Helen Adams Keller was an activist and an author from the United States of America; who is famous for being the first deaf and blind person in the world to have earned a Bachelors’ degree. Born in 1880, she was deaf and blind by birth and since she lived an isolated life; her understanding of language had not developed at all. However, all changed when she came under the tutelage of Anne Sullivan, her teacher, who introduced her to the English language and ensured that she could communicate. Keller was also an activist who, as a member of the Industrial Workers of the World, worked tirelessly for women’s rights, socialism and anti-militarism among others. Her life and times has also been immortalised in the Hollywood film The Miracle Worker which depicted her struggles with learning as a child and eventual triumph. She is without doubt one of the biggest icons in the history of the United States and indeed of the world; which is why it is not a surprise that her birthday on June the 27th is celebrated as ‘Helen Keller Day’ in Pennsylvania. Keller is an inspiration for millions of people all over the world and here are some select quotes which will give you a glimpse into her beautiful mind.
When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.
Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there's a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see.
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
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.
Four things to learn in life: To think clearly without hurry or confusion; To love everybody sincerely; To act in everything with the highest motives; To trust God unhesitatingly.
No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars or sailed an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.
Helen Keller
Literature is my Utopia. Here I am not disenfranchised. No barrier of the senses shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourses of my book friends. They talk to me without embarrassment or awkwardness.
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.
There is beauty in everything, even in silence and darkness.
Helen Keller
The only thing worse than being blind is having sight and no vision.
Helen Keller
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.
As selfishness and complaint pervert and cloud the mind, so sex with its joy clears and sharpens the vision.
Helen Keller
When one reads hurriedly and nervously, having in mind written tests and examinations, one's brain becomes encumbered with a lot of bric-a-brac for which there seems to be little use.
Helen Keller
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope.
There is joy in self-forgetfulness. So I try to make the light in others' eyes my sun, the music in others' ears my symphony, the smile on others' lips my happiness.
The infinite wonders of the universe are revealed to us in exact measure as we are capable of receiving them. The keenness of our vision depends not on how much we can see, but on how much we feel.
Helen Keller
I rejoice to live in such a splendidly disturbing time!
...our enjoyment of the great works of literature depends more upon the depth of our sympathy than upon our understanding.
Helen Keller
If the blind put their hands in God's, they find their way more surely than those who see but have not faith or purpose.
Helen Keller
It is so pleasant to learn about new things. Every day I find how little I know, but I do not feel discouraged since God has given me an eternity in which to learn more.
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.
Helen Keller
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure.
I seldom think about my limitations, and they never make me sad. Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times; but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers.
Many people know so little about what is beyond their short range of experience. They look within themselves - and find nothing! Therefore they conclude that there is nothing outside themselves either.
The struggle of life is one of our greatest blessings. It makes us patient, sensitive, and Godlike. It teaches us that although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.
Instead of comparing our lot with that of those who are more fortunate than we are, we should compare it with the lot of the great majority of our fellow men. It then appears that we are among the privileged.
Helen Keller
Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invicible host against difficulties.
