Caged Quotes

• The truth is I love being alive. And I love feeling free. So if I can't have those things then I feel like a caged animal and I'd rather not be in a cage. I'd rather be dead. And it's real simple. And I think it's not that uncommon.

  Angelina Jolie

  Love, Life, Freedom

  96 Copy quote

• 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

  41 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  136 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  70 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  24 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  17 Copy quote

  Show source

• The needs of a society determine its ethics.

  Maya Angelou

  Positive, Needs, Caged Birds

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

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• I 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 Angelou

  Life, God, Responsibility

  Maya Angelou (2012). “The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou”, p.94, Modern Library

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage.

  Richard Lovelace

  Wall, Angel, Iron

  "To Althea, from Prison" l. 25 (1649)

  48 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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.

  26 Copy quote

  Show source

• But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core.

  Paul Laurence Dunbar

  Prayer, Heart, Caged Birds

  Paul Laurence Dunbar, Joanne M. Braxton (1993). “The Collected Poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar”, p.102, University of Virginia Press

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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.

  47 Copy quote

  Show source

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

  Maya Angelou

  Thinking, Caged Birds, Ifs

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

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  70 Copy quote

  Show source

• At fifteen life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice.

  Maya Angelou

  Life, Choices, Caged Birds

  1970 I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, ch.31.

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  19 Copy quote

  Show source

• Some of the snowballs have a kind of animal energy. Not just because of the materials inside them, but in the way that they appear caged, captured.

  Andy Goldsworthy

  Animal, Energy, Way

  Andy Goldsworthy (2001). “Midsummer Snowballs”, Harry N. Abrams

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• Usually when you see females in movies, they feel like they have these metallic structures around them, they are caged in by male energy.

  Bjork

  Women, Energy, Males

  "Maybe I'll be a feminist in my old age" by Liz Hoggard, www.theguardian.com. March 12, 2005.

  69 Copy quote

  Show source

• If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat. It is an unnecessary insult.

  Maya Angelou

  Girl, Growing Up, Southern

  1969 I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, opening section.

  57 Copy quote

  Show source

• Anything that works against you can also work for you once you understand the Principle of Reverse.

  Maya Angelou

  Inspirational, Principles, Reverse

  Maya Angelou (2012). “The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou”, p.170, Modern Library

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst, and unsurprised by anything in between.

  Maya Angelou

  Inspirational, Success, Personal Growth

  Maya Angelou (2012). “The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou”, p.220, Modern Library

  20 Copy quote

  Show source

• Without willing it, I had gone from being ignorant of being ignorant to being aware of being aware. And the worst part of my awareness was that I didn't know what I was aware of. I knew I knew very little, but I was certain that the things I had yet to learn wouldn't be taught to me at George Washington High School.

  Maya Angelou

  School, Ignorant, Gone

  Maya Angelou (2009). “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, p.267, Random House

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• I never thought much of the courage of a lion tamer. Inside the cage he is at least safe from people.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Courage, People, Lions

  16 Copy quote

• She comprehended the perversity of life, that in the struggle lies the joy.

  Maya Angelou

  Lying, Struggle, Joy

  Maya Angelou (2012). “The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou”, p.206, Modern Library

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• Ritie, don't worry 'cause you ain't pretty. Plenty pretty women I seen digging ditches or worse. You smart. I swear to God, I rather you have a good mind than a cute behind.

  Maya Angelou

  Cute, Smart, Swear To God

  Maya Angelou (2012). “The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou”, p.55, Modern Library

  7 Copy quote

  Show source