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Knowledge Is Power." Rather, Knowledge Is Happiness, Because To Have Knowledge - Broad, Deep Knowledge - Is To Know True Ends From False, And Lofty Things From Low. To Know The Thoughts And Deeds That Have Marked Man's Progress Is To Feel The Great Heart-throbs Of Humanity Through The Centuries; And If One Does Not Feel In These Pulsations A Heavenward Striving, One Must Indeed Be Deaf To The Harmonies Of Life.

-Helen Keller

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Knowledge Is Power." Rather,

Helen Keller

...

Knowledge Is Power." Rather, Knowledge Is Happiness, Because To Have Knowledge - Broad, Deep Knowledge - Is To Know True Ends From False, And Lofty Things From Low. To Know The Thoughts And Deeds That Have Marked Man's Progress Is To Feel The Great Heart-throbs Of Humanity Through The Centuries; And If One Does Not Feel In These Pulsations A Heavenward Striving, One Must Indeed Be Deaf To The Harmonies Of Life.

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I Am Beginning To Suspect All Elaborate And Special Systems Of Education. They Seem To Me To Be Built Up On The Supposition That Every Child Is A Kind Of Idiot Who Must Be Taught To Think. Whereas, If The Child Is Left To Himself, He Will Think More And Better, If Less Showily.

If We Make Up Our Minds That This Is A Drab And Purposeless Universe, It Will Be That, And Nothing Else. On The Other Hand, If We Believe That The Earth Is Ours, And That The Sun And Moon Hang In The Sky For Our Delight, There Will Be Joy Upon The Hills And Gladness In The Fields Because The Artist In Our Souls Glorifies Creation. Surely, It Gives Dignity To Life To Believe That We Are Born Into This World For Noble Ends, And That We Have A Higher Destiny Than Can Be Accomplished Within The Narrow Limits Of This Physical Life.

I Take Happiness Very Seriously. It Is A Creed, A Philosophy And An Objective.

A Bend In The Road Is Not The End Of The Road…unless You Fail To Make The Turn.

Walking With A Friend In The Dark Is Better Than Walking Alone In The Light.

Our Worst Foes Are Not Belligerent Circumstances, But Wavering Spirits.

Personally I Do Not Believe In A National Agency Devoted Only To The Negro Blind Because In Spirit And Principle I Am Against All Segregation, And The Blind Already Have Difficulties Enough Without Being Cramped And Harassed By Social Barriers.

Trying To Write Is Very Much Like Trying To Put A Chinese Puzzle Together. We Have A Pattern In Mind Which We Wish To Work Out In Words; But The Words Will Not Fit The Spaces, Or, If They Do, They Will Not Match The Design.

The Best Preparedness Is The One That Disarms The Hostility Of Other Nations And Makes Friends Of Them.

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.

Certainly I Believe That God Gave Us Life For Happiness, Not Misery. Humanity, I Am Sure, Will Never Be Made Lazy Or Indifferent By An Excess Of Happiness. 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. Happiness Should Be A Means Of Accomplishment, Like Health, Not An End In Itself.

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.

Masculine Exhalations Are, As A Rule, Stronger, More Vivid,more Widely Differentiated Than Those Of Women. In The Odor Of Young Men There Is Something Elemental, As Of Fire, Storm, And Salt Sea. It Pulsates With Buoyancy And Desire. It Suggests All The Things Strong And Beautiful And Joyous And Gives Me A Sense Of Physical Happiness.

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 Only Real Blind Person At Christmas Time Is He Who Has Not Christmas In His Heart.

There Is In The Blind As In The Seeing An Absolute Which Gives Truth To What We Know To Be True, Order To What Is Orderly, Beauty To The Beautiful, Touchableness To What Is Tangible.

My Friends Have Made The Story Of My Life. In A Thousand Ways They Have Turned My Limitations Into Beautiful Privileges.

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.

To Keep On Trying In Spite Of Disappointment And Failure Is The Only Way To Keep Young And Brave. Failures Become Victories If They Make Us Wise-hearted.

Few Pleasures There Are Indeed Without An Aftertouch Of Pain, But That Is The Preservation Which Keeps Them Sweet.

The Highest Thinkers Of The Ages, The Seers Of The Tribes And The Nations, Have Been Optimists.

I Hung About The Dangerous Frontier Of "guess," Avoiding With Infinite Trouble To Myself And Others The Broad Valley Of Reason.

