Quotes by Helen Keller
A child must feel the flush of victory
and the heart-sinking of disappointment
before he takes with a will to the tasks
distasteful to him and resolves to dance
his way through a dull routine of textbooks.
As selfishness and complaint pervert and cloud the mind,
so love with its joy clears and sharpens the vision.
As the eagle was killed by the arrow
winged with his own feather,
so the hand of the world
is wounded by its own skill.
Be of good cheer.
Do not think of today's failures,
but of the success that may come tomorrow.
You have set yourself a difficult task,
but you will succeed if you persevere;
and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles.
Believe, when you are most unhappy,
that there is something for you to do in the world.
So long as you can sweeten another's pain,
life is not in vain.
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet.
Only through experience of trial and suffering
can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired,
and success achieved.
Children who hear acquire language
without any particular effort;
the words that fall from others' lips
they catch on the wing,
as it were, delightedly,
while the little deaf child must
trap them by a slow and often painful process.
But whatever the process,
the result is wonderful.
Gradually from naming an object
we advance step by step
until we have traversed the vast distance
between our first stammered syllable
and the sweep of thought
in a line of Shakespeare.
Everything has its wonders,
even darkness and silence,
and I learn, whatever state I may be in,
therein to be content.
Faith is the strength by which a shattered world
shall emerge into the light.
I am only one, but still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
but still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.
I can say with conviction that the struggle
which evil necessitates is one of the greatest blessings.
It makes us strong, patient, helpful men and women.
It lets us into the soul of things and teaches us
that although the world is full of suffering,
it is full also of the overcomings of it.
My optimism, then, does not rest on the absence of evil,
but on a glad belief in the preponderance of good
and a willing effort always to cooperate with the good,
that it may prevail.
I can see, and that is why I can be happy,
in what you call the dark,
but which to me is golden.
I can see a God-made world,
not a manmade world.
I long to accomplish
great and noble tasks,
but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks
as though they were great and noble.
The world is moved along,
not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes,
but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes
of each honest worker.
It gives me a deep comforting sense that
'things seen are temporal and things unseen are eternal.'
It is a terrible thing to see and have no vision.
It is for us to pray not for tasks equal to our powers,
but for powers equal to our tasks,
to go forward with a great desire
forever beating at the door of our hearts
as we travel toward our distant goal.
It is wonderful how much time
good people spend fighting the devil.
If they would only expend the
same amount of energy loving their fellow men,
the devil would die in his own tracks of ennui.
It's wonderful to climb the liquid mountains of the sky.
Behind me and before me is God and I have no fears.
Knowledge is love and light and vision.
''Knowledge is power.'' Rather, knowledge is happiness,
because to have knowledge -- broad, deep knowledge --
is to know true ends from false, and lofty things from low.
To know the thoughts and deeds that have
marked man's progress is to feel the
great heartthrobs of humanity through the centuries;
and if one does not feel in these pulsations
a heavenward striving, one must indeed be deaf
to the harmonies of life.
Life is a succession of lessons
which must be lived to be understood.
Life is an exciting business,
and most exciting when it is lived for others.
Literature is my Utopia.
Here I am not disfranchised.
No barrier of the senses shuts me out
from the sweet, gracious discourse of my book-friends.
They talk to me without embarrassment or awkwardness.
Love is like a beautiful flower
which I may not touch,
but whose fragrance makes the garden
a place of delight just the same.
Many persons have a wrong idea
of what constitutes true happiness.
It is not attained through self-gratification
but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
Museums and art stores are also sources
of pleasure and inspiration.
Doubtless it will seem strange to many
that the hand unaided by sight can feel action,
sentiment, beauty in the cold marble;
and yet it is true that I derive genuine pleasure
from touching great works of art.
As my finger tips trace line and curve,
they discover the thought and emotion
which the artist has portrayed.
My share of the work may be limited,
but the fact that it is work makes it precious.
Never bend your head.
Always hold it high.
Look the world right in the eye.
No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars,
or sailed to an uncharted land,
or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.
Of all the senses,
sight must be the most delightful.
Once I knew only darkness and stillness...
my life was without past or future...
but a little word from the fingers of another
fell into my hand that clutched at emptiness,
and my heart leaped to the rapture of living.
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement.
Nothing can be done without hope or confidence.
Relationships are like Rome.
Difficult to start out,
incredible during the prosperity of the 'Golden Age',
and unbearable during the fall.
Then, a new kingdom will come along
and the whole process will repeat itself
until you come across a kingdom like Egypt...
that thrives, and continues to flourish.
This kingdom will become
your best friend, your soulmate, and your love.
Security is mostly a superstition.
It does not exist in nature.
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.
Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it,
we can never do anything good in the world.
The best and most beautiful things
in the world cannot be seen or even touched.
They must be felt within the heart.
The highest result of education is tolerance.
The marvelous richness of human experience
would lose something of rewarding joy
if there were no limitations to overcome.
The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful
if there were no dark valleys to traverse.
The world is moved along not only by
the mighty shoves of its heroes,
but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes
of each honest worker.
There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors,
and no slave who has not had a king among his.
To keep our faces toward change,
and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate,
is strength undefeatable.
To me a lush carpet of pine needles
or spongy grass is more welcome
than the most luxurious Persian rug.
To think clearly without hurry or confusion;
To love everybody sincerely;
To act in everything with the highest motives;
To trust God unhesitatingly.
Toleration is the greatest gift of the mind;
it requires the same effort of the brain
that it takes to balance oneself on a bicycle.
Unless we form the habit of going
to the Bible in bright moments
as well as in trouble,
we cannot fully respond to its consolations
because we lack equilibrium
between light and darkness.
We could never learn to be brave and patient
if there were only joy in the world.
When one door closes, another opens.
But we often look so regretfully
upon the closed door that we don't see
the one that has opened for us.
When we do the best we can,
we never know what miracle is wrought in our life,
or in the life of another.
Your success and happiness lies in you.
Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you
shall form an invincible host against difficulties.
song playing....What a Wonderful World