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The Test Of All Beliefs Is Their Practical Effect In Life. If It Be True That Optimism Compels The World Forward, And Pessimism Retards It, Then It Is Dangerous To Propagate A Pessimistic Philosophy.

-Helen Keller

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The Test Of All

Helen Keller

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The Test Of All Beliefs Is Their Practical Effect In Life. If It Be True That Optimism Compels The World Forward, And Pessimism Retards It, Then It Is Dangerous To Propagate A Pessimistic Philosophy.

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Self-pity Is Our Worst Enemy And If We Yield To It, We Can Never Do Anything Wise In This World.

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.

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.

I Can See, And That Is Why I Can Be Happy, In What You Call The Dark, But Which To Me Is Golden. I Can See A God-made World, Not A Manmade World.

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.

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.

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

What Do I Consider A Teacher Should Be? One Who Breathes Life Into Knowledge So That It Takes New Form In Progress And Civilization.

I Trust, And I Recognize The Beneficence Of The Power Which We All Worship As Supreme- Order, Fate, The Great Spirit, Nature, God. I Recognize This Power In The Sun That Makes All Things Grow And Keeps Life Afoot. I Make A Friend Of This Indefinable Force…this Is My Religion Of Optimism.

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

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.

If We Spend The Time We Waste In Sighing For The Perfect Golden Fruit In Fulfilling The Conditions Of Its Growth, Happiness Will Come, Must Come. It Is Guaranteed In The Very Laws Of The Universe. If It Involves Some Chastening And Renunciation, Well, The Fruit Will Be All The Sweeter For This Touch Of Holiness.

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

Knowing Who You Are

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

The Place Between Your Comfort Zone And Your Dream Is Where Life Takes Place.

Life Is Either A Great Adventure Or Nothing.

I Am A Child Of My Generation, And I Rejoice That I Live In Such Splendidly Disturbing Times.

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.

I, Who Cannot See, Find Hundreds Of Things To Interest Me Through Mere Touch. I Feel The Delicate Symmetry Of A Leaf. I Pass My Hands Lovingly About The Smooth Skin Of A Silver Birch, Or The Rough Shaggy Bark Of A Pine.

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

Even More Amazing Than The Wonders Of Nature Are The Powers Of The Spirit.

Wonder Of Nature

Every Child Has A Right To Be Well-born, Well-nurtured And Well-taught, And Only The Freedom Of Woman Can Guarantee Him This Right.

The Most Pathetic Person In The World Is Someone Who Has Sight, But Has No Vision.

I Have Never Believed That My Limitations Were In Any Sense Punishments Or Accidents. If I Had Held Such A View, I Could Never Have Expected The Strength To Overcome Them.

Never Bend Your Head. Always Hold It High. Look The World Straight In The Eye.

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.

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

A Well-educated Mind Will Always Have More Questions Than Answers.

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.

A Good Education Is A Stepping-stone To Wealth.

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.

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.

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

Life Is To Be Lived As A Magnificent Adventure, Or Not At All.

Use Your Eyes As If Tomorrow You Would Become Blind.

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

What A Joy It Is To Feel The Soft, Springy Earth Under My Feet Once More, To Follow Grassy Roads That Lead To Ferny Brooks Where I Can Bathe My Fingers In A Cataract Of Rippling Notes, Or To Clamber Over A Stone Wall Into Green Fields That Tumble And Roll And Climb In Riotous Gladness!

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

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.

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

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.

Strike Against War, For Without You No Battles Can Be Fought.

Fear: The Best Way Out Is Through.

We Betray Ourselves Into Smallness When We Think The Little Choices Of Each Day Are Trivial.

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

We Need Limitations And Temptations To Open Our Inner Selves, Dispel Our Ignorance, Tear Off Disguises, Throw Down Old Idols, And Destroy False Standards. Only By Such Rude Awakenings Can We Be Led To Dwell In A Place Where We Are Less Cramped, Less Hindered By The Ever-insistent External. Only Then Do We Discover A New Capacity And Appreciation Of Goodness And Beauty And Truth.

Character Cannot Be Developed In Ease And Quiet. Only Through Experience Of Trial And Suffering Can The Soul Be Strengthened, Ambition Inspired, And Success Achieved.

