I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

The earliest known instance, found by Quote Investigator, is in Richard Evans’ Quote Book (Salt Lake City: Publishers Press, 1971), p. 244, col. 2, a collection by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir broadcaster Richard L. Evans, which gives ‘They may forget what you said — but they will never forget how you made them feel.’ and credits it to Carl W. Buehner, a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1898–1974); QI had the page verified with scans by the library of Brigham Young University. Whether Buehner coined it or passed on a saying he had heard is not known. The same words and ascription recur in Jeffrey P. Davidson’s Marketing Sourcebook for Small Business (1989, p. 21), The Rotarian (January 1996, p. 15) and the Rockford Register Star (1999); meanwhile other versions spread, mostly without a name: a communications course in Gettysburg (1990), a column that credited it to Don Aslett’s book on speechmaking Is There a Speech Inside You? (1993), a speaker in Owensboro, Kentucky (1995): ‘People will forget what you did,’ and ‘People will never forget how you made them feel.’, and the coda of a story about a cab ride in the Gaston Gazette, Gastonia, North Carolina (30 October 2000): ‘People may not remember exactly what you did, or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel.’ The link to Angelou appears in 2003, in a chain message that put several ‘I’ve learned that…’ sayings from H. Jackson Brown Jr.’s Live and Learn and Pass It On (1991) under her name, said to be written for her 70th birthday, and ended with this saying; a newspaper column printed it on 25 March 2003 (Carolina Morning News, Bluffton Bulletin section, Carolyn Bremer) and a Madison, Wisconsin paper in July 2003 (as a list from her 75 years). The full Goodreads wording is in a teachers’ book, The Arts Go To School (2004), p. 14, credited to Angelou. Quote Investigator concludes: ‘The attribution to Maya Angelou is unsupported at this time.’ Wikiquote lists it under her Misattributed quotes, noting that Bob Kelly’s Worth Repeating (2003), p. 263, gives it as hers. Searched here: Quote Investigator, Wikiquote (Maya Angelou, Misattributed), archive.org full-text search for the phrase among items credited to Angelou (only a recent upload of the meme as an image, no book of hers), and an attempt to search inside the 1971 Evans book on archive.org (a lending copy whose text could not be searched here), and the Goodreads quote page, which gives no source.

One of the most shared ‘Maya Angelou’ quotes: on Goodreads it is among the most liked quotes on the site, credited to her, and it is a staple of advice for teachers, speakers, managers and carers. No source in her books, poems, speeches or interviews has been produced for it. The saying was in print for more than thirty years before it was linked to her, first credited to Carl W. Buehner, a Latter-day Saint church official, and then passed around, often without a name, in courses, columns and speeches.

What you say and do fades from people’s memory; the feeling you left them with stays. So mind how you treat people, not only what you tell them.

Usually shared as the hard-won wisdom of Angelou’s own life, sometimes said to be from a list she wrote on her 70th or 75th birthday. That list was a chain message: several of its ‘I’ve learned that…’ lines come from H. Jackson Brown Jr.’s Live and Learn and Pass It On (1991), where they are credited to anonymous contributors identified only by age, and this saying was appended to them.

Not Angelou’s words as far as anyone has shown. If you use the saying, give it without her name, or as ‘credited to Carl W. Buehner (1971)’.

• The form on posters and social mediaI’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Goodreads quote page, credited to Maya Angelou, with no source; 89,928 likes when seen on 21 October 2026, among the most liked quotes on the site. Buehner’s two-part saying, recast in the ‘I’ve learned that…’ frame of the 2003 chain message, with the middle clause about what you did that already appears in the 1995 and 2000 versions. Where it was seen
• The form on posters and social mediaPeople will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel. The form listed on Wikiquote under Angelou’s Misattributed quotes, without the ‘I’ve learned that’ opening. Where it was seen
• A misquotationPeople will forget the things you do, and people will forget the things you say. But people will never forget how you made them feel. The Capital Times, Madison, Wisconsin, 22 July 2003, p. 4D, as part of a list Angelou supposedly issued of things she had learned in 75 years; quoted by Quote Investigator. Where it was seen
• A misquotationAt the end of the day people won’t remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel. Another form credited to Angelou, listed on Wikiquote’s Maya Angelou page (citing Quotepark) under her quotes. Where it was seen
• The form on posters and social mediaThey may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel. The earliest form (1971), as it still circulates under the names Carl W. Buehner, ‘Carl W. Buechner’ (The Quotable Manager, 2006) and ‘Carol Buchner’ (a blog, 2014); quoted by Quote Investigator. Where it was seen

Kindness, Emotions, Wisdom

• If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals. J. K. Rowling
• The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. (not found) Mahatma Gandhi
• Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike. J. K. Rowling
• The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them. (not found) Mark Twain
• That which is not good for the swarm, neither is it good for the bee. (paraphrase) Marcus Aurelius

• quoteinvestigator.com/2014/04/06/they-feel (Quote Investigator, ‘They May Forget What You Said, But They Will Never Forget How You Made Them Feel’, 6 April 2014, updated 24 January 2025)
• en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Maya_Angelou (Misattributed section)
• listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2014-April/131770.html (Garson O’Toole on the American Dialect Society mailing list, 6 April 2014: the 1971 citation, asking for earlier evidence)
• goodreads.com/quotes/5934-i-ve-learned-that-people-will-forget-what-you-said-people (credited to Maya Angelou, no source)

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Attributed to Maya Angelou. No. Carl W. Buehner wrote it, not Angelou. Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/people-will-never-forget-how-you-made-them-feel/ (checked 21 October 2026).

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