If I am not good to myself, how can I expect anyone else to be good to me?
Maya AngelouRead
When the human race neglects its weaker members, when the family neglects its weakest one - it's the first blow in a suicidal movement. I see the neglect in cities around the country, in poor white children in West Virginia and Virginia and Kentucky - in the big cities, too, for that matter.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Neglecting the vulnerable in society leads to detrimental consequences for everyone.
Maya Angelou's quote highlights the moral responsibility of society to care for its most vulnerable members, suggesting that neglect is not only harmful to those who are directly affected but also poses a risk to the social fabric as a whole. She points out that ignoring the needs of the weak, whether they are children in impoverished areas or marginalized individuals, can lead to a self-destructive cycle that ultimately harms society as a whole.
Themes
NeglectVulnerabilityResponsibilitySocietyHuman Rights
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech advocating for social justice.
More from Maya Angelou
All quotes →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 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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