Helen Keller was born to a large affluent family in Tuscumbia, Alabama, in 1880 and lived with her parents and four siblings on their historic homestead, Ivy Green, which has since been converted into a museum. At 19 months old, Helen was struck with an illness that left her deaf and blind. She was initially able to communicate only with the young daughter of the family’s cook using signs, and within the next few years, she discovered more than 60 home signs she used to communicate with her family. She could even determine who was approaching by distinguishing between the vibrations of people’s footsteps.
Set out to provide a proper education for Helen, her mother sought the instruction of Anne Sullivan, a visually impaired woman herself, to teach her daughter to communicate. Though the process was slow and frustrating for young Helen, she eventually became determined to learn the name of every item in this world that had previously escaped her. A whole new world had opened up for her, and though she had remained isolated for the initial years of her life, she maintained her connection to the beauty offered by music and books. At age 24, Helen became the first deaf-blind person to earn a bachelor of arts degree.
Helen’s pursuit of goodness and greatness was unfaltering, and over the years, she learned to communicate using the spoken word by observing and imitating the mouth movements of others. She went on to write numerous books, autobiographical and other, as well as give lectures and speeches on her life and overcoming seemingly impossible difficulties. She was a suffragist, an advocate for people with disabilities, a political activist, and a profoundly powerful woman. Her words have been the result of a long and strenuous but ultimately victorious battle that reminds us that we should always have hope and always keep fighting!
1. On Dessert
“Life is short and unpredictable. Eat the dessert first.”
2. On Optimism
“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope.”
3. On Love
“You cannot touch love but you can feel the sweetness it pours into everything.”
4. On Pessimism
“No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.”
5. On the importance of sunlight
“When all you can feel are the shadows, turn your face towards the sun.”
6. On each day
“Each day comes to me with both hands full of possibilities.”
7. On the most important lessons in life
“Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them; but do not let them master you. Let them teach you patience, sweetness, insight.”
8. On impulses
“One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.”
9. On vision
“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.”
10. On happiness
“I take happiness very seriously. It is a creed, a philosophy and an objective.”
11. On developing character
“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.”
12. On suffering
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.”
13. On learning
“We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.”
14. On faith
“Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.”
15. On the importance of tiny pushes
“The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes of each honest worker.”
16. On the power of love
“What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.”
17. On work
“My share of the work may be limited, but the fact that it is work makes it precious.”
18. On accomplishments
“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.”
19. On what’s out there
“What I am looking for is not out there, it is in me.”
20. On Life
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.”
21. On being content
“Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.”
22. On holding your gaze
“Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.”
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