When someone shows you who they are, believe them. — Maya Angelou · Smartyfair

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When someone shows you who they are, believe them. — Maya Angelou · Smartyfair

When someone shows you who they are, believe them.

Maya Angelou1928–2014 · writer · 1900s-2000s USAMaya Angelou was an American poet and author best known for her memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.9 quotes

Source not found yetWisdom

In plain words

When somebody shows you what they are like, believe them the first time.

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Where these words come from

How sure this is: 58% sureLots of sources credit Maya Angelou with this, and they agree with each other. The book or the speech it first came from hasn't turned up yet.
What turned up: Credited to Angelou via Oprah Winfrey's 1997 Wellesley address (per Quote Investigator); no direct Angelou source found
Sources checked: quoteinvestigator.comChecked using claude-sonnet-5, 20 August 2026

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