"If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities"
About this Quote
The phrase "a solitary fantasy" does sly work. "Solitary" suggests the private, even the unsanctioned: the dream you keep to yourself because it sounds naive, too big, or too dangerous. "Fantasy" risks being dismissed as escapism, yet Angelou reclaims it as a seed of agency. The subtext is that what gets labeled unrealistic is often the first draft of freedom, especially for people whose realities have been policed by racism, sexism, and poverty.
Then she detonates scale: "totally transform one million realities". The leap from one to a million is not math; it's rhetoric about contagion. A poem, a decision, a refusal, a story told plainly can ripple outward, multiplying through readers, children, movements, and institutions. "Totally" is the audacious note - not incremental reform, but a reconfiguration of what feels possible.
Context matters: Angelou's work is steeped in survival and witness. She understood how a private vision can be both shelter and weapon, how art turns interior life into public leverage. The line argues for imagination as a civic force: a lone dream, if timed with luck and carried with courage, can redraw the terms of reality for multitudes.
Quote Details
| Topic | Motivational |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Angelou, Maya. (n.d.). If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-one-is-lucky-a-solitary-fantasy-can-totally-26700/
Chicago Style
Angelou, Maya. "If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities." FixQuotes. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-one-is-lucky-a-solitary-fantasy-can-totally-26700/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-one-is-lucky-a-solitary-fantasy-can-totally-26700/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.





