The Best Maya Angelou Quotes In 140 Characters

When Maya Angelou died this past May, even nonreaders mourned. After all, the 86-year-old Angelou was an acclaimed writer/actor/dancer/singer/activist/all around badass lady. She hung out with Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., knew Oprah pre-fame, and was the first poet since Robert Frost to read at a presidential inauguration. She was nominated for a Pulitzer. She was, and always will be, a total boss.

She also gave some pretty awesome life advice. I mean, you can’t live a life like she did and not learn a thing or two. So, I went searching for some of the best Maya Angelou quotes around. Sometimes you just need a little encouragement to get up in the morning, and she can be pretty damn motivational.

Even better, all of these quotes are Twitter-ready (I already did the teensy bit of editing you'll need to make 'em 140-character-friendly), so spread the love with all of your followers. Having a bad day? Having an amazing realization about life? Maya Angelou has a quote for that. So, let’s take a break from quoting Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn for a minute, and let Maya Angelou talk for us about life, love, and making it through the day.

When You’re Having a Bad Day

• “I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow”

• “What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it”

• “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it”

• “Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst, and unsurprised by anything in between”

• “You can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights”

When You Realize that Life is an Amazing Adventure

• “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style”

• “Surviving is important. Thriving is elegant”

• “Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art”

• “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it”

• “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently”

When You Want To Spread Some Love

• “My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return”

• “Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope”

When You’re Feeling Proud to be a Woman

• “I'm a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That's me”

When You Have a Serious Case of Writer’s Block

• “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you”

Images: Brice Ambrosiak, The Dolly Mama, Madeline.P, bianks, blue mountain thyme/Flickr