Dr. Maya Angelou's advice and teachings have inspired people all over the world, including Oprah, who often cites one particular piece of Dr. Angelou's advice as one of her own favorites: "When people show you who they are, believe them." Yet this often-quoted mantra isn't what Dr. Angelou considers her own best piece of advice, she recently revealed.
On part two of Dr. Angelou's appearance on "Super Soul Sunday," the poet and literary icon reflects on the advice she's given throughout her 85 years and shares with Oprah what she considers to be her best piece of advice above all the rest.
After a few moments of quiet consideration, Dr. Angelou tells Oprah: "The best advice I've ever given -- I hope -- is that which I gave to my son when he was growing up. He said, 'I don't have any friends. How can I get some friends?'... I told him two things. I told him, 'In order to get a friend, you have to be a friend...' And also I told him, 'There's a place in you that you must keep inviolate. You must keep it pristine, clean, so that nobody has the right to curse you or treat you badly. Nobody. No mother, father, no wife, no husband, nobody.'"
Advising her son to protect himself like this was important to Dr. Angelou not just for emotional reasons, but spiritual ones as well. "That [pristine place] may be the place where you go to when you meet God," she remembers telling Guy. "You have to have a place where you say, 'Stop it. Back up...' Because that place [within yourself] has to remain clean and clear."
"That is the best advice," Oprah agrees. "Nothing tops having the place inside yourself that nobody else has the right to invade."
In the video, Dr. Angelou also shares with Oprah the best piece of advice she has ever received, revealing how this advice also helps her protect herself, reiterating how important it is to take care of yourself.
"Super Soul Sunday" airs Sunday at 11 a.m. ET on OWN.
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