7. “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” – Letter to My Daughter, a book of essays (2009)
8. “I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.”
– Interview with Oprah for Angelou’s 70th birthday (2000)
9. “We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”
– The Art of Fiction No. 119, the Paris Review
10. “You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot – it’s all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive.” – Interview from the April 2011 edition of O, the Oprah Magazine (2011)