"Still I Rise"

My favorite part of Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise" poem:

"You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise."
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When you have have been lambasted and left to wither, when you know you've really tried, you are sentient and content, while they are out there, like supercilious kites in the wind, soaring, dipping and rising up with the currents of unremorseful illusions, oblivious to the moment when the winds of destiny shift, and heavy with the penalties of their own arrogant making, they crash mightily to the ground of consequence. - mj

"If you can't be yourself with someone, you will walk in the shadow of that person."
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"Strong and bitter words indicate a weak cause." ~ Victor Hugo

"How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these." - George Washington Carver