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.
Helen KellerAlthough the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it. My optimism, then, does not rest on the absence of evil, but on a glad belief in the preponderance of good and a willing effort always to cooperate with the good, that it may prevail.
Helen KellerIf 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.
Helen KellerIt 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.
Helen KellerWe, 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.
Helen KellerDuring 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."
Helen KellerI 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.
Helen KellerRelationships 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.
Helen KellerFor, 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.
Helen KellerBe happy, talk happiness. Happiness calls out responsive gladness in others. There is enough sadness in the world without yours.
Helen KellerEverything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.
Helen KellerDeath 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.
Helen KellerTo me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug.
Helen KellerMy friends have made the story of my life. In a thousand ways they have turned my limitations into beautiful privileges.
Helen KellerEducation 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.
Helen KellerThe country is governed for the richest, for the corporations, the bankers, the land speculators, and for the exploiters of labor.
Helen KellerBe not dumb, obedient slaves in an army of destruction. Be heroes in an army of construction.
Helen KellerDoubts and mistrust are the mere panic of timid imagination, which the steadfast heart will conquer, and the large mind transcend.
Helen KellerFew pleasures there are indeed without an aftertouch of pain, but that is the preservation which keeps them sweet.
Helen KellerThere is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his.
Helen KellerI 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.
Helen KellerPoverty is the fundamental cause of most of the physical, moral and economic ills of humanity.
Helen KellerWhat could be worse than being born without sight? Being born with sight and no vision.
Helen KellerThe 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.
Helen KellerEvery one of us is blind and deaf until our eyes are opened to our fellowmen, until our ears hear the voice of humanity.
Helen KellerTrying 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.
Helen KellerThere 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.
Helen KellerI could never stay long enough on the shore; the tang of the untainted, fresh, and free sea air was like a cool, quieting thought.
Helen Keller