When you know better, you do better.
Genuine
Yes. In Michael Limnios, “Interview with Dr. Maya Angelou, a muse who captivates audiences through the sheer beauty of her words,” Blues.Gr, 1 June 2013.
Checked against Michael Limnios, “Interview with Dr. Maya Angelou, a muse who captivates audiences through the sheer beauty of her words,” Blues.Gr, 1 June 2013, in a full-text transcription.
- Where
- Answer about changing the world and people’s minds, interview published 1 June 2013
- Source
- Michael Limnios, “Interview with Dr. Maya Angelou, a muse who captivates audiences through the sheer beauty of her words,” Blues.Gr, 1 June 2013
- Checked
- In a full-text transcription
Researched by AI. Entry updated 29 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check
About this quote
The scene
Limnios asks how people can change the world and change other people’s minds. Angelou urges kindness rather than cruelty and says to keep telling the truth as one understands it, then ends with this sentence. The next exchange turns to the emotional truth communicated by blues and jazz.
What it means
As understanding improves, conduct should improve with it; learning is a reason to change how one acts.
Often misread
The short sentence is documented here, but that does not authenticate every longer motivational paragraph joined to it online. In this interview it closes a call for kindness and continuing to learn, not a promise that information automatically makes everyone behave well.
Topics
Related quotes
- When you learn, teach, when you get, give.
- Play long-term games with long-term people. (paraphrase) Naval Ravikant
- Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not. Dr. Seuss
- Stay hungry. Stay foolish. Steve Jobs
- And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. Steve Jobs
Cite it
Maya Angelou, Michael Limnios, “Interview with Dr. Maya Angelou, a muse who captivates audiences through the sheer beauty of her words,” Blues.Gr, 1 June 2013. Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/when-you-know-better-you-do-better/ (29 October 2026).
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Checked by people
People who checked this entry against its source, under their own names. Their checks do not change the verdict: an editor reviews every entry.
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