Next To A Leisurely Walk I Enjoy A Spin On My Tandem Bicycle. It Is Splendid To Feel The Wind Blowing In My Face And The Springy Motion Of My Iron Steed. The Rapid Rush Through The Air Gives Me A Delicious Sense Of Strength And Buoyancy, And The Exercise Makes My Pulse Dance And My Heart Sing.

Great Poetry Needs No Interpreter Other Than A Responsive Heart.

As Selfishness And Complaint Pervert The Mind, So Love With Its Joy Clears And Sharpens The Vision.

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

My Darkness Has Been Filled With The Light Of Intelligence, And Behold, The Outer Day-lit World Was Stumbling And Groping In Social Blindness.

It Is Curious To Observe What Different Ideals Of Happiness People Cherish, And In What Singular Places They Look For This Well-spring Of Their Life. Many Look For It In The Hoarding Of Riches, Some In The Pride Of Power, And Others In The Achievements Of Art And Literature; A Few Seek It In The Exploration Of Their Own Minds, Or In Search For Knowledge.

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.

When All You Can Feel Are The Shadows, Turn Your Face Towards The Sun.

No Pessimist Ever Discovered The Secret Of The Stars, Or Sailed To An Uncharted Land, Or Opened A New Doorway For The Human Spirit.

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.

Touch Each Object As If Tomorrow You Would Never Be Able To Feel Anything Again.

We Still Have It In Our Power To Rise Above The Fears, Imagined And Real, And To Shoulder The Great Burdens Which Destiny Has Placed Upon Us, Not For Our Country Alone, But For The Benefit Of All The World. That Is The Only Destiny Worthy Of America.

If We Do Not Like Our Work, And Do Not Try To Get Happiness Out Of It, We Are A Menace To Our Profession As Well As To Ourselves.

The Only Thing Worse Than Being Blind Is Having Sight But No Vision.

I Have Walked With People Whose Eyes Are Full Of Light But Who See Nothing In Sea Or Sky, Nothing In City Streets, Nothing In Books. It Were Far Better To Sail Forever In The Night Of Blindness With Sense, And Feeling, And Mind, Than To Be Content With The Mere Act Of Seeing. The Only Lightless Dark Is The Night Of Darkness In Ignorance And Insensibility.

My Life Has Been Happy Because I Have Had Wonderful Friends And Plenty Of Interesting Work To Do.

Wonderful Friends

Friends Create The World Anew Each Day. Without Their Loving Care, Courage Would Not Suffice To Keep Heartsstrong For Life.

No Loss By Flood And Lightning, No Destruction Of Cities And Temples By The Hostile Forces Of Nature, Has Deprived Man Of So Many Noble Lives And Impulses As Those Which His Intolerance Has Destroyed.

God Himself Is Not Secure, Having Given Man Dominion Over His Work.

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.

What I Am Looking For Is Not Out There, It Is In Me.

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.

Oh, You Think The Darkness Is Your Ally, But You Merely Adopted The Dark. I Was Born In It. Molded By It.

Everything Has Its Wonders, Even Darkness And Silence, And I Learn, Whatever State I May Be In, Therein To Be Content.

We Can Do Anything We Want To If We Stick To It Long Enough.

Self-culture Has Been Loudly And Boastfully Proclaimed As Sufficient For All Our Ideals Of Perfection. But If We Listen To The Best Men And Women Everywhere ... They Will Say That 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.

Many Of Us Delude Ourselves With The Thought That If We Could Stand In The Lot Of Our More Fortunate Neighbor, We Could Live Better, Happier And More Useful Lives. ... It Is My Experience That Unless We Can Succeed In Our Present Position, We Could Not Succeed In Any Other.

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.

The Joy Of Surmounting Obstacles Which Once Seemed Unremovable, And Pushing The Frontier Of Accomplishment Further — What Joy Is There Like Unto It?

Happiness Does Not Come From Without, It Comes From Within

Security Is Mostly A Superstition. It Does Not Exist In Nature.

Where Once Stood The Steadfast Pines, Great, Beautiful, Sweet, My Hand Touched Raw, Moist Stumps. All About Lay Broken Branches, Like The Antlers Of Stricken Deer. The Fragrant, Piled-up Sawdust Swirled And Tumbled About Me. An Unreasoning Resentment Flashed Through Me At The Ruthless Destruction Of The Beauty That I Love.

