Maya Angelou Quotes About Writing

• I want to write so well that a person is 30 or 40 pages in a book of mine ... before she realizes she's reading.

  Maya Angelou

  Book, Reading, Writing

  Twitter post from Jul 31, 2015

• Easy reading is damn hard writing. But if it's right, it's easy. It's the other way round, too. If it's slovenly written, then it's hard to read. It doesn't give the reader what the careful writer can give the reader.

  Maya Angelou

  Reading, Writing, Giving

  FaceBook post by Maya Angelou from Apr 12, 2013

• What I try to do is write. I may write for two weeks ‘the cat sat on the mat, that is that, not a rat,’.... And it might be just the most boring and awful stuff. But I try. When I’m writing, I write. And then it’s as if the muse is convinced that I’m serious and says, ‘Okay. Okay. I’ll come.

  Maya Angelou

  Cat, Writing, Two

  "Famous Writers Share How They Handle Writer’s Block" by Jeryl Brunner, www.huffingtonpost.com. January 29, 2015.

• There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

  Maya Angelou

  Inspirational, Moving On, Powerful

  FaceBook post by Maya Angelou from Feb 14, 2013

• The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.

  Maya Angelou

  Inspirational, Life, Inspiring

  Twitter post from Sep 28, 2016

• We need to remember that we are all created creative and can invent new scenarios as frequently as they are needed.

  Maya Angelou

  Inspiring, Writing, Creative

  Maya Angelou (2011). “Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now”, p.31, Bantam

• Hold those things that tell your history and protect them. During slavery, who was able to read or write or keep anything? The ability to have somebody to tell your story to is so important. It says: 'I was here. I may be sold tomorrow. But you know I was here.'

  Maya Angelou

  Life Changing, Writing, Important

• To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power. Or the climbing, falling colors of a rainbow.

  Maya Angelou

  Mothers Day, Mom, Mother Daughter

  Maya Angelou (2012). “The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou”, p.49, Modern Library

• You should be angry. You must not be bitter. Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. It doesn't do anything to the object of its displeasure. So use that anger. You write it. You paint it. You dance it. You march it. You vote it. You do everything about it. You talk it. Never stop talking it.

  Maya Angelou

  Cancer, Writing, Talking

  "Women Are Angrier Than Ever Before - And They're Doing Something About It" by Melissa Harris-Perry, www.elle.com. March 9, 2018.

• I believe that the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity is daring to dare.

  Maya Angelou

  Inspiring, Courage, Believe

• You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies. You may trod me in the very dirt, but still like dust, I'll rise.

  Maya Angelou

  Happiness, Success, Hope

  "Still I Rise" l. 1 (1978)

• Making a decision to write was a lot like deciding to jump into a frozen lake.

  Maya Angelou

  Inspiring, Writing, Lakes

  Dr. Maya Angelou (2009). “The Heart of a Woman”, p.53, Random House

• Talent is like electricity. We don't understand electricity. We use it.

  Maya Angelou

  Positive, Writing, Use

  Maya Angelou, Jeffrey M. Elliot (1989). “Conversations with Maya Angelou”

• I love a statement by the apostle Paul, in the Book of Philippians in the Bible. I think the Corinthians had been writing to Paul, telling him that old men were chasing young women, nobody was tithing - and all that must have run Paul crazy. He wrote back and said, "If there be anything of good report, speak of these things." That's one of my principles.It's another discipline that I encourage myself to employ - to, as much as possible, say the courteous thing, and then be it.

  Maya Angelou

  Running, Crazy, Book

  Source: www.oprah.com

• Like a pianist runs her fingers over the keys, I'll search my mind for what to say. Now, the poem may want you to write it. And then sometimes you see a situation and think, 'I'd like to write about that.' Those are two different ways of being approached by a poem, or approaching a poem.

  Maya Angelou

  Running, Writing, Thinking

• I make writing as much a part of my life as I do eating or listening to music.

  Maya Angelou

  Life, Communication, Writing

  Maya Angelou, Jeffrey M. Elliot (1989). “Conversations with Maya Angelou”

• Writing and cookery are just two different means of communication.

  Maya Angelou

  Communication, Writing, Mean

  "Maya Angelou: 'I make no apologies for writing a cookbook'". Interview with John Crace, www.theguardian.com. November 2, 2011.

• When the storyteller tells the truth, she reminds us that human beings are more alike than unalike... A story is what it's like to be a human being-to be knocked down and to miraculously arise. Each one of us has arisen, awakened. We do rise.

  Maya Angelou

  Writing, Stories, Down And

• The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.

  Maya Angelou

  Life, Wisdom, Communication

• Poetry puts starch in your backbone so you can stand, so you can compose your life.

  Maya Angelou

  Inspiring, Writing, Poetry

• Each time I write a book, every time I face that yellow pad, the challenge is so great. I have written eleven books, but each time I think, ‘Uh oh, they’re going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody and they’re going to find me out.

  Maya Angelou

  Inspiring, Running, Book

• When I am writing, I am trying to find out who I am, who we are, what we're capable of, how we feel, how we lose and stand up, and go on from darkness into darkness. I'm trying for that. But I'm also trying for the language. I'm trying to see how it can really sound.

  Maya Angelou

  Inspiring, Pain, Real

  "35 Maya Angelou Quotes That Changed My Life" by J.N. Salters, www.huffingtonpost.com. May 29, 2014.

• ...We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated. That sounds goody two-shoes, I know, but I believe that a diamond is the result of extreme pressure and time. Less time is crystal. Less than that is coal. Less than that is fossilized leaves. Less than that it's just plain dirt. In all my work, in the movies I write, the lyrics the poetry, the prose, the essays, I am saying that we may encounter many defeats - maybe it's imperative that we encounter the defeats - but we are much stronger than we appear to be and maybe much better than we allow ourselves to be.

  Maya Angelou

  Motivational, Determination, Believe

• When I'm writing, I write. And then it's as if the muse is convinced that I'm serious and says, 'Okay. Okay. I'll come.'

  Maya Angelou

  Writing, Serious, Muse

  "Famous Writers Share How They Handle Writer’s Block" by Jeryl Brunner, www.huffingtonpost.com. January 29, 2015.

• When I write, I tend to twist my hair. Something for my small mind to do, I guess.

  Maya Angelou

  Writing, Hair, Mind

  "Maya Angelou: How I Write". Interview with Noah Charney, www.thedailybeast.com. April 10, 2013.

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