Top 461 Quotes & Sayings by Helen Keller - Page 4

Literature is my Utopia

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

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

We can decide to let our trials crush us, or we can convert them to new forces of good.

My darkness has been filled with the light of intelligence, and behold, the outer day-lit world was stumbling and groping in social blindness.

So long as I confine my activities to social service and the blind, they compliment me extravagantly, calling me 'arch priestess of the sightless,' 'wonder woman,' and a 'modern miracle.' But when it comes to a discussion of poverty, and I maintain that it is the result of wrong economics-that the industrial system under which we live is at the root of much of the physical deafness and blindness in the world-that is a different matter!

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.

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 soul mate, and your love.

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.

Sometimes, it is true, a sense of isolation enfolds me like a cold mist as I sit alone and wait at life’s shut gate. Beyond there is light, and music, and sweet companionship; but I may not enter. Fate, silent, pitiless, bars the way…Silence sits immense upon my soul. Then comes hope with a smile and whispers, ‘there is joy is 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.

What induces a child to learn but his delight in knowing?

Poetry is the gate through which I enter the land of enchantment. Once inside the flaming wall, my limitations fall from me, and my spirit is free.

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 hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful if there were no dark valleys to traverse.

The beginning of my life was simple and much like every other little life. I came, I saw, I conquered, as the first baby in the family always does.

Your success and happiness lie in you.

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

...our enjoyment of the great works of literature depends more upon the depth of our sympathy than upon our understanding.

Serious harm, I am afraid, has been wrought to our generation by fostering the idea that they would live secure in a permanent order of things.

I believe humility is a virtue, but I prefer not to use it unless it is absolutely necessary.

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

So long as you can sweeten another's pain, life is not in vain.

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. Once I fretted and beat myself against the wall that shut me in. My life was without a past or future, and death a consummation devoutly to be wished. But a little word from the fingers of another fell into my hands that clutched at emptiness, and my heart leaped up with the rapture of living. I do not know the meaning of the darkness, but I have learned the overcoming of it.

Silver is purified in fire and so are we. It is in the most trying times that our real character is shaped and revealed.

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.

I have made my limitations tools of learning and true joy.

While the right friends are near us, we feel that all is well. Our everyday life blossoms suddenly into bright possibilities.

This great republic is a mockery of freedom as long as you are doomed to dig and sweat to earn a miserable living while the masters enjoy the fruit of your toil.

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

I grow more and more suspicious of the political powers that take men away from their work and set them shooting one another.

Use your eyes as if tomorrow you would become blind.

Sick or well, blind or seeing, bond or free, we are here for a purpose and however we are situated, we please God better with useful deeds than with many prayers or pious resignation. The temple or church is empty unless the good of life fills it . . . holy if only . . . we offer the only sacrifices ever commanded-the love that is stronger than hate and the faith that overcometh doubt.

The million little things that drop into your hands, The small opportunities each day brings, He leaves us free to use or abuse, And goes unchanging along His silent way

What a strange life I lead- a kind of Cinderella-life-half glitter in crystal shoes, half mice and cinders! But it is a wonderful life all the same.

The greatest tragedy to befall a person is to have sight but lack vision.

I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days during their early adult life. Darkness would make them more appreciative of sight; silence would teach them the joys of sound.

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

Few pleasures there are indeed without an aftertouch of pain, but that is the preservation which keeps them sweet.

Speech is the birthright of every child. It is the deaf child's one fair chance to keep in touch with his fellows.

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.

I feel the flame of eternity in my soul.

The attempt to suppress an idea has always and everywhere proved a failure.

Make the most of every sense; glory in all the facets of pleasure and beauty which the world reveals to you...

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.

True friends never apart maybe in distance but never in heart

When it seems that our sorrow is too great to be borne, let us think of the great family of the heavy-hearted into which our grief has given us entrance. And inevitably, we will feel about us their arms, their sympathy and their understanding.

The civilization of a state should be measured by the amount of suffering it prevents and the degree of happiness it makes possible for its citizens.

The joy of surmounting obstacles which once seemed unremovable, and pushing the frontier of accomplishment further — what joy is there like unto it?

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

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

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

The best things in life are not seen or heard ... but felt with the heart.

A simple, childlike faith in a Divine Friend solves all the problems that come to us by land or sea

When one comes to think of it, there are no such things as divine, immutable, or inalienable rights. Rights are things we get when we are strong enough to make good our claim on them.

Strike against war, for without you no battles can be fought. Strike against manufacturing shrapnel and gas bombs and all other tools of murder. Strike against preparedness that means death and misery to millions of human beings. Be not dumb, obedient slaves in an army of destruction. Be heroes in an army of construction.

A man can't make a place for himself in the sun if he keeps taking refuge under the family tree.

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.

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.

I am only one, But still I am one.

Touch each object as if tomorrow you would never be able to feel anything again.