What Is The Use Of Such Terrible Diligence As Many Tire Themselves Out With, If They Always Postpone Their Exchange Of Smiles With Beauty And Joy To Cling To Irksome Duties And Relations?

When Indeed Shall We Learn That We Are All Related One To The Other, That We Are All Members Of One Body? Until The Spirit Of Love For Our Fellow People, Regardless Of Race, Color, Or Creed, Shall Fill The World, Making Real In Our Lives And Our Deeds The Actuality Of Human Brother- And Sisterhood, Until The Great Mass Of The People Shall Be Filled With The Sense Of Responsibility For Each Other's Welfare, Social Justice Can Never Be Attained.

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.

Blindness Separates Us From Things But Deafness Separates Us From People.

Knowledge Is Power." Rather, Knowledge Is Happiness, Because To Have Knowledge - Broad, Deep Knowledge - Is To Know True Ends From False, And Lofty Things From Low. To Know The Thoughts And Deeds That Have Marked Man's Progress Is To Feel The Great Heart-throbs Of Humanity Through The Centuries; And If One Does Not Feel In These Pulsations A Heavenward Striving, One Must Indeed Be Deaf To The Harmonies Of Life.

Things Must Be Felt With The Heart.

Long Distance Relationship

I Am Thankful That In A Troubled World No Calamity Can Prevent The Return Of Spring.

Happiness Is A State Of Mind, And Depends Very Little On Outward Circumstances.

Be Happy, Talk Happiness. Happiness Calls Out Responsive Gladness In Others. There Is Enough Sadness In The World Without Yours.

Often We Look So Long At The Closed Door That We Do Not See The One That Has Been Opened For Us.

What If In My Waking Hours A Sound Should Ring Through The Silent Halls Of Hearing? ... Would The Bow And String Tension Of Life Snap? Would The Heart Over Weighted With Sudden Joy Stop Beating For Very Excess Of Happiness?

Life Is A Daring Adventure Or Nothing.

Doubts And Mistrust Are The Mere Panic Of Timid Imagination, Which The Steadfast Heart Will Conquer, And The Large Mind Transcend.

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

Ruth Is So Loyal And Gentle-hearted, We Cannot Help Loving Her, As She Stands With The Reapers Amid The Waving Corn. Her Beautiful, Unselfish Spirit Shines Out Like A Bright Star In The Night Of A Dark And Cruel Age. Love Like Ruth's, Love Which Can Rise Above Conflicting Creeds And Deep-seated Racial Prejudices, Is Hard To Find In All The World.

One's Life Story Cannot Be Told With Complete Veracity. A True Autobiography Would Have To Be Written In States Of Mind, Emotions, Heartbeats, Smiles And Tears; Not In Months And Years, Or Physical Events. Life Is Marked Off On The Soul By Feelings, Not By Dates.

The Best Things In Life Are Not Seen Or Heard ... But Felt With The Heart.

No One Has A Right To Consume Happiness Without Producing It.

History Is A Record Of The Incessant Struggle Of Humanity Against Ignorance And Oppression.

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.

It Was My Teacher's Genius, Her Quick Sympathy, Her Loving Tact Which Made The First Years Of My Education So Beautiful. It Was Because She Seized The Right Moment To Impart Knowledge That Made It So Pleasant And Acceptable To Me.

No Nation Is Wise Enough To Rule Another.

A Happy Life Consists Not In The Absence, But In The Mastery Of Hardships.

Only In Quietness Do We Possess Our Own Minds And Discover The Resources Of The Inner Life.

I Find That Fact And Fancy Look Alike Across The Years That Link The Past With The Present.

Poverty Is The Fundamental Cause Of Most Of The Physical, Moral And Economic Ills Of Humanity.

Our Democracy Is But A Name. We Vote? What Does That Mean? It Means That We Choose Between Two Bodies Of Real, Though Not Avowed, Autocrats. We Choose Between Tweedledum And Tweedledee.… You Ask For Votes For Women. What Good Can Votes Do When Ten-elevenths Of The Land Of Great Britain Belongs To 200,000 And Only One-eleventh To The Rest Of The 40,000,000? Have Your Men With Their Millions Of Votes Freed Themselves From This Injustice?

When We Do The Best We Can, We Never Know What Miracles Await.

