If I am not good to myself, how can I expect anyone else to be good to me?
Maya AngelouRead
Somehow, we have come to the erroneous belief that we are all but flesh, blood, and bones, and that's all. So we direct our values to material things.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote challenges the notion that we are solely physical beings, suggesting that we give too much importance to material possessions.
Maya Angelou's quote reflects on the commonly held belief that human existence is limited to our physical form, emphasizing the mistaken prioritization of material wealth over deeper values. By stating that we are 'flesh, blood, and bones,' she critiques the focus on physical and materialistic pursuits, urging a recognition of our spiritual and emotional dimensions that contribute to a more meaningful existence.
Themes
MaterialismExistenceValuesSpiritualityHuman Experience
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of values beyond material wealth.
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.
Maya AngelouRead
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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