If you must look back, do so forgivingly. If you must look forward, do so prayerfully. However, the wisest thing you can do is be present in the present...gratefully.
My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.
- Topic: Humor, Inspiration, Passion, Purpose
More Quotes from Maya Angelou
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Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.
Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men—the other 999 follow women.
Know yourself. Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.
Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.
Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is.
Waves are inspiring not because they rise and fall, but because each time they fall they never fail to rise again.
A true artist is not one who is inspired, but one who inspire others.
If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy and inspires your hopes.
Love inspires, illumines, designates and leads the way.
Every civilization is, among other things, an arrangement for domesticating the passions and setting them to do useful work.
Why has government been instituted? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason & justice without constraint.
An irresistible passion that would induce me to believe in innate ideas and the truth of prophecy has decided my career. I have always loved liberty with the enthusiasm which actuates the religious man with the passion of a lover and with the conviction of a geometrician.
Pleasure without joy is as hollow as passion without tenderness.
To play a wrong note is insignificant. To play without passion is inexcusable.
Do not hire a man who does your work for money but him who does it for love of it.
You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you're not passionate enough from the start, you'll never stick it out.
And, more importantly, reach for the stars. And realize that it is never too late—not now, not ever—for you to pursue you passion, your pursuit of perfection. And most importantly, your perseverance for making it happen.
To a greater force, and to a better nature, you, free, are subject, and that creates the mind in you, which the heavens have not in their charge. Therefore if the present world go astray, the cause is in you, in you it is to be sought.
Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find a better man.
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual; and, exhibited in the lives of many, it continues the true source of national vigor and strength. Help from without is often enfeebling in its effects, but help from within invariably invigorates.
By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen goal or destination.