Independent Women

I Regard Philanthropy As A Tragic Apology For Wrong Conditions Under Which Human Beings Live.

I Will Not Just Live My Life. I Will Not Just Spend My Life. I Will Invest My Life.

The Welfare Of Each Is Bound Up In The Welfare Of All.

Everybody Talks, Nobody Listens. Good Listeners Are As Rare As White Crows.

When We Complain Of Having To Do The Same Thing Over And Over, Let Us Remember That God Does Not Send New Trees, Strange Flowers And Different Grasses Every Year. When The Spring Winds Blow, They Blow In The Same Way. In The Same Places The Same Dear Blossoms Lift Up The Same Sweet Faces, Yet They Never Weary Us. When It Rains, It Rains As It Always Has. Even So Would The Same Tasks Which Fill Our Daily Lives Put On New Meanings If We Wrought Them In The Spirit Of Renewal From Within--a Spirit Of Growth And Beauty.

Of All The Senses, Sight Must Be The Most Delightful.

Change May Be The Vitalizing Wind Blowing Through The House Of Life, But It Is Not An Abiding Force. We Need Permanent Things To Soak Peace Into Us As Well As Progress - The Beauty Of The Earth, Seedtime And Harvest, The Smiles Of Lovers, The Joy Of The Young In Being Alive, Pride In Craftsmanship. Why, Oh Why Must We Let Ourselves Forget These Lasting Treasures In An Age Of Consuming Ambition, Speed Madness And Accumulated Goods That Leave Us No Chance To Live? If We Cannot Be Contented With A Little No Wealth Will Ever Satisfy Us.

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.

Museums And Art Stores Are Also Sources Of Pleasure And Inspiration. Doubtless It Will Seem Strange To Many That The Hand Unaided By Sight Can Feel Action, Sentiment, Beauty In The Cold Marble; And Yet It Is True That I Derive Genuine Pleasure From Touching Great Works Of Art. As My Finger Tips Trace Line And Curve, They Discover The Thought And Emotion Which The Artist Has Portrayed.

He Who Marries The Spirit Of The Age Soon Becomes A Widower.

Optimism, Then, Is A Fact Within My Own Heart. But As I Look Out Upon Life, My Heart Meets No Contradiction. The Outward World Justifies My Inward Universe Of Good.

My Friends Have Made The Story Of My Life.

Our Democracy Is But A Name. We Vote? What Does That Mean? It Means That We Choose Between Two Bodies Of Real, Though Not Avowed, Autocrats. We Choose Between Tweedledum And Tweedledee.

Keep Your Face To The Sunshine And You Cannot See A Shadow.

When We Do The Best That We Can, We Never Know What Miracle Is Wrought In Our Life, Or In The Life Of Another.

What We Have Once Enjoyed We Can Never Lose. All That We Love Deeply Becomes A Part Of Us.

There Is Much In The Bible Against Which Every Instinct Of My Being Rebels, So Much That I Regret The Necessity Which Has Compelled Me To Read It Through From Beginning To End. I Do Not Think That The Knowledge Which I Have Gained Of Its History And Sources Compensates Me For The Unpleasant Details It Has Forced Upon My Attention.

Make The Most Of Every Sense; Glory In All The Facets Of Pleasure And Beauty Which The World Reveals To You...

Surely There Is No Road Of Effort So Steep But A Loving Deed May Soften Its Hardshness.

Instead Of Being Satisfied To Alleviate Suffering, We Shall Labor Hard And Continually To Prevent It.

If I, Deaf, Blind, Find Life Rich And Interesting, How Much More Can You Gain By The Use Of Your Five Senses!

How Futile Are Words In The Ears Of Those Who Mourn.

The Fearful Are Caught As Often As The Bold.

With Every Friend I Love Who Has Been Taken Into The Brown Bosom Of The Earth A Part Of Me Has Been Buried There; But Their Contribution To My Being Of Happiness, Strength And Understanding Remains To Sustain Me In An Altered World.

Have You Ever Been At Sea In A Dense Fog, When It Seemed As If A Tangible White Darkness Shut You In, And The Great Ship, Tense And Anxious, Groped Her Way Toward The Shore With Plummet And Sounding-line, And You Waited With Beating Heart For Something To Happen? I Was Like That Ship Before My Education Began, Only I Was Without Compass Or Sounding-line, And Had No Way Of Knowing How Near The Harbour Was.

