If I am not good to myself, how can I expect anyone else to be good to me?
Maya AngelouRead
People have to feel needed. Frequently, we just offer a job and 'perks.' We don't always offer people a purpose. When people feel there is a purpose and that they're needed, there's not much else to do except let them do the work.
Interpretation
What this quote means
People are motivated by a sense of purpose rather than just job benefits.
In this quote, Maya Angelou emphasizes the importance of instilling a sense of purpose in people's work. While job perks are often highlighted, it is the deeper need for individuals to feel valued and integral to their work that truly inspires productivity and satisfaction. When people recognize their contribution as meaningful, they are more inclined to engage wholeheartedly in their responsibilities.
Themes
PurposeMotivationWorkValueContribution
In practice
Example use cases
During a team meeting to boost morale, you could use this quote to highlight the importance of meaningful work.
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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Looking at faces of people, one gets the feeling there's a lot of work to be done.
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