What Kind of Woman Are You? One of My Favorite Maya Angelou Quotes

I love quotes that are are assigned to unknown authors. We never know where they came from or the kind of person who wrote them.

Sometimes quotes are so intensely personal and wonderfully life-affirming that they get passed from friend to friend and it doesn’t matter who spoke them.

For example, I love the quote, “I would like to be known as an intelligent woman, a courageous woman, a loving woman, a woman who teaches by being.” For many years, I didn’t know who said these words. In my mind, the quote was “anonymous.”

That said, I have always loved this quote and wondered what women in our community would think of it. I was curious whether you would nod at these adjectives and say “me too” or come up with your own words for how you would like to be remembered.

For me, this quote communicates the need that most women have to bring significance to the world.

After publishing this quote on our Sixty and Me Facebook page, I discovered, perhaps not surprisingly, that it was actually spoken by Maya Angelou, a woman whose words of inspiration have impacted the lives of so many women around the world.

Her words clearly communicate her life goals – and probably served on a daily basis as her north star. These words represented her values and stated how she wanted to be remembered. They beg the question – how do you want to be remembered?

As most women reach their 60s, they look back and see themes in their lives – decisions and choices that shaped who they became. To be honest, I think that we are all courageous women in our own ways. Do you agree?

What are the words that you would like people to use when describing you? Do you want to be remembered as a compassionate women, a kind woman, a sexy, passionate, quirky, talented or complex woman? Or do you want to be remembered as a great parent, wife, teacher, or friend? Please leave your comments below and we can paint a picture together of the women in our Sixty and Me community.