If I am not good to myself, how can I expect anyone else to be good to me?
Maya AngelouRead
I always knew from that moment, from the time I found myself at home in that little segregated library in the South, all the way up until I walked up the steps of the New York City library, I always felt, in any town, if I can get to a library, I'll be okay. It really helped me as a child, and that never left me. So I have a special place for every library, in my heart of hearts.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Libraries provide a sense of safety and comfort, serving as sanctuaries of knowledge and self-discovery.
In this quote, Maya Angelou emphasizes the profound impact that libraries had on her life, particularly during her childhood. She reflects on the comfort and solace she found in libraries as places of refuge and learning, which shaped her identity and understanding of the world. The quote conveys the importance of access to knowledge and how libraries can be pivotal spaces for personal growth and stability, fostering a lifelong appreciation for learning.
Themes
LibrariesKnowledgeComfortEducationChildhoodGrowth
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about literacy, I shared how libraries shaped my childhood, inspired by Maya Angelou's reflections.
More from Maya Angelou
All quotes βI find it interesting that the meanest life, the poorest existence, is attributed to God's will, but as human beings become more affluent, as their living standard and style begin to ascend the material scale, God descends the scale of responsibility at commensurate speed.
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The white American man makes the white American woman maybe not superfluous but just a little kind of decoration. Not really important to turning around the wheels of the state. Well the black American woman has never been able to feel that way. No black American man at any time in our history in the United States has been able to feel that he didn't need that black woman right against him, shoulder to shoulder-in that cotton field, on the auction block, in the ghetto, wherever.
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I dreamt we walked together along the shore. We made satisfying small talk and laughed. This morning I found sand in my shoe and a seashell in my pocket. Was I only dreaming?
Maya AngelouRead
I know that I'm not the easiest person to live with. The challenge I put on myself is so great that the person I live with feels himself challenged. I bring a lot to bear, and I don't know how not to.
Maya AngelouRead
I think Clinton, after getting into office and into Washington, was shocked at being bludgeoned. So he spent time trying to be all things to all people - one way guaranteed not to be successful or respected in a lion's den. You can't just play around with all those big cats - you've got to take somebody on.
Maya AngelouRead
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