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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!

-Helen Keller

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What A Joy It

Helen Keller

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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!

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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.

We, The People, Are Not Free. Our Democracy Is But A Name. We Vote? What Does That Mean? It Means We Choose Between Tweedledee And Tweedledum. We Elect Expensive Masters To Do Our Work For Us, And Then Blame Them Because They Work For Themselves And For Their Class.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Great Poetry Needs No Interpreter Other Than A Responsive Heart.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Character Cannot Be Developed In Ease And Quiet.

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

The Worst Thing In The World Is Not To Be Born Blind, But To Be Born With Sight, And Yet Have No Vision.

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

Your Success & Happiness Lies In You.

Success Happiness

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

Happiness Rarely Keeps Company With An Empty Stomach

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.

Remember, No Effort That We Make To Attain Something Beautiful Is Ever Lost.

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.

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

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.

There Is A Dangerous Optimism Of Ignorance And Indifference.

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!

Good Friends Walk In When The Old Ones Walk Out.

The Few Who Profit From The Labor Of The Masses Want To Organize The Workers Into An Army Which Will Protect The Interests Of The Capitalists.

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.

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.

My Friends Have Made The Story Of My Life.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

I Have Visited Sweatshops, Factories, And Crowded Slums. If I Could Not See It, I Could Smell It. The Foundation Of Society Is Laid Upon A Basis Of . . . Individualism, Conquest And Exploitation . . . A Social Order Such As This, Built Upon Such Wrong And Basic Principles, Is Bound To Retard The Development Of All. The Output Of A Cotton Mill Or A Coal Mine Is Considered Of Greater Importance Than The Production Of Healthy, Happy-hearted And Free Human Beings. We, The People, Are Not Free. Our Democracy Is But A Name.

A Smile Goes A Long Way, But You Must First Start It On Its Journey.

I Have Found Life So Beautiful.

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.

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

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.

Each Day Comes To Me With Both Hands Full Of Possibilities.

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.

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

I Believe War Is The Inevitable Fruit Of Our Economic System.

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.

College Isn't The Place To Go For Ideas.

Reality Even When It Is Sad Is Better Than Illusions. Illusions Are At The Mercy Of Any Winds That Blow. Real Happiness Must Come From Within, From A Fixed Purpose And Faith In One's Fellow Men.

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

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 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.

The Heresy Of One Age Becomes The Orthodoxy Of The Next.

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.

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.

Life Is A Succession Of Lessons Which Must Be Lived To Be Understood.

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.

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

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.

So Long As You Can Sweeten Another's Pain, Life Is Not In Vain.

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.

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

It Is Not Possible To Refer A Complex Difficulty To A Single Cause.

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

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

I Feel The Flame Of Eternity In My Soul.

A Good Education Is A Stepping-stone To Wealth.

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

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.

My Optimism Is Grounded In Two Worlds, Myself And What Is About Me. 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.

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.

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

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.

Blindness Is An Unfortunate Handicap But True Vision Does Not Require The Eyes.

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

Wonderful Friends

Speech Is The Birthright Of Every Child. It Is The Deaf Child's One Fair Chance To Keep In Touch With His Fellows.

That The Sky Is Brighter Than The Earth Means Little Unless The Earth Itself Is Appreciated And Enjoyed. Its Beauty Loved Gives The Right To Aspire To The Radiance Of The Sunrise And Sunset.

Be Not Dismayed; In The Future Lies The Promised Land.

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

Your Success And Happiness Lie In You.

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

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

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.

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.

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

Making A Mistake Is Falling Down; Failure Is Not Getting Up Again.

Making Mistakes

I Don't Want To Live In A Hand -me -down World Of Others' Experiences. I Want To Write About Me, My Discoveries, My Fears, My Feelings, About Me.

The Fearful Are Caught As Often As The Bold.

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.

Certainly It Is One Of Our Sweetest Experiences That When We Are Touched By Some Noble Affection Or Pure Joy, We Remember The Dead Most Tenderly, And Feel More Powerfully Drawn To Them.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

Truly I Have Looked In The Very Heart Of Darkness And Refused To Yield To Its Paralyzing Influence, But In Spirit I Am One Of Those Who Walk The Morning.

Happiness Does Not Come From Without, It Comes From Within

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.

The Worst Thing Is To Be Born Sighted But To Lack Vision.

The Idea Of Brotherhood Re-dawns Upon The World With A Broader Significance Than The Narrow Association Of Members In A Sect Or Creed.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

Defeat Is Simply A Signal To Press Onward.

