Last Updated on September 6, 2024
Helen Keller was a known author and political activist. She was blind-deaf but was highly influential. She used her literary voice to influence Americans and other people worldwide. She particularly had a soft spot for underdogs.
She consistently wrote to encourage them. Aside from these, she was also concerned with the human rights of workers. She also wrote about women and power often.
Early Days and Family Life
Helen Adams Keller was born in Alabama on June 27, 1880. She was born a healthy girl. But before she turned two, she suddenly lost her sight and hearing. Her parents, Colonel Alexander Keller and Kate Adams Keller, were not able to find out the illness that stroke their daughter.
Growing up as a young kid, Helen was known to be restless and wild. She often threw tantrums and those around her found it difficult to deal with her temper.
She was said to have caused headache to the elderly because she was spoiled. She liked having things her way. She was rough and unruly as a child. However, she met someone in her childhood days who changed her life for the better.
Young Helen and Her Mentor
Keller met Anne Sullivan when she was seven. Sullivan was twenty and is an alumnus of the Perkins School for the Blind in Massachusetts. Like her student Keller, Sullivan was also suffering from her vision then.
Because Sullivan hailed from a family of poor immigrants, they did not have the financial capacity to pay for quality healthcare. She had undergone many “cheap” surgeries that cost her many complications. Fortunately, in the end, she was able to regain her sight partially.
Sullivan saw Keller’s potential and knew that she was a very smart child. Naturally, Sullivan wanted to cultivate a positive attitude first before anything else.
She knew exactly how to tame the young Keller. As a teacher, Sullivan did not deprive Keller of her freedom as a youth. Rather, she found a way to connect with her and get her to understand the importance of obedience.
The Sullivan Connection
Sullivan first taught Keller by scribbling words on her hand. Their first “activity” was with a doll Sullivan personally brought for Keller. She then spelled out the word “doll” on Helen’s palm. This has become her signature style of teaching.
Keller adapted positively and enthusiastically to this unique method. As a teacher, Sullivan wanted Keller to connect with things rather than just knowing them. Keller was deeply moved by this and since then felt something special towards letters and words.
Blindness did not stop Keller from appreciating the things she could not see. Sullivan took her to the Horace Mann School for the Deaf in Boston. However, as a student, she was disappointed in herself. She thought that her speaking voice was rather inaudible despite her efforts.
Education and Calling
Keller knew the importance of education at such a young age. This was mostly because of the influence of Sullivan. However, the initiative was all hers. She was thinking of nothing but attending college. She was able to do so in 1898.
The Cambridge School for Young Ladies took her in. Eventually, she entered Radcliffe College and obtained a degree in Bachelor of Arts in 1904. During her stay at Radcliffe, she began to take interest in writing.
She practiced translating her deep thoughts into words. It was her calling. It has been with her ever since the day she had the word “doll” spelled on her palm.
She knew then that it was a gift she should truly nurture. She also graduated as a cum laude. She was the first deaf-blind person in history to get a college degree.
The Force Behind the Pen
Keller has always been upfront about what she wants and what she stands for. She knew she wanted to learn many words, so she asked. She knew she wanted to study, so she did.
Another thing she stood up for was the truth. She made sure every word she wrote conveyed the truth. In addition, she wanted to encourage others to practice speaking it, too.
Lasting Legacy
For forty long years, Keller worked with the American Foundation for the Blind. It was through the foundation that she got her voice to be heard across the globe. Her priority was to provide help to people like her, people whose vision were impaired.
Her consistent effort paid off and brought a lot of success to the foundation. This success translated into tangible sources of help for the blind.
Through her massive effort, rehabilitation centers were built. Statewide commissions were also created and given proper attention. Education for blind people became more accessible and of high quality.
She became the ambassador of the Permanent Blind War Relief Fund in 1915. The organization is currently known as Helen Keller International. She toured the world and met with influential global leaders. Her most famous work was her autobiography called “The Story of My Life”.
Her piece still continues to inspire people and she is still admired by many. Her autobiography has reached over sixty different nationalities through translations.
