yourself.”
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“Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?”
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“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.”
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“With time and a kindly librarian, any unskilled person can learn how to build a replica of the Taj Mahal.”
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“If there was a single thread running through the life of Angelou it was her carpe diem approach to living... She was an 'experimentalist', someone who viewed life as a smorgasbord of possibilities and experiences there for the tasting even when it involved risk and the prospect of failure.”
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