Quote of the Day, April 20 -- Maya Angelou, born Marguerite Johnson in St Louis in 1928, became one of the most influential literary and moral voices of the modern era. Her official biography describes a career spanning poetry, memoir, teaching, performance, filmmaking and civil rights activism.

According to Britannica, her 1969 memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, brought her international recognition and helped establish her as a major public thinker and writer. What gave Angelou unusual authority was not just range, but coherence: her work consistently joined dignity, courage, self-respect and practical wisdom.

"What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think a...