Hatred is active, and envy passive dislike; there is but one step from envy to hate.Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
We are never further from what we wish than when we believe that we have what we wished for.Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
When younger writers and poets, musicians and painters are weakened by a stemming of funds, they come to me saddened, not as full of dreams and excitement and ideas. I am then weakened and diminished, and made less rich.Maya Angelou
Of course, there are those critics - New York critics as a rule - who say, 'Well, Maya Angelou has a new book out and of course it's good but then she's a natural writer.' Those are the ones I want to grab by the throat and wrestle to the floor because it takes me forever to get it to sing. I work at the language.Maya Angelou
I will not sit in a room with black people when the N word is used. I know it was meant to belittle a person, so I will not sit there and have that poison put on me. Now a black person can say, 'Oh, you know, I can use this word because I'm black.'Maya Angelou
Would that I were a dry well, and that the people tossed stones into me, for that would be easier than to be a spring of flowing water that the thirsty pass by, and from which they avoid drinking.Kahlil Gibran
What a book a devil's chaplain might write on the clumsy, wasteful, blundering, low, and horribly cruel work of nature!Charles Darwin