Rainbow in the Cloud: The Wisdom and Spirit of Maya Angelou

By Maya Angelou

“Words mean more than what is set down on paper,” Maya Angelou wrote in her groundbreaking memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Indeed, Angelou’s words have traveled the world and transformed lives—inspiring, strengthening, healing. Through a long and prolific career in letters, she became one of the most celebrated voices of our time.
 
Now, in this collection of sage advice, humorous quips, and pointed observations culled from the author’s great works, including The Heart of a Woman, On the Pulse of Morning, Gather Together in My Name, and Letter to My Daughter, Maya Angelou’s spirit endures. Rainbow in the Cloud offers resonant and rewarding quotes on such topics as creativity and culture, family and community, equality and race, values and spirituality, parenting and relationships. Perhaps most special, Maya Angelou’s only son, Guy Johnson, has contributed some of his mother’s most powerful sayings, shared directly with him and the members of their family.
 
A treasured keepsake as well as a beautiful tribute to a woman who touched so many, Rainbow in the Cloud reminds us that “If one has courage, nothing can dim the light which shines from within.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Oct 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9780812996463

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou was one of the world's most important writers and activists. Born 4 April 1928, she lived and chronicled an extraordinary life: rising from poverty, violence and racism, she became a renowned author, memoirist, poet, playwright, civil rights' activist - working with Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. She wrote and performed a poem, 'On the Pulse of Morning', for President Clinton on his inauguration. She was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama and was honoured by more than seventy universities throughout the world. She first thrilled the world with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969). This was followed by six volumes of autobiography, the seventh and final volume, Mom & Me & Mom, published in 2013. She wrote three collections of essays; many volumes of poetry, including His Day is Done, a tribute to Nelson Mandela; and two cookbooks. She had a lifetime appointment as Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University of North Carolina. She died in 2014.

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Copyright © 2014 by Caged Bird Legacy, LLC

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

RANDOM HOUSE and the HOUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Angelou, Maya.

[Works. Selections]

Rainbow in the Cloud.

pages    cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 9780812996456

Ebook ISBN 9780812996463

1. Angelou, Maya—Quotations. 2. Quotations, American. I. Title.

PS3551.N464A6 2014

818′.5409—dc23 2014029691

randomhousebooks.com

Cover design by Victoria Allen

rh_3.1_148356931_c0_r2

"When it looked like the sun

wouldn’t shine anymore

God put a rainbow in the clouds."

—CHRISTIAN SPIRITUAL

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Epigraph

Childhood & Parenthood

Black Identity

America

Community & Culture

Love & Relationships

Art & Literature

Spirituality

Grace

Courage

Emotions

Self-Esteem

Living

Womanhood

Dedication

WORKS CITED

PHOTOGRAPH PERMISSIONS

Other Books by This Author

About the Author

_148356931_

CHILDHOOD & PARENTHOOD

A child’s talent to endure stems from her ignorance of alternatives.

Everything of value takes work, particularly relationships. If a mother and daughter don’t understand each other, and further don’t have sympathy for each other’s lack of understanding then the task is to build a bridge across the chasm of misunderstanding.

Home is the nest where children are raised and the place where they are the most important inhabitants. In homes in which this is not true, the parents are not making the sacrifices which are necessary.

I believe that one can never leave home. I believe that one carries the shadows, the dreams, the fears and dragons of home under one’s skin, at the extreme corners of one’s eyes, and possibly in the gristle of the earlobe.

I love my son and I loved him when he was growing up, but I was not in love with him which means that I did not dote and I was willing to make the hard decisions. One should never let the love of one’s child prevent or hinder the vital and necessary work of parenting.

If our children are to approve of themselves, they must see that we approve of ourselves.

Independence is a heady