The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.

Everybody talks, nobody listens. Good listeners are as rare as white crows.

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

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

Tyranny cannot defeat the power of ideas.

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.

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?