Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

No documented Angelou source was found. Searches for “breaths we take” and “moments that take” in the checked Maya Angelou Wikiquote page and Talk page, the Academy of Achievement composite interview, Bill Moyers’s 1982/1983 Creativity transcript, and the checked interviews by Fenner, Kansky and Limnios did not locate this sentence; these are a limited sample, not a search of all her copyrighted books. Phil Bolsta’s research notes identify Vicki Corona’s Tahitian Choreographies (1989), p. 36, as the earliest printing he found. Quote Investigator credits Bolsta with uncovering this citation, supplies a Google Books bibliographic reference, and gives a dated history. The booklet itself was not inspected here. Bolsta reports speaking with Corona on 17 April 2012 and receiving an email in which she allowed that she might have heard the wording before; he therefore labels the author Unknown. Quote Investigator calls Corona the leading contender rather than a certain originator. Its note 11 dates Doreen Guarino’s Journal Inquirer article to 11 December 2008; that is consistent with the narrative’s statement that the saying had been credited to Angelou by 2009. The first Angelou attribution and the ultimate coiner remain unconfirmed. Apocryphal is used rather than a definite reassignment to Corona.

1. 1989Earliest found · credited to Vicki Corona (book author; originator uncertain)Vicki Corona’s Tahitian dance booklet contains the wording, according to Bolsta and Quote Investigator; this is the earliest printing they located, not proof of first composition.Vicki Corona, Tahitian Choreographies, vol. 11, book 18 (Dance Fantasy Productions, 1989), p. 36. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source
2. 11 December 2008Credited to Maya AngelouA Journal Inquirer report dated 11 December 2008 describes the sentence displayed in a café with a credit to Maya Angelou, according to Quote Investigator; this establishes an attribution by that date, not the first attribution.Doreen Guarino, “A dream come true,” Journal Inquirer (Manchester, Connecticut), Living section, 11 December 2008, as cited by Quote Investigator. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source
3. 10 May 2012Spread · credited to UnknownPhil Bolsta publishes quotation-source notes listing the saying as Unknown, cites Corona’s booklet, and reports his conversation with her and her uncertainty about authorship.Phil Bolsta, “Through God’s Eyes”—Sources of Quotes, Triumph of the Spirit, posted 10 May 2012. Checked in a full-text transcription. Source

This motivational sentence circulates as Maya Angelou’s, but the earliest printing identified by Phil Bolsta and Quote Investigator is in a Tahitian dance booklet by Vicki Corona. Bolsta asked Corona about it in 2012; she thought it might be hers, while acknowledging that she could have encountered the wording elsewhere. No primary Angelou source was established in this research.

A life’s value lies in its memorable, intense experiences rather than its sheer duration.

Do not credit this sentence to Maya Angelou. Vicki Corona is the earliest located print source, not an established sole originator.

Life, Emotions, Time, Wisdom, Meaning of life

• A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. (misattributed)
• What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. (misattributed) Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Do not try to find the past again in the future. André Gide
• Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for. Epicurus
• The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. (not found) Mark Twain

• quoteinvestigator.com/2013/12/17/breaths
• bolstablog.wordpress.com/2012/05/10/ge-quote-sources

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” Attributed to Maya Angelou. No. No primary Maya Angelou source is established. The earliest printing traced by researchers is Vicki Corona’s 1989 dance booklet, but Corona herself was unsure whether she originated the wording. Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/life-is-not-measured-by-the-number-of-breaths-we-take/ (checked 29 October 2026).

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