Quotes by Helen Keller
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We the living, should not think of the dead as lonely because if they could speak to us, they would say: Do not weep for me, earth was not my true country, I was an alien there: I am at Home where everyone comes.

I can see in what you call the dark, but which to me is golden.

If it is true that the violin is the most perfect of musical instruments, then Greek is the violin of human thought.

To keep our faces toward chance and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.

The country is governed for the richest, for the corporations, the bankers, the land speculators, and for the exploiters of labor.

Toleration is the greatest gift of the mind.

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long in disappointment and bitterness at the closed door that we do not expectantly look for and therefore see with pleasure and gratitude the one which has been opened for us.

I will eat grandfather for dinner.

Doubts and mistrust are the mere panic of timid imagination, which the steadfast heart will conquer, and the large mind transcend.

The highest thinkers of the ages, the seers of the tribes and the nations, have been optimists.

Death is no more than passing from one room into another.

The highest result of education is tolerance. Long ago men fought and died for their faith; but it took ages to teach them the other kind of courage, -- the courage to recognize the faiths of their brethren and their rights of conscience.

The only real blind person at Christmas time is he who has not Christmas in his heart.

It is with a kind of fear that I begin to write the history of my life.

The fearful are caught as often as the bold.

There are moments when I feel that the Shylocks, the Judases, and even the Devil are broken spokes in the great wheel of good which shall in due time be mad whole.

On Power:
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.

You cannot touch the clouds, you know; but you feel the rain and know how glad the flowers and the thirsty earth are to have it after a hot day. You cannot touch love either; but you feel the sweetness that it pours into everything. Without love you would not be happy or want to play.

The richness of the human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome.

One cannot consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.

There is one universal religion, Helen--the religion of love. Love your Heavenly Father with your whole heart and soul, love every child of God as much as ever you can, and remember that the possibilities of good are greater than the possibilities of evil; and you have the key to Heaven.

The mind is as big as the universe.

Happiness cannot come from without. It must come from within. It is not what we see and touch or that which others do for us which makes us happy; it is that which we think and feel and do, first for the other fellow and then for ourselves.

Be happy with what you have while working for what you want.

Is it not true, then, that my life with all its limitations touches at many points the life of the World Beautiful? Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.

Believe. No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted island, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.

In a word, literature is my utopia.

Look the world straight in the eye.

You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere, and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost. What I am looking for is not out there, it is in me.

For one wild, glad moment we snapped the chain that binds us to earth, and joining hands with the winds we felt ourselves divine.

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.

I am conscious of a soul-sense that lifts me above the narrow, cramping circumstances of my life. My physical limitations are forgotten- my world lies upward, the length and the breadth and the sweep of the heavens are mine!

I rejoice to live in such a splendidly disturbing time!

Cut off as I am, it is inevitable that I should sometimes feel like a shadow walking in a shadowy world. When this happens I ask to be taken to New York City. Always I return home weary but I have the comforting certainty that mankind is real flesh and I myself am not a dream.

As selfishness and complaint pervert and cloud the mind, so sex with its joy clears and sharpens the vision.

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.

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.

Do not think of todays failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow.

Blindness separates people from things;
deafness separates people from people.

I wonder what becomes of lost opportunities? Perhaps our guardian angel gathers them up as we drop them, and will give them back to us in the beautiful sometime when we have grown wiser, and learned how to use them rightly.

One painful duty fulfilled makes the next plainer and easier.

Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into light.

We bereaved are not alone. We belong to the largest company in all the world -- the company of those who have known suffering.

Literature is my Utopia.

Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all -- the apathy of human beings.

Worse than being blind would be to be able to see but not have any vision.

I learned that it is possible for us to create light, sound and order within us no matter what calamity befall us in the outer world.

Some people are foolish enough to imagine that wealth and power and fame satisfy our hearts: but they never do, unless they are used to create and distribute happiness in the world.

What is worse than having no sight is being able to see but having no vision.

Our beloved ones have not 'gone to a far country.' It is only the veil of sense that separates them from us, and even that veil grows thin when our thoughts reach out to them.

The bulk of the world's knowledge is an imaginary construction.

Gullibility is the key to all adventures. The greenhorn is the ultimate victor in everything; it is he who gets the most out of life.

The mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that 'W-A-T-E-R' meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, joy, set it free.

There is plenty of courage among us for the abstract, but not for the concrete.

History is a record of the incessant struggle of humanity against ignorance and oppression.

One should never count the years -- one should instead count one's interests. I have kept young trying never to lose my childhood sense of wonderment. I'm glad I still have a vivid curiosity about the world I live in.

If we believe that the sun and moon hang in the sky for our delight, there will be joy upon the hills and gladness in the fields.

Be happy, talk happiness. Happiness calls out responsive gladness in others. There is enough sadness in the world without yours.

To be blind is bad, but worse is to have eyes and not see.

Friends create the world anew each day.Without their loving care, courage would not suffice to keep hearts strong for life.

All truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident. Facts are stubborn, and refusal to accept them does not avoid their inexorable effects-the tragic consequences are now upon us.

The power of effecting changes for the better is within ourselves, not in the favorableness of circumstances.

Education should train the child to use his brains, to make for himself a place in the world and maintain his rights even when it seems that society would shove him into the scrap-heap.

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.

Once I knew the depth where no hope was and darkness lay on the face of all things. Then love came and set my soul free.

For three things I thank God every day of my life: thanks that he has vouchsafed me knowledge of his works; deep thanks that he has set in my darkness the lamp of faith; deep, deepest thanks that I have another life to look forward to -- a life joyous with light and flowers and heavenly song.

If I write what my soul thinks it will be visible, and the words will be its body.

Defeat is simply a signal to press onward.

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet.

Great poetry needs no interpreter other than a responsive heart.

Even more amazing than the wonders of Nature are the powers of the spirit.

When all you can feel are the shadows, turn your face towards the sun. There is always a bright side -- even if only that it is not worse...and it can always be worse.

The heart of a friend gives out sufficient light for us in the dark to rise by.

We betray ourselves into smallness when we think the little choices of each day are trivial.

He who is content with what has been done is an obstacle in the path of progress.

The living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free!

Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them; but do not let them master you. Let them teach you patience, sweetness, insight.

The things you do today that you don't have to do will determine who, what, and where you will be when it is too late to do anything about the things you should have done.

God doesn't promise security from life's storms but security in life's storms. God doesn't always call the equipped, but he will always equip the called. In the long run, avoiding danger is no safer than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.

The most beautiful world is always entered through imagination.

When I recollect the treasure of friendship that has been bestowed upon me I withdraw all charges against life. If much has been denied me, much, very much has been given. So long as the memory of certain beloved friends lives in my heart I shall say that life is good.

So much has been given me I have no time to ponder over that which has been denied.

Even if you have a problem, you don't need to be one.