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.

It's Wonderful To Climb The Liquid Mountains Of The Sky. Behind Me And Before Me Is God And I Have No Fears.

Every One Of Us Is Blind And Deaf Until Our Eyes Are Opened To Our Fellowmen, Until Our Ears Hear The Voice Of Humanity.

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

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.

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.

Once It Was Necessary That The People Should Multiply And Be Fruitful If The Race Was To Survive. But Now To Preserve The Race It Is Necessary That People Hold Back The Power Of Propagation.

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.

I Feel The Flame Of Eternity In My Soul.

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.

Christmas Day Is The Festival Of Optimism.

I Know No Study That Will Take You Nearer The Way To Happiness Than The Study Of Nature - And I Include In The Study Of Nature Not Only Things And Their Forces, But Also Mankind And Their Ways, And The Moulding Of The Affections And The Will Into An Earnest Desire Not Only To Be Happy, But To Create Happiness.

Smells Are The Fallen Angels Of The Senses.

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

Ignorance, Poverty, And Greed Must Disappear So That Light Can Prevail In All Places.

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.

I Have Made My Limitations Tools Of Learning And True Joy.

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.

I Do Not Want The Peace Which Passeth Understanding, I Want The Understanding Which Bringeth Peace.

Children Who Hear Acquire Language Without Any Particular Effort; The Words That Fall From Others' Lips They Catch On The Wing, As It Were, Delightedly, While The Little Deaf Child Must Trap Them By A Slow And Often Painful Process. But Whatever The Process, The Result Is Wonderful. Gradually From Naming An Object We Advance Step By Step Until We Have Traversed The Vast Distance Between Our First Stammered Syllable And The Sweep Of Thought In A Line Of Shakespeare.

The Best Christmas Gift Of All Is The Presence Of A Happy Family All Wrapped Up With One Another. Jesus Is The Reason For The Season! From A Little Spark May Burst A Mighty Flame. The Only Blind Person At Christmastime Is He Who Has Not Christmas In His Heart.

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 Person Who Is Severely Impaired Never Knows His Hidden Sources Of Strength Until He Is Treated Like A Normal Human Being And Encouraged To Shape His Own Life.

The Only Moral Virtue Of War Is That It Compels The Capitalist System To Look Itself In The Face And Admit It Is A Fraud. It Compels The Present Society To Admit That It Has No Morals It Will Not Sacrifice For Gain.

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

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

Blindness Separates People From Things; Deafness Separates People From People.

Usually They Are Quick To Discover That I Cannot See Or Hear.... It Is Not Training But Love Which Impels Them To Break Their Silence About Me With The Thud Of A Tail Rippling Against My Chair On Gambols Round The Study, Or News Conveyed By Expressive Ear, Nose, And Paw. Often I Yearn To Give Them Speech, Their Motions Are So Eloquent With Things They Cannot Say.

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 Marvelous Richness Of Human Experience Would Lose Something Of Rewarding Joy If There Were No Limitations To Overcome. The Hilltop Hour Would Not Be Half So Wonderful If There Were No Dark Valleys To Traverse.

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

It Is Not Possible For Civilization To Flow Backwards While There Is Youth In The World. Youth May Be Headstrong, But It Will Advance It Allotted Length.

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.

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.

Through My Handicaps, I Have Found My Self, My Work, My God.

This World Is So Full Of Care And Sorrow That It Is A Gracious Debt We Owe To One Another To Discover The Bright Crystals Of Delight Hidden In Somber Circumstances And Irksome Tasks.

Hold Out Your Hands To Feel The Luxury Of The Sunbeams.

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.

Knowledge Is Love And Light And Vision.

When One Door Of Hapiness Closes, Another Opens.

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

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

Optimism Is The Faith That Leads To Achievement. Nothing Can Be Done Without Hope And Confidence.

Things Must Be Felt With The Heart.

Long Distance Relationship

Happiness Rarely Keeps Company With An Empty Stomach

One Can Never Consent To Creep When One Feels An Impulse To Soar.

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.