We Must Not Creep Along When Our Souls Cry Out For Us To Soar!

One Painful Duty Fulfilled Makes The Next Plainer And Easier.

Self Discipline

No Smile Is As Beautiful As The One That Struggles Through Tears.

The Hilltop Hour Would Not Be Half So Wonderful If There Were No Dark Valleys To Traverse.

Alone We Can Do So Little; Together We Can Do So Much.

The Wise Fools Who Sit In The High Places Of Justice Fail To See That In Revolutionary Times Vital Issues Are Settled Not By Statutes, Decrees And Authorities, But In Spite If Them.

Better To Be Blind And See With Your Heart, Than To Have Two Good Eyes And See Nothing.

I Have Found Life So Beautiful.

Let Pessimism Once Take Hold Of The Mind, And Life Is All Topsy-turvy, All Vanity And Vexation Of Spirit. There Is No Cure For Individual Or Social Disorder, Except In Forgetfulness And Annihilation.

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.

Health In All Lands Is Among The Indispensable Guarantees Of Human Progress.

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.

The Chief Handicap Of The Blind Is Not Blindness, But The Attitude Of Seeing People Towards Them.

The Greatest Tragedy To Befall A Person Is To Have Sight But Lack Vision.

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!

People Do Not Like To Think. If One Thinks, One Must Reach Conclusions. Conclusions Are Not Always Pleasant.

I Will Eat Grandfather For Dinner.

I Believe In The Immortality Of The Soul Because I Have Within Me Immortal Longings.

There Is No King Who Has Not Had A Slave Among His Ancestors, And No Slave Who Has Not Had A King Among His.

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.

To Keep Our Faces Toward Chance And Behave Like Free Spirits In The Presence Of Fate Is Strength Undefeatable.

Every Optimist Moves Along With Progress And Hastens It, While Every Pessimist Would Keep The Worlds At A Standstill. The Consequence Of Pessimism In The Life Of A Nation Is The Same As In The Life Of The Individual. 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.

What A Blind Person Needs Is Not A Teacher But Another Self.

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.

Ideas Without Action Are Useless.

Use Your Eyes As If Tomorrow You Would Become Blind.

The Country Is Governed For The Richest, For The Corporations, The Bankers, The Land Speculators, And For The Exploiters Of Labor.

It Need Not Discourage Us If We Are Full Of Doubts. Healthy Questions Keep Faith Dynamic. In Fact, Unless We Start With Doubts We Cannot Have A Deep-rooted Faith. One Who Believes Lightly And Unthinkingly Has Not Much Of A Belief. One Who Has A Faith Which Is Not To Be Shaken Has Won It Through Blood And Tears-has Worked His Or Her Way From Doubt To Truth As One Who Reaches A Clearing Through A Thicket Of Brambles And Thorns.

I Think The Degree Of A Nation's Civilisation May Be Measured By The Degree Of Enlightenment Of Its Women.

Love Is Like A Beautiful Flower Which I May Not Touch, But Whose Fragrance Makes The Garden A Place Of Delight Just The Same.

Smell Is A Potent Wizard That Transports You Across Thousands Of Miles And All The Years You Have Lived. The Odors Of Fruits Waft Me To My Southern Home, To My Childhood Frolics In The Peach Orchard. Other Odors, Instantaneous And Fleeting, Cause My Heart To Dilate Joyously Or Contract With Remembered Grief. Even As I Think Of Smells, My Nose Is Full Of Scents That Start Awake Sweet Memories Of Summers Gone And Ripening Fields Far Away.

Faith Reinvigorates The Will, Enriches The Affections, And Awakens A Sense Of Creativeness. Active Faith Knows No Fear, And It Is A Safeguard To Me Against Cynicism And Despair.

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.

It Has Been Said That Life Has Treated Me Harshly; And Sometimes I Have Complained In My Heart Because Many Pleasures Of Human Experience Have Been Withheld From Me...if Much Has Been Denied Me, Much, Very Much, Has Been Given Me.

To Get Congress To Do Anything.

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.

They Took Away What Should Have Been My Eyes (but I Remembered Milton's Paradise). They Took Away What Should Have Been My Ears, (beethoven Came And Wiped Away My Tears) They Took Away What Should Have Been My Tongue, (but I Had Talked With God When I Was Young) He Would Not Let Them Take Away My Soul, Possessing That I Still Possess The Whole.

