India, Jan. 11 -- Today's quote of the day is by celebrated African-American poet, essayist and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou, taken from her iconic poem "Still I Rise." The first stanza of the poem includes the powerful lines: "You may write me down in history / With your bitter, twisted lies, / You may trod me in the very dirt / But still, like dust, I'll rise."

First published in her 1978 collection And Still I Rise, the poem quickly became a defining anthem of resilience, self-respect and defiance against oppression. Angelou wrote during a time when voices of Black artists were gaining momentum in literature and society, and the quote speaks both to her personal journey and the collective experience of marginalised communities ...