I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Quotes

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  • Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst, and unsurprised by anything in between.

    Maya Angelou (2012). “The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou”, p.220, Modern Library
  • In Stamps the segregation was so complete that most Black children didn't really, absolutely know what whites looked like.

    Maya Angelou (2012). “The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou”, p.24, Modern Library
  • 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  
    Maya Angelou (2009). “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, p.267, Random House
  • 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.

    Maya Angelou (2012). “The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou”, p.94, Modern Library
  • The needs of a society determine its ethics.

    Maya Angelou (2012). “The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou”, p.173, Modern Library
  • The world had taken a deep breath and was having doubts about continuing to revolve.

    Maya Angelou (2012). “The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou”, p.28, Modern Library
  • Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.

    FaceBook post by Maya Angelou from Nov 08, 2011
  • Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.

    Positive   Mean   Voice  
    Twitter post from Nov 02, 2016
  • The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by formal education.

    1970 I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, ch.29.
  • If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat. It is an unnecessary insult.

    1969 I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, opening section.
  • There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

    FaceBook post by Maya Angelou from Feb 14, 2013
  • I know why the caged bird sings, ah me, When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,- When he beats his bars and would be free; It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core, But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings- I know why the caged bird sings!

    Prayer   Heart   Wings  
    Paul Laurence Dunbar (2012). “Selected Poems”, p.28, Courier Corporation
  • Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity of opportunity to be otherwise.

    1970 I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, ch.35
  • She comprehended the perversity of life, that in the struggle lies the joy.

    Lying   Struggle   Joy  
    Maya Angelou (2012). “The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou”, p.206, Modern Library
  • I know why the caged bird sings.

    Title of book (1969), taken from the last line of "Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar in Lyrics of Hearthside (1899). Cf. Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1979) 567:10
  • The needs of a society determine its ethics, and in the Black American ghettos the hero is that man who is offered only the crumbs from his country's table but by ingenuity and courage is able to take for himself a Lucullan feast. Hence the janitor who lives in one room but sports a robin's-egg-blue Cadillac is not laughed at but admired, and the domestic who buys forty-dollar shoes is not criticized but is appreciated. We know that they have put to use their full mental and physical powers. Each single gain feeds into the gains of the body collective.

    Life   Sports   Country  
    Maya Angelou (2009). “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, p.220, Random House
  • Few, if any, survive their teens. Most surrender to the vague but murderous pressure of adult conformity.

    Adults   Teens   Pressure  
    Maya Angelou (2012). “The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou”, p.208, Modern Library
  • My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy.

    Twitter post from Oct 07, 2015
  • The caged bird sings with a fearful trill, of things unknown, but longed for still, and his tune is heard on the distant hill, for the caged bird sings of freedom.

    Bird   Tunes   Hills  
    Maya Angelou (2013). “Shaker, Why Don't You Sing?”, p.20, Random House
  • Life is going to give you just what you put in it. Put your whole heart in everything you do, and pray, then you can wait.

    FaceBook post by Maya Angelou from Mar 17, 2015
  • At fifteen life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice.

    1970 I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, ch.31.
  • Ritie, don't worry 'cause you ain't pretty. Plenty pretty women I seen digging ditches or worse. You smart. I swear to God, I rather you have a good mind than a cute behind.

    Maya Angelou (2012). “The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou”, p.55, Modern Library
  • Until recently each generation found it more expedient to plead guilty to the charge of being young and ignorant, easier to take the punishment meted out by the older generation (which had itself confessed to the same crime short years before). The command to grow up at once was more bearable than the faceless horror of wavering purpose, which was youth.

    Life   Growing Up   Years  
    Maya Angelou (2009). “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, p.267, Random House
  • The intensity with which young people live demands that they "blank out" as often as possible.

    Life   People   Demand  
    Maya Angelou (2012). “The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou”, p.155, Modern Library
  • Anything that works against you can also work for you once you understand the Principle of Reverse.

    Maya Angelou (2012). “The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou”, p.170, Modern Library
  • But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core.

    Paul Laurence Dunbar, Joanne M. Braxton (1993). “The Collected Poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar”, p.102, University of Virginia Press
  • Of all the needs (there are none imaginary) a lonely child has, the one that must be satisfied, if there is going to be hope and a hope of wholeness, is the unshaking need for an unshakable God. My pretty Black brother was my Kingdom Come.

    MAYA ANGELOU (1969). “I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS”
  • If you're for the right thing, you do it without thinking.

    "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings". Book by Maya Angelou, www.theguardian.com. 1969.
  • My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors.

    FaceBook post by Maya Angelou from Oct 07, 2015
  • I had read a Tale of Two Cities and found it up to my standards as a romantic novel. She opened the first page and I heard poetry for the first time in my life...her voice slid in and curved down trough and over the words. She was nearly singing.

    Life   Cities   Two  
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