PR Daily published this list of memorable quotations by the recently deceased writer Maya Angelou:

1. "There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside of you."

2. "When I am writing, I am trying to find out who I am, who we are, what we're capable of, how we feel, how we lose and stand up, and go on from darkness into darkness. I'm trying for that. But I'm also trying for the language. I'm trying to see how it can really sound."

3. "Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness."

4. "The main thing in one's own private world is to try to laugh as much as you cry."

5. "All great artists draw from the same resource: the human heart, which tells us that we are all more alike than we are unalike."

6. "The best candy shop a child can be left alone in is the library."

7. "I make writing as much a part of my life as I do eating or listening to music."

8. "You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have."

9. "If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love."

10. "The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart."

In articles about her death, CNN called her a "legendary author" and Fox referred to her as a "renowned poet."

For a laugh, here's Tracy Morgan impersonating Maya Angelou on Saturday Night Live with Tina Fey.

Image source.

Discussion Starters:

• What can we learn from Maya Angelou for business writing?
• Which of her quotations-here or others-do you find most relevant to business writing?