Who really said it

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude

Q: Did Maya Angelou say "If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude"?

Not confirmed. Widely credited to Maya Angelou and genuinely rooted in her writing: her 1993 essay collection 'Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now' contains "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 about it." The crisp popular wording — with 'change your attitude' — is a paraphrase, not a sentence found verbatim in any primary source.

Attributed to Maya Angelou 1928–2014 · American memoirist, poet & civil-rights voice

Attributed In copyright

Widely credited to Maya Angelou and genuinely rooted in her writing: her 1993 essay collection ‘Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now’ contains “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 about it.” The crisp popular wording — with ‘change your attitude’ — is a paraphrase, not a sentence found verbatim in any primary source.

Last verified 7 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Unconfirmed quote & credit

“If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude” commonly credited to Maya Angelou; a paraphrase of a line from her 1993 book "Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now" ("...change the way you think about it. Don't complain.").

Can you use it?

Still under copyright (rights held by Maya Angelou estate / Random House). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.

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In context

Evoking the world of Maya Angelou — American memoirist, poet & civil-rights activist. Theme: "If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

Where it really comes from

Popular wording: “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
Closest source: Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now
Published: 1993
Author: Maya Angelou (1928–2014)

So you watch yourself about complaining, Sister. 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 about it. Don’t complain. ↑ the popular version compresses this and swaps ‘change the way you think about it’ for ‘change your attitude’

In the book the counsel appears in a passage about resisting the habit of complaint; the crisp motivational-poster form circulating online is a later paraphrase of these lines.

Maya Angelou on Wikiquote

The paper trail

The verbatim passage — “change the way you think about it” — is documented from ‘Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now’ (1993) on Goodreads ↗.
The paraphrased popular form (“change your attitude”) circulates as an Angelou quotation with no source cited — see the community-added entry on Goodreads ↗.
Angelou returned to the same idea in ‘Letter to My Daughter’ (2009): “If you cannot make a change, change the way you have been thinking,” as catalogued on Wikiquote ↗.

In copyright

The underlying text is from a 1993 copyrighted work by Maya Angelou (Random House) and is not in the public domain; quote briefly with attribution.

Fact-check

The wording problem

This is not a case of the wrong author — the thought is authentically Angelou’s. The catch is the wording: the polished poster version is a paraphrase that drifted from what she actually wrote.

“…change your attitude” paraphrase

Angelou’s 1993 book reads “change the way you think about it,” not “change your attitude,” and the compressed one-liner appears in quote databases with no source cited — see the unsourced community entry on Goodreads ↗ versus the sourced book wording here ↗.

Bottom line: the sentiment is genuinely Maya Angelou’s, from ‘Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now’ (1993) ↗ — but the crisp “change your attitude” form is a paraphrase, not her verbatim line.

Context

Why it resonates

In Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now (1993), Angelou frames the line as hard-won counsel against the corrosive habit of complaint: “So you watch yourself about complaining, Sister. 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 about it. Don’t complain.”

Stripped to a two-clause maxim and given the punchier “change your attitude,” it became one of Angelou’s most-shared motivational lines — which is exactly how the paraphrase hardened into ‘the quote.’

Change it — or change the way you think about it. Don’t complain.

On the ‘attributed’ call

Because a real, published Angelou passage plainly underlies the line, this is not a misattribution to the wrong person — it is genuinely hers in substance. It is filed as attributed rather than verified only because the specific words people quote (“change your attitude”) are a paraphrase that does not appear verbatim in any primary source.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Change Resilience Wisdom

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Book passage (1993) on Goodreadsgoodreads.com

The verbatim line — “change the way you think about it” — sourced to ‘Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now’.

Full passage from the bookgoodreads.com

The complete “So you watch yourself about complaining, Sister…” passage in context.

The compressed “change your attitude” wording, community-added and unsourced.

Maya Angelou — Wikiquotewikiquote.org

Sourced Angelou quotations, including the related 2009 ‘Letter to My Daughter’ wording.

Essay reproducing the book quotemedium.com

Reproduces the passage and attributes it to the 1993 book.

The true source

About Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou

1928–2014 · American memoirist, poet & civil-rights activist

Maya Angelou (born Marguerite Annie Johnson, 1928–2014) was an American memoirist, poet, and civil-rights activist, best known for her landmark 1969 autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Her 1993 essay collection Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now gathered aphoristic reflections on courage, faith, and living well — among them the counsel against complaining that this quote paraphrases. Angelou’s fame has also made her one of the most misquoted authors online, which makes separating her real words from smoothed paraphrases worthwhile.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source — Chicago

Maya Angelou, Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now (New York: Random House, 1993). The circulating “change your attitude” wording is a later paraphrase of this text.

MLA (9th ed.)

Angelou, Maya. Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now. Random House, 1993.

APA (7th ed.)

Angelou, M. (1993). Wouldn’t take nothing for my journey now. Random House.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude’?” Last verified 7 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/if-you-dont-like-something-change-it-if-you-cant-change-it