Maya Angelou, Letter to My Daughter

"Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud."

"Make every effort to change things you do not like. If you cannot make a change, change the way you have been thinking. You might find a new solution."

"I am convinced that most people do not grow up...We marry and dare to have children and call that growing up. I think what we do is mostly grow old. We carry accumulation of years in our bodies, and on our faces, but generally our real selves, the children inside, are innocent and shy as magnolias."

"You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them."

"I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.(Popular misquote of "You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.")"