She also wrote a book about Sullivan called “Teacher, Anne Sullivan Macy”. She wrote about six other books. She was also a contributor to local newspapers and magazines.
Here are several of Helen Keller’s most memorable quotes:
Helen Keller Quotes
“No one has a right to consume happiness without producing it.” – Helen Keller
“No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.” – Helen Keller
“True education combines intellect, beauty, goodness, and the greatest of these is goodness.” – Helen Keller
“When we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.” – Helen Keller
“Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.” – Helen Keller
“We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough.” – Helen Keller
“It is said that success is happiness. I think goodwill and service to all men are the true kind of happiness.” – Helen Keller
“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” – Helen Keller
“The best and most beautiful thing in life is friendship that springs out of the heart, as fragrances out of the flower.” – Helen Keller
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller
“To keep our faces toward change, and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate, is strength undefeatable.” – Helen Keller
“One can never consent to creep when one feels the impulse to soar.” – Helen Keller
“Life is either a great adventure or nothing.” – Helen Keller
“We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.” – Helen Keller
“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” – Helen Keller
“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” – Helen Keller
“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.” – Helen Keller
“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope.” – Helen Keller
“Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.” – Helen Keller
“Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.” – Helen Keller
“What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” – Helen Keller
“As selfishness and complaint pervert the mind, so love with its joy clears and sharpens the vision.” – Helen Keller
“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
“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
“What really counts in life is the quiet meeting of every difficulty with determination to get out of it all the good there is.” – Helen Keller
“Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world.” – Helen Keller
“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
“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.” – Helen Keller
“The highest result of education is tolerance.” – Helen Keller
“I seldom think about my limitations, and they never make me sad. Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times; but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers.” – Helen Keller
“I am thankful that in a troubled world no calamity can prevent the return of spring.” – Helen Keller
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” – Helen Keller
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller
“Every one of us is blind and deaf until our eyes are opened to our fellowmen, until our ears hear the voices of humanity.” – Helen Keller
“It is not blindness or deafness that bring me my darkest hours. It is the acute disappointment in not being able to speak normally. Longingly I feel how much more good I may have done, if I had only acquired normal speech. But out of this sorrowful experience I understand more clearly all human striving, wanted ambitions, and infinite capacity of hope.” – Helen Keller
“What induces a child to learn but his delight in knowing?” – Helen Keller
“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.” – Helen Keller
“Tyranny cannot defeat the power of ideas.” – Helen Keller
“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
“No matter how dull, or how mean, or how wise a man is, he feels that happiness is his indisputable right.” – Helen Keller
“Happiness is the final and perfect fruit of obedience to the laws of life.” – Helen Keller
“We are never really happy until we try to brighten the lives of others.” – Helen Keller
“Believe, when you are most unhappy, that there is something for you to do in the world. So long as you can sweeten another’s pain, life is not in vain.” – Helen Keller
“I take happiness very seriously. It is a creed, a philosophy and an objective.” – Helen Keller
“If we do not like our work, and do not try to get happiness out of it, we are a menace to our profession as well as to ourselves.” – Helen Keller
“It all comes to this: the simplest way to be happy is to do good.” – Helen Keller
“Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.” – Helen Keller
“Happiness is a state of mind, and depends very little on outward circumstances. Cultivate happiness in yourself and in others, and you will wonder at the beauty, the richness, the power that come from you through your bright spirit.” – Helen Keller
“I do not want the peace that passes understanding. I want the understanding which bringeth peace.” – Helen Keller
“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.” – Helen Keller
“I really care for nothing in the world but liberty in all the departments of life – liberty to grow mentally and spiritually, untrampled by tradition and arbitrary standards.” – Helen Keller
“If we don’t make the most of ourselves, how can we expect to be made much of by others?” – Helen Keller
“The true test of a character is to face hard conditions with the determination to make them better.” – Helen Keller
“True teaching cannot be learned from text-books any more than a surgeon can acquire his skill by reading about surgery.” – Helen Keller
“I seldom think about my limitations, and they never make me sad. Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times; but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers.” – Helen Keller
“Instead of comparing our lot with that of those who are more fortunate than we are, we should compare it with the lot of the great majority of our fellow men.” – Helen