Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity to be otherwise

Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.

In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine.

I am always talking about the human condition and about American society in particular: what it is like to be human, what makes us weep, what makes us fall and stumble and somehow rise and go on from darkness into darkness and that darkness carpeted

Some critics will write 'Maya Angelou is a natural writer' - which is right after being a natural heart surgeon.

I am a woman phenomenally, phenomenal woman that is your grandmother, that is your mother, that is your sister, that is you and that is me.