Caged Birds Quotes

• Caged birds sing of freedom, free birds fly.

  Thorolf Rafto

  Freedom, Bird, Human Rights

  25 Copy quote

• God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages.

  Jacques Deval

  Life, Funny Love, Men

  "A Dictionary of Environmental Quotations" by Barbara K. Rodes and Rice Odell, (p. 22), 1992.

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• 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.

  Maya Angelou

  Bird, Tunes, Hills

  Maya Angelou (2013). “Shaker, Why Don't You Sing?”, p.20, Random House

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• I wouldn't steal anything because stealing is wrong. If I had to, I'd steal a caged bird and set it free.

  Arthur Darvill

  Bird, Stealing, Caged

  21 Copy quote

• Caged birds accept each other, but flight is what they long for.

  Tennessee Williams

  Memorial Day, Freedom, Long

  Tennessee Williams (1953). “Camino Real: A Play”, p.51, Dramatists Play Service Inc

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• But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams.

  Maya Angelou

  Dream, Powerful, Bird

  Maya Angelou (2013). “Shaker, Why Don't You Sing?”, p.20, Random House

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• I have to remind myself that some birds aren’t meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright.

  Stephen King

  Bird, Prison Life, Redemption

  "The Shawshank Redemption". www.imdb.com. 1994.

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• No bird in a cage ever speaks. What is there to say? The sky is everywhere, churning above its head, blue and endless, calling out to it. But the caged bird can't answer anything except 'I cannot'.

  Sonya Hartnett

  Blue, Sky, Bird

  10 Copy quote

• I know what the caged bird feels, alas!

  Paul Laurence Dunbar

  Bird, Feels, Alas

  Paul Laurence Dunbar (2012). “Selected Poems”, p.28, Courier Corporation

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• 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

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• Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.

  Maya Angelou

  Positive, Moving On, Sad

  139 Copy quote

• A forest bird never wants a cage.

  Henrik Ibsen

  Freedom, Bird, Want

  Henrik Ibsen, James Walter McFarlane, Jens Arup (1998). “Four Major Plays”, p.339, Oxford University Press, USA

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• 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!

  Paul Laurence Dunbar

  Prayer, Heart, Wings

  Paul Laurence Dunbar (2012). “Selected Poems”, p.28, Courier Corporation

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• I know why the caged bird sings.

  Maya Angelou

  Inspirational, Children, Book

  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

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• Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside equally desperate to get out.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Marriage, Wedding, Bird

  Attributed to "Essais" by Michel de Montaigne, Book III, Ch. 5, 1595.

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• Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.

  Maya Angelou

  Positive, Mean, Voice

  Twitter post from Nov 02, 2016

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• The needs of a society determine its ethics.

  Maya Angelou

  Positive, Needs, Ethics

  Maya Angelou (2012). “The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou”, p.173, Modern Library

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• If you're for the right thing, you do it without thinking.

  Maya Angelou

  Thinking, Ifs, Right Thing

  "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings". Book by Maya Angelou, www.theguardian.com. 1969.

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• The compelled mother loves her child as the caged bird sings. The song does not justify the cage nor the love the enforcement.

  Germaine Greer

  Mother, Song, Children

  Germaine Greer (1990). “The Madwoman's Underclothes: Essays and Occasional Writings”, p.115, Atlantic Monthly Press

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• 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.

  Maya Angelou

  Inspirational, Life, Heart

  FaceBook post by Maya Angelou from Mar 17, 2015

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• I have read in books that we are called 'caged birds'. I cannot speak for others, but I had so much in this cage of mine that there was not room for it in the universe- at least that is what I then felt.

  Rabindranath Tagore

  Book, Bird, Rooms

  Rabindranath Tagore (2014). “The Home and The World: Fiction, Autobiographical novel”, p.14, editionNEXT.com

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• The world had taken a deep breath and was having doubts about continuing to revolve.

  Maya Angelou

  Taken, Doubt, World

  Maya Angelou (2012). “The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou”, p.28, Modern Library

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• The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by formal education.

  Maya Angelou

  Inspirational, Strength, Education

  1970 I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, ch.29.

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

  Maya Angelou

  Beauty, Girl, Opportunity

  1970 I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, ch.35

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• Much talking is the cause of danger. Silence is the means of avoiding misfortune. The talkative parrot is shut up in a cage. Other birds, without speech, fly freely about.

  Sakya Pandita

  Change, Happiness, Mean

  90 Copy quote