I Had Once Believed That We Were All Masters Of Our Fate--that We Could Mold Our Lives Into Any Form We Pleased... I Had Overcome Deafness And Blindness Sufficiently To Be Happy, And I Supposed That Anyone Could Come Out Victorious If He Threw Himself Valiantly Into Life's Struggle. But As I Went More And More About The Country I Learned That I Had Spoken With Assurance On A Subject I Knew Little About... I Learned That The Power To Rise In The World Is Not Within The Reach Of Everyone.

I Believe There Are Angels Among Us, Sent Down To Us From Somewhere Up Above. They Come To You And Me In Our Darkest Hours, To Show Us How To Live, To Teach Us How To Give, To Guide Us With A Light Of Love.

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.

Avoiding Danger Is No Safer In The Long Run Than Exposure.

I Don't Give A Damn About Semi-radicals!

The World Is Sown With Good; But Unless I Turn My Glad Thoughts Into Practical Living And Till My Own Field. I Cannot Reap A Kernel Of The Good.

There Is A Dangerous Optimism Of Ignorance And Indifference.

If It Is True That The Violin Is The Most Perfect Of Musical Instruments, Then Greek Is The Violin Of Human Thought.

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.

Now I Feel As If I Should Succeed In Doing Something In Mathematics, Although I Cannot See Why It Is So Very Important. . . The Knowledge Doesn't Make Life Any Sweeter Or Happier, Does It?

I Thank God For My Handicaps. For Through Them, I Have Found Myself, My Work And My God.

Knowing Who You Are

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.

My Share Of The Work May Be Limited, But The Fact That It Is Work Makes It Precious.

I Cannot But Say A Word And Look My Disapproval When I Hear That My Country Is Spending Millions For War And War Engines-more, I Have Heard, Than Twice As Much As The Entire Public School System Costs The Nation.

I Cannot Remember How I Felt When The Light Went Out Of My Eyes. I Suppose I Felt It Was Always Night And Perhaps I Wondered Why The Day Did Not Come.

The Most Important Day I Remember In All My Life Is The One On Which My Teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, Came To Me

Silver Is Purified In Fire And So Are We. It Is In The Most Trying Times That Our Real Character Is Shaped And Revealed.

For, After All, Every One Who Wishes To Gain True Knowledge Must Climb The Hill Difficulty Alone, And Since There Is No Royal Road To The Summit, I Must Zigzag It In My Own Way. I Slip Back Many Times, I Fall, I Stand Still, I Run Against The Edge Of Hidden Obstacles, I Lose My Temper And Find It Again And Keep It Better, I Trudge On, I Gain A Little, I Feel Encouraged, I Get More Eager And Climb Higher And Begin To See The Widening Horizon. Every Struggle Is A Victory. One More Effort And I Reach The Luminous Cloud, The Blue Depths Of The Sky, The Uplands Of My Desire.

Do Not Think Of To-day's Failures, But Of The Success That May Come Tomorrow.

I Am Only One, But Still I Am One. I Cannot Do Everything, But Still I Can Do Something; And Because I Cannot Do Everything, I Will Not Refuse To Do The Something That I Can Do.

No Matter How Dull, Or How Mean, Or How Wise A Man Is, He Feels That Happiness Is His Indisputable Right.

There Is No Better Way To Thank God For Your Sight Than By Giving A Helping Hand To Someone In The Dark.

Face Your Deficiencies And Acknowledge Them; But Do Not Let Them Master You. Let Them Teach You Patience, Sweetness, Insight. True Education Combines Intellect, Beauty, Goodness, And The Greatest Of These Is Goodness. When We Do The Best That We Can, We Never Know What Miracle Is Wrought In Our Life, Or In The Life Of Another.

A Child Must Feel The Flush Of Victory And The Heart-sinking Of Disappointment Before He Takes With A Will To The Tasks Distasteful To Him And Resolves To Dance His Way Through A Dull Routine Of Textbooks.

You Will Succeed If You Persevere; And You Will Find Joy In Overcoming Obstacles.

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.

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.

I Do Not Remember A Time Since I Have Been Capable Of Loving Books That I Have Not Loved Shakespeare.

Use Your Eyes As If Tomorrow You Would Be Stricken Blind. Hear The Music Of Voices, The Song Of Birds, The Mighty Strains Of An Orchestra As If You Would Be Stricken Deaf Tomorrow . . . Smell The Perfume Of Flowers, Taste With Relish Each Morsel As If Tomorrow You Could Never Smell And Taste Again. Glory In All The Facts Of Pleasure And Beauty Which The World Reveals To You.

The Breakage And Agony Rending Us Today Will Be Our Salvation If They Drive Us By New Routes To Meet It. No One Can Proxy For Us A Masterpiece Of Loving Or Experience For Us The Rapture Of Art Or Launch For Us Book Ships Freighted With Sweet Bread To Strengthen Man. As Of Old We Must Be Our Own Seers, Musicians And Explorers, And To An Extent Vaster Than Ever Before.

Hope Sees The Invisible, Feels The Intangible, And Achieves The Impossible.

The Hands Of Those I Meet Are Dumbly Eloquent To Me. The Touch Of Some Hands Is An Impertinence. I Have Met People So Empty Of Joy, That When I Clasped Their Frosty Finger-tips, It Seemed As If I Were Shaking Hands With A Northeast Storm.

Smell Is A Fallen Angel.

Is Love The Sweetness Of Flowers?

I Have Depended On Books Not Only For Pleasure And For The Wisdom They Bring To All Who Read, But Also For That Knowledge Which Comes To Others Through Their Eyes And Their Ears.

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.

Tyranny Cannot Defeat The Power Of Ideas.

The Best Educated Human Being Is The One Who Understands Most About The Life In Which He Is Placed.

True Teaching Cannot Be Learned From Text-books Any More Than A Surgeon Can Acquire His Skill By Reading About Surgery.

Commercial Concerns Have Expanded From Family Business To Corporate Wealth Which Is Self-perpetuating And Which Enlightened Statesmen And Economists Now Dread As The Most Potent Oligarchy Yet Produced.

World Peace Will Never Come Until The Passion Of Supremacy Is Combated.

It Is Better To Have No Sight Than It Is To Have No Vision.

The Worst Calamity: 'to Have Eyes And Fail To See.'

Militarism. . . Is The Chief Bulwark Of Capitalism. When It Is That Militarism Is Undermined, Capitalism Will Fail.

I, For One, Love Strength, Daring, Fortitude. I Do Not Want People To Kill The Fight In Them; I Want Them To Fight For Right Things.

So Much Has Been Given Me I Have No Time To Ponder Over That Which Has Been Denied.

Famous Inspirational

How Spiritually Blind Are Men That They Fail To See That We Are Bound Together. We Rise Or Fall Together; We Are Dwarfed Or Godlike, Free Or Chained, Together.

I, Who Have Never Heard A Sound, Tell You There Is No Silence, And I, Who Have Never Seen A Ray Of Light, Tell You There Is No Darkness.

If I Write What My Soul Thinks It Will Be Visible, And The Words Will Be Its Body.

The Danger Of Having The Constitution Twisted And Misconstrued To Support Vested Interests And Prejudices Must Be Guarded Against If American Democracy Is To Maintain A Progressive Character.

The Hands Of Those I Meet Are Dumbly Eloquent To Me. The Touch Of Some Hands Is An Impertinence. I Have Met People So Empty Of Joy, That When I Clasped Their Frosty Finger-tips, It Seemed As If I Were Shaking Hands With A Northeast Storm. Others There Are Whose Hands Have Sunbeams In Them, So That Their Grasp Warms My Heart. It May Be Only The Clinging Touch Of A Child's Hand; But There Is As Much Potential Sunshine In It For Me As There Is In A Loving Glance For Others. A Hearty Handshake Or A Friendly Letter Gives Me Genuine Pleasure.

I Believe Humility Is A Virtue, But I Prefer Not To Use It Unless It Is Absolutely Necessary.

In A Word, Literature Is My Utopia. Here I Am Not Disfranchised. No Barrier Of The Senses Shuts Me Out From The Sweet, Gracious Discourse Of My Book-friends. They Talk To Me Without Embarrassment Or Awkwardness. The Things I Have Learned And The Things I Have Been Taught Seem Of Ridiculously Little Importance Compared With Their "large Loves And Heavenly Charities.

I Do Not Like The World As It Is; So I Am Trying To Make It A Little More As I Want It.

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.

Joy Is A Spiritual Element That Gives Vicissitudes Unity And Significance.

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