Don't Give Me The Peace That Passeth Understanding, Give Me Understanding.

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.

The One Resolution, Which Was In My Mind Long Before It Took The Form Of A Resolution, Is The Key-note Of My Life. It Is This, Always To Regard As Mere Impertinences Of Fate The Handicaps Which Were Placed Upon My Life Almost At The Beginning. I Resolved That They Should Not Crush Or Dwarf My Soul, But Rather Be Made To Blossom, Like Aaron's Rod, With Flowers.

Faith Is The Strength By Which A Shattered World Shall Emerge Into The Light.

Long Before I Learned To Do A Sum In Arithmetic Or Describe The Shape Of The Earth, Miss Sullivan Had Taught Me To Find Beauty In The Fragrant Woods, In Every Blade Of Grass, And In The Curves And Dimples Of My Baby Sister's Hand.

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

The Test Of A Democracy Is Not The Magnificence Of Buildings Or The Speed Of Automobiles Or The Efficiency Of Air Transportation, But Rather The Care Given To The Welfare Of All The People.

The True Test Of A Character Is To Face Hard Conditions With The Determination To Make Them Better.

Defeat Is Simply A Signal To Press Onward.

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.

The Best And Most Beautiful Things In The World Cannot Be Seen Or Even Touched - They Must Be Felt With The Heart.

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

Now, However, I See The Folly Of Attempting To Hitch One's Wagon To A Star With A Harness That Does Not Belong To It.

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

I Believe That God Is In Me As The Sun Is In The Colour And Fragrance Of A Flower - The Light In My Darkness, The Voice In My Silence.

Character Cannot Be Developed In Ease And Quiet.

Your Success And Happiness Lies In You. Resolve To Keep Happy, And Your Joy And You Shall Form An Invincible Host Against Difficulties.

As The Eagle Was Killed By The Arrow Winged With His Own Feather, So The Hand Of The World Is Wounded By Its Own Skill.

Ideas Without Action Are Useless.

Happiness Does Not Come From Without, It Comes From Within

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?

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.

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.

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

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

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."

There's Only One Story, The Story Of Your Life.

If I Could Have Only One Of My Senses Then I Would Choose Hearing, Then I Wouldn't Feel So All Alone.

What Induces A Child To Learn But His Delight In Knowing?

The Most Beautiful World Is Always Entered Through Imagination.

We Can Drift Along With General Opinion And Tradition, Or We Can Throw Ourselves Upon The Guidance Of The Soul Within And Steer Courageously Toward Truth... We Have A Choice In Every Event And Every Limitation And....to Choose Is To Create.

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.

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.

The Greatest Tragedy In Life Is People Who Have Sight But No Vision.

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.

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.

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.

We Could Never Learn To Be Brave And Patient, If There Were Only Joy In The World.

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.

We Can Decide To Let Our Trials Crush Us, Or We Can Convert Them To New Forces Of Good.

I Fall, I Stand Still... I Trudge On. I Gain A Little... I Get More Eager And Climb Higher And Begin To See The Widening Horizon. Every Struggle Is A Victory.

The Living Word Awakened My Soul, Gave It Light, Hope, Joy, Set It Free!

Death Is No More Than Passing From One Room Into Another.

He Who Is Content With What Has Been Done Is An Obstacle In The Path Of Progress.

It Is Certain That I Cannot Always Distinguish My Own Thoughts From Those I Read, Because What I Read Becomes The Very Substance And Text Of My Mind.

Look The World Straight In The Eye.

The Clatter Of A Changing World Is Not Pleasant, And Those Who Have Enjoyed The Comforts And Protection Of The Old Order May Be Shocked And Unhappy When They Behold The Vigorous Young Builders Of A New World Sweeping Away Their Time-honored Antiquities.

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

I Will Eat Grandfather For Dinner.

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

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.

Be Heroes In An Army Of Construction.

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.

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!

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

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.

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

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

I Have Often Been Asked, Do Not People Bore You? I Do Not Understand Quite What That Means. I Suppose The Calls Of The Stupid And Curious, Especially Of Newspaper Reporters, Are Always Inopportune. I Also Dislike People Who Try To Talk Down To My Understanding. They Are Like People Who When Walking With You Try To Shorten Their Steps To Suit Yours; The Hypocrisy In Both Cases Is Equally Exasperating.

