Maya Angelou Quotes

Throughout the journey of my life, I have maintained a strong faith in the power of the human spirit to overcome adversity. I deeply believe in one's own positive will to overcome even the most daunting challenges.

The more you get past pain, the more it goes from coal to diamond.

Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward.

Courage is not the absence of despair; it is, rather, the capacity to move ahead in spite of despair.

You have to experience and take defeat in any and all aspects of life so you can be better and stronger.

My own father had always said the measure of a man wasn't how many times or how hard he got knocked down, but how fast he got back up. I made a pledge to myself that I would get up and emerge from this debacle better for having gone through it. I would live up to the expectation I had for myself. I would be the kind of man I wanted to be.

We develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and obstacles.

You're always going to face criticism, you're always going to face challenges, but those things are there to make you stronger and more committed.

Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you.

I do not allow myself to be overcome by hopelessness, no matter how tough the situation. I believe that if you just do your little bit without thinking of the bigness of what you stand against, if you turn to the enlargement of your own capacities, just that itself creates new potential.

When I hit bottom, I can attack the problem and get to where I want to be.

...the men of the Ulysses had no need to stand in shame...many had found, or were finding, that the point of no return was not necessarily the edge of the precipice: it could be the bottom of the valley, the beginning of the long climb up the far slope, and when a man had once begun that climb he never looked back to that other side.

You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, the encountering may be the very experience which creates the vitality and the power to endure.

When you're not happy, you need to be strong to change, resisting the temptation of turning back. The weak goes nowhere

Whenever I feel bad, I use that feeling to motivate me to work harder. I only allow myself one day to feel sorry for myself. When I'm not feeling my best I ask myself, 'What are you gonna do about it?' I use the negativity to fuel the transformation into a better me.

When you face difficult times, know that challenges are not sent to destroy you. They're sent to promote, increase and strengthen you.

I build myself back up and come back stronger. That's what I do.

It is inevitable that some defeat will enter even the most victorious life. The human spirit is never finished when it is defeated... it is finished when it surrenders.

The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.

I think you need to go through some stuff to really appreciate life and understand what it means to persevere, overcome and have faith. I think those tough times make you a stronger person.

The depth of darkness to which you can descend and still live is an exact measure of the height to which you can aspire to reach.

We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.

The struggle goes on. The victory is in the struggle, for me. And I accepted that a long time ago.

Sometimes we fall, sometimes we stumble, but we can't stay down. We can't allow life to beat us down. Everything happens for a reason, and it builds character in us, and it tells us what we are about and how strong we really are when we didn't think we could be that strong.

But I believe we must not allow feelings of defeat to take root in our hearts.