Iyanla Vanzant

Iyanla Vanzant

American inspirational speaker, life coach, and Yoruba priestess (an iyalawo of the Ifá tradition), one of the most influential African-American spiritual voices of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Born in 1953 in a Brooklyn taxi cab and surviving a childhood marked by abuse and early motherhood, she went on to become a public defender, an inner-city minister, an Oprah Winfrey Show favorite, and the host of OWN's Iyanla: Fix My Life. Her books — Acts of Faith, In the Meantime, Yesterday, I Cried, One Day My Soul Just Opened Up — have sold millions of copies and are particularly beloved in the African-American spiritual tradition for their unflinching honesty about generational trauma, self-love, and the work of healing.

100

quotes in library

Quotes by Iyanla Vanzant

100 quotes
“Go inside. Everything you need is already there.”
interiorOne Day My Soul Just Opened Up
“You cannot give what you do not have. Give to yourself first.”
givingActs of Faith
“Don't ask why. Ask what next.”
forwardIn the Meantime
“Your soul does not know rejection. Your soul knows love.”
soulOne Day My Soul Just Opened Up
“Stop arguing for your limitations.”
limitationsIn the Meantime
“Crying does not make you weak. Pretending does.”
tearsYesterday I Cried
“Your worth is not up for negotiation.”
worthActs of Faith
“Stop expecting others to give you what only you can give yourself.”
self-sourceIn the Meantime
“The work is not glamorous. The work is consistent.”
workPeace from Broken Pieces
“Spirit always knows the way. Stop asking the mind.”
spiritOne Day My Soul Just Opened Up
“Your trauma is not your destiny.”
destinyYesterday I Cried
“You are allowed to outgrow people, places, and things.”
outgrowingIn the Meantime
“Sister, the only way out is through. Walk through.”
wayYesterday I Cried
“Pain does not last forever, even when it feels like it will.”
painYesterday I Cried
“You are the medicine your ancestors prayed for.”
ancestorsPeace from Broken Pieces
“Joy is not a luxury. Joy is your birthright.”
joyActs of Faith
“You don't have to know how. You only have to know yes.”
yesIn the Meantime
“Love yourself even when you are not at your best. Especially then.”
self-loveIn the Meantime
“Whatever wants to leave, let it go. Whatever wants to stay, welcome it.”
flowIn the Meantime
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