I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Quotes

• 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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• 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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• 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.

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• In Stamps the segregation was so complete that most Black children didn't really, absolutely know what whites looked like.

  Maya Angelou

  Children, Black, Race Relations

  Maya Angelou (2012). “The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou”, p.24, Modern Library

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• 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

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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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• The needs of a society determine its ethics, and in the Black American ghettos the hero is that man who is offered only the crumbs from his country's table but by ingenuity and courage is able to take for himself a Lucullan feast. Hence the janitor who lives in one room but sports a robin's-egg-blue Cadillac is not laughed at but admired, and the domestic who buys forty-dollar shoes is not criticized but is appreciated. We know that they have put to use their full mental and physical powers. Each single gain feeds into the gains of the body collective.

  Maya Angelou

  Life, Sports, Country

  Maya Angelou (2009). “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, p.220, Random House

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• 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.

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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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• 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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• I had read a Tale of Two Cities and found it up to my standards as a romantic novel. She opened the first page and I heard poetry for the first time in my life...her voice slid in and curved down trough and over the words. She was nearly singing.

  Maya Angelou

  Life, Cities, Two

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• 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.

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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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• 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

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• Of all the needs (there are none imaginary) a lonely child has, the one that must be satisfied, if there is going to be hope and a hope of wholeness, is the unshaking need for an unshakable God. My pretty Black brother was my Kingdom Come.

  Maya Angelou

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  MAYA ANGELOU (1969). “I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS”

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• 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

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• Few, if any, survive their teens. Most surrender to the vague but murderous pressure of adult conformity.

  Maya Angelou

  Adults, Teens, Pressure

  Maya Angelou (2012). “The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou”, p.208, Modern Library

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• 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

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• The intensity with which young people live demands that they "blank out" as often as possible.

  Maya Angelou

  Life, People, Demand

  Maya Angelou (2012). “The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou”, p.155, Modern Library

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

  Maya Angelou

  Taken, Doubt, Caged Birds

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

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• Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.

  Maya Angelou

  Children, Ignorance, Kids

  FaceBook post by Maya Angelou from Nov 08, 2011

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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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• My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy.

  Maya Angelou

  Mother, Teacher, Educational

  Twitter post from Oct 07, 2015

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• 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

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• My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors.

  Maya Angelou

  Education, Mother, School

  FaceBook post by Maya Angelou from Oct 07, 2015

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