If I am not good to myself, how can I expect anyone else to be good to me?
Maya AngelouRead
I became the kind of parent my mother was to me.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the deep influence of a parent's behavior on their children.
Maya Angelou reflects on her own experiences of parenthood, acknowledging that she has emulated the style and values of her mother in raising her own children. This suggests a continuity of love and learning through generations, where the lessons and behaviors observed in childhood shape one's own actions as a parent, emphasizing the importance of familial relationships and the legacy of nurturing.
In practice
Sharing this quote during a parenting workshop to emphasize the impact of parental behavior.
If I am not good to myself, how can I expect anyone else to be good to me?
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
There ought to be a hall of fame for mamas / Creation's most unique and precious pearl / And heaven help us always to remember / That the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world
I grew up in a family of strong women and I owe any capacity I have to understand women to my mother and big sister. They taught me to respect women in a way where I've always felt a strong emotional connection to women, which has also helped me in the way I approach my work as an actor.
There are two things children should get from their parents: roots and wings.
When everything happened to my family, my focus was just take care of my children. That led me to believe I might not ever be able to coach again, and I was cool with that.
If I were to give advice to young people, high-achieving young people for example, Iβd have to say, donβt neglect your family. Politics is important, sitting at the head table is glamorous. Traveling around the world, trying to do something for world peace was wonderful. But family and friends and faith are what really matter in life. And I know that. I see it so clearly now.
Your child is never not your child. You can be 90 and your mother 120, but your mother is still worried about you.
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