While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and e... — Maya Angelou

While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are also God's creation.

Author: Maya Angelou

Insight: Recognizing your own worth shouldn't make you arrogant—it's actually the only foundation for treating others well. When you stop seeing yourself as less-than, you stop secretly resenting those around you, which frees you to genuinely respect them. Real equality starts inside.

Source: Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now, 1993

/Quotes

While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are also God's creation.

Maya AngelouWouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now, 1993

Everyone else is also God's creation

This quote cuts right to the heart of why we struggle with how we treat each other. It's easy to feel special, chosen, or at least more deserving than the person cutting us off in traffic or asking us for help. But Angelou's point is quietly radical: if you really believe you're made in God's image, then so is everyone else—the difficult coworker, the stranger, the person you disagree with. There's no hierarchy here.

What makes this challenging today is that we live in a world designed to make us forget this. Social media lets us reduce people to their worst moments. We sort ourselves into groups where everyone thinks the same way. We develop elaborate justifications for why some people matter more than others. But Angelou is saying that recognition—actually remembering that others are also God's creation—isn't just nice theology. It's an obligation. It changes how you listen, how you judge, how you decide what someone deserves.

The slightly harder truth buried in this is that this obligation doesn't come with conditions. You don't get to believe it about people you like and forget it about people you don't. That consistency is what makes it real rather than just something pleasant to say.

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Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou was an American poet, author, and civil rights activist. She is best known for her memoir "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," which captures her experiences of racism, trauma, and personal growth. Angelou's powerful and poetic writing continues to inspire and resonate with readers around the world.

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