Inspirational Quotations by Helen Keller
- One can never consent to creep
when one feels the impulse to soar.
- The best and most beautiful things in the world
cannot be seen or even touched.
They must be felt with the heart.
- Life is either a great adventure or nothing.
- 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.
- Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet.
Only through the experience of trial and suffering
Can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared,
Ambition inspired, and success achieved.
- Although the world is full of suffering,
it is full also of the overcoming of it.
- The most pathetic person in the world is
someone who has sight but has no vision.
- Keep your face to the sunshine and you can never see the shadow.
- Happiness cannot come from without.
It must come from within.
- 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.
- Love is like a beautiful flower which I may not touch,
but whose fragrance makes the garden a place of delight just the same.
- The chief duty 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.
- When one door of happiness closes, another opens;
but often we look so long at the closed door
we do not see the one which has been opened for us.
- When we do the best that we can, we never know what
miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.
- It would be a blessing if each person could be blind
and deaf for a few days during his adult life.
It makes him appreciate sight and the the joy of sound.
- Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them;
but do not let them master you.
Let them teach you patience, sweetness, insight.
- Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be
strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
- Life is either a daring adventure, or it is nothing.
- Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be
strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
- Toleration is the greatest gift of mind, it requires the same effort of the brain that it takes to balance oneself on a bicycle.
- 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.
- Security is mostly a superstition. It 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 outright exposure. Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all.
- 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.
- To keep our faces toward change, and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate, is strength undefeatable.
- 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.
- No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an unchartered land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.
- Every optimist moves along with progress and hastens it, while every pessimist would keep the worlds at a standstill. Pessimism kills the instinct that urges men to struggle against poverty, ignorance and crime, and dries up all the fountains of joy in the world.
- Who shall dare let his incapacity for hope or goodness cast a shadow upon the courage of those who bear their burdens as if they were privileges?
- It is a mistake always to contemplate the good and ignore the evil, because by making people neglectful it lets in disaster. There is a dangerous optimism of ignorance and indifference.
- To know the history of philosophy is to know that the highest thinkers of the ages, the seers of the tribes and the nations, have been optimists. The growth of philosophy is the story of man's spiritual life.
- Happiness is the final and perfect fruit of obedience to the laws of life.
- I have found out that though the ways in which I can make myself useful are few, yet the work open to me is endless.
- Most people measure their happiness in terms of physical pleasure and material possession.
- I do not want the peace that passeth understanding. I want the understanding which bringeth peace.
- Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope.
- It all comes to this: the simplest way to be happy is to do good.
- No matter how dull, or how mean, or how wise a man is, he feels that happiness is his indisputable right.