The Struggle Of Life Is One Of Our Greatest Blessings. It Makes Us Patient, Sensitive, And Godlike. It Teaches Us That Although The World Is Full Of Suffering, It Is Also Full Of The Overcoming Of It.

The Continued Lynchings And Other Crimes Against Negroes, Whether In New England Or The South, And Unspeakable Political Exponents Of White Supremacy, According To All Recorded History, Augur Ill For America's Future.

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.

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

Your Success And Happiness Lie In You. External Conditions Are The Accidents Of Life, Its Outer Trappings.

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

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!

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

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

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.

We Should Not Think Of Conversion As The Acceptance Of A Particular Creed, But As A Change Of Heart.

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

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

One Painful Duty Fulfilled Makes The Next Plainer And Easier.

Self Discipline

Look The World Straight In The Eye.

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.

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

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

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

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

When One Door Closes, Another One Opens, But Sometimes We Wait Too Long Looking At The Closed Door, And Never Realize That Another Door Has Been Opened.

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

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.

Four Things To Learn In Life: To Think Clearly Without Hurry Or Confusion; To Love Everybody Sincerely; To Act In Everything With The Highest Motives; To Trust God Unhesitatingly.

To Get Congress To Do Anything.

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.

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.

If I Am Happy In Spite Of My Deprivations, If My Happiness Is So Deep That It Is A Faith, So Thoughtful That It Becomes A Philosophy Of Life. If, In Short, I Am An Optimist, My Testimony To The Creed Of Optimism Is Worth Hearing.

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

Faith Is A Mockery If It Does Not Teach Us That We Can Build A More Complete And Beautiful World.

Life Is An Adventure Or Nothing

Life Is An Adventure

Even If You Have A Problem, You Don't Need To Be One.

Life Is An Exciting Business, And Most Exciting When It Is Lived For Others.

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

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 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.

Happiness Calls Out Responsive Gladness In Others. There Is Enough Sadness In The World Without Yours ... Never Doubt The Excellence And Permanence Of What Is Yet To Be. Join The Great Company Of Those Who Make The Barren Places Of Life Fruitful With Kindness.

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

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.

Burn Brightly Without Burning Out. Throw Your Heart Over The Fense And The Rest Will Follow. Keep Your Face To The Sunshine And You Wont See The Shadows

Positive Thinking

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.

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

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

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

The Heresy Of One Age Becomes The Orthodoxy Of The Next. Mere Tolerance Has Given Place To A Sentiment Of Brotherhood Between Sincere Men Of All Denominations.

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

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.

Toleration Is The Greatest Gift Of The Mind; It Requires The Same Effort Of The Brain That It Takes To Balance Oneself On A Bicycle.

Deep, Solemn Optimism, It Seems To Me, Should Spring From This Firm Belief In The Presence Of God In The Individual; Not A Remote, Unapproachable Governor Of The Universe, But A God Who Is Very Near Every One Of Us, Who Is Present Not Only In Earth, Sea And Sky, But Also In Every Pure And Noble Impulse Of Our Hearts.

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.

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

Wonder Of Nature

The True Task Is To Unite And Organize All Workers...and It Is The Workers Themselves Who Must Secure Freedom For Themselves.

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.

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

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

More Than At Any Other Time, When I Hold A Beloved Book In My Hand My Limitations Fall From Me, My Spirit Is Free.

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.

Life Is Either A Great Adventure Or Nothing.

It Is A Terrible Thing To See And Have No Vision.

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

All The World Is Full Of Suffering. It Is Also Full Of Overcoming.

During The First Nineteen Months Of My Life I Had Caught Glimpses Of Broad, Green Fields, A Luminous Sky, Trees And Flowers Which The Darkness That Followed Could Not Wholly Blot Out. If We Have Once Seen, "the Day Is Ours, And What The Day Has Shown."

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.

The Most Important Day I Remember In All My Life Is The One On Which My Teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, Came To Me. I Am Filled With Wonder When I Consider The Immeasurable Contrasts Between The Two Lives Which It Connects. It Was The Third Of March, 1887, Three Months Before I Was Seven Years Old.

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.

Happiness Is The Final And Perfect Fruit Of Obedience To The Laws Of Life.

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

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.

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

Knowing Who You Are

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

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

I Can Not Do Everything, But I Can Do Something. I Must Not Fail To Do The Something That I Can Do.

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