Misattribution & misquote notes:

In 2015, Anglund’s verse was famously misattributed and placed on a U.S. postage stamp honoring the author Maya Angelou. The stamp quote was also a misquote – it substituted Anglund’s original pronoun ‘he’ with ‘it’:

Anglund’s original words:

“A bird doesn’t sing because he has an answer. He sings because he has a song.”

Misquote & misattribution to Maya Angelou:

“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.“

For more on the stamp misattribution, please see:

• ‘Maya Angelou and the Internet’s Stamp of Approval’ (10 April 2015) Ian Crouch, The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/maya-angelou-and-the-internets-stamp-of-approval
• ‘Book author Joan Walsh Anglund says of Angelou stamp: ‘That’s my quote’’ (6 April 2015) Lonnae O’Neal, The Washington Post – Story includes Anglund’s gracious response to the misattribution: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/book-author-joan-walsh-anglund-claims-angelou-quote-on-stamp/2015/04/06/62d31934-dcc8-11e4-acfe-cd057abefa9a_story.html

Extended excerpt [Poetry. Full excerpt cited: the lines are featured on a single page without additional context.]:

“A bird doesn’t sing because he has an answer. He sings because he has a song.”

Source: Editor’s copy – A Cup in the Sun (1967) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-15-123390-X

Extended excerpt [Poem – Cited prose is the only text on the page. Structure as shown in original source.]:

“Thoughts,

rest your wings.

Here is

a hollow of silence,

a nest of stillness

in which to hatch your dreams.” (p. 23)

Source: Editor’s copy – A Cup in the Sun (1967) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-15-123390-X