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.

I Have Found Life So Beautiful.

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

It Gives Me A Deep Comforting Sense That Things Seen Are Temporal And Things Unseen Are Eternal.

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.

The Saddest Thing In Life Is People With Sight, But Without Vision.

The Bulk Of The World's Knowledge Is An Imaginary Construction.

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

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

The Best Things In Life Are Unseen, Thats Why We Close Our Eyes When We Kiss, Cry, And Dream

Smell Is A Fallen Angel.

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

Once I Knew Only Darkness And Stillness... My Life Was Without Past Or Future... But A Little Word From The Fingers Of Another Fell Into My Hand That Clutched At Emptiness, And My Heart Leaped To The Rapture Of Living.

The Tragic Side Of Many Architectural Enterprises Is That They Destroy Natural Beauties Which Are A Priceless Possession And Cannot Be Replaced.

In Times Of Danger Large Groups Rise To The Highest Pitch Of Enthusiasm, Courage And Sacrifice . . . Mankind Will Be Refashioned And History Rewritten When This Law Is Understood And Obeyed.

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?

I Have An Unshakable Belief That Mankind's Higher Nature Is On The Whole Still Dormant. The Greatest Souls Reveal Excellencies Of Mind And Heart Which Their Lesser Fellows Possess-hidden, It Is True, But There All The Same.

What Is Worse Than Having No Sight Is Being Able To See But Having No Vision.

Your Success And Happiness Lie In You.

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

I Look Upon The Whole World As My Fatherland, And Every War Has To Me The Horror Of A Family Feud.

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.

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.

For Years To Come The Debris Of A Convulsed World Will Beset Our Steps. It Will Require A Purpose Stronger Than Any Man And Worthy Of All Men To Calm And Inspirit Us. A Sane Society Whose Riches Are Happy Children, Men And Women, Beautiful With Peace And Creative Activity, Is Not Going To Be Ordained For Us. We Must Make It Ourselves.

Rebuffed, But Always Persevering; Self-reproached, But Ever Regaining Faith; Undaunted, Tenacious, The Heart Of Man Labors Toward Immeasurably Distant Goals.

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

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

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.

Be Not Dumb, Obedient Slaves In An Army Of Destruction. Be Heroes In An Army Of Construction.

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!

What Can Rulers, Nobility And All The Lords Of The Earth Say To Justify The Horrible Killing And Maiming Of Twenty Or Thirty Million Valuable Men Who A Short While Ago Ploughed, Dug, Wove, Built, Guided The Traffic Of The World, Took Their Pleasure, Loved Their Fellows, Cherished Their Families, And Feared Naught?

I Feel The Delightful, Velvety Texture Of A Flower, And Discover Its Remarkable Convolutions; And Something Of The Miracle Of Nature Is Revealed To Me.

While The Right Friends Are Near Us, We Feel That All Is Well. Our Everyday Life Blossoms Suddenly Into Bright Possibilities.

Tolerance Is The First Principle Of Community; It Is The Spirit Which Conserves The Best That All Men Think.

I Demand That The World Be Good, And Lo, It Obeys. I Proclaim The World Good, And Facts Range Themselves To Prove My Proclamation Overwhelmingly True. To What Good I Open The Doors Of My Being, And Jealously Shut Them Against What Is Bad. Such Is The Force Of This Beautiful And Willful Conviction, It Carries Itself In The Face Of All Opposition. I Am Never Discouraged By Absence Of Good. I Never Can Be Argued Into Hopelessness. Doubt And Mistrust Are The Mere Panic Of Timid Imagination, Which The Steadfast Heart Will Conquer, And The Large Mind Transcend.

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

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.

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.

Thus I Came Up Out Of Egypt And Stood Before Sinai, And A Power Divine Touched My Spirit And Gave It Sight, So That I Beheld Many Wonders. And From The Sacred Mountain I Heard A Voice Which Said, ‘knowledge Is Love And Light And Vision.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

There Is Beauty In Everything, Even In Silence And Darkness.

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

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