WIST

The highest result of education is tolerance.

Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
“Optimism” (1903)

[P]eople marvel when I tell them that I am happy. They imagine that my limitations weigh heavily upon my spirit, and chain me to the rock of despair. Yet, it seems to me, happiness has very little to do with the senses. 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.

Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
“The Dreams That Come True,” Personality (Dec 1927)

Sometimes abridged as: "Many people marvel when I tell them I am happy. They imagine that my limitations weigh heavily upon my spirit. Yet, it seemst o me that happiness has very little to do with the senses. If we make up our minds that this is a drab and purposeless universe, it will be that. On the other hand, if we believe that the world is ouirs, that the sun and moon hang in the sky for our delight, there will be joy."

Full text.

An opportunity to do kindness is too precious to neglect.

Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
(Attributed)

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart.

Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
(Attributed)

We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.

Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
(Attributed)

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.

Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
(Attributed)

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature. … Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
(Attributed)

No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.

Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
(Attributed)

There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his.

Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
(Attributed)

I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.

Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
(Attributed)
Attributed in Charles L. Wallis, The Treasure Chest (1983). Not verified.

What we have once enjoyed we can never lose.
All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.

Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
(Attributed)

Discouraged not by difficulties without, or the anguish of ages within, the heart listens to a secret voice that whispers, “Be not dismayed; in the future lies the Promised Land.”

Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
(Attributed)
In Upton Sinclair, ed., The Cry for Justice, ch. 4 (1915)

I do not want the peace which passeth understanding. I want the understanding which bringeth peace.

Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
(Attributed)
See Bible, Philippians 4:7.

Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.

Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
Let Us Have Faith (1940)

We should not think of conversion as the acceptance of a particular creed, but as a change of heart.

Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
My Religion, ch. 6 (1927)

No loss of flood and lightning, no destruction of cities and temples by hostile forces of nature, has deprived man of so many noble lives and impulses as those which his intolerance has destroyed.

Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
Optimism, ch. 2 (1903)

Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.

Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
Optimism, Part 1 (1903)

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.

Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
The Open Door (1957)