If I am not good to myself, how can I expect anyone else to be good to me?
Maya AngelouRead
It is important that we learn humility, which says there was someone else before me who paid for me. My responsibility is to prepare myself so that I can pay for someone else who is yet to come.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Humility involves recognizing the sacrifices of those who came before us and taking responsibility to help future generations.
This quote by Maya Angelou emphasizes the importance of humility by acknowledging the sacrifices made by those who preceded us. It calls on individuals to recognize their responsibility to not only honor those contributions but also to prepare themselves to make sacrifices for the benefit of future generations, highlighting a cycle of giving and gratitude that enriches both the individual and society.
Themes
HumilityResponsibilitySacrificeGratitudeService
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about community service, this quote can remind audience members of their roles in supporting others.
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.
Maya AngelouRead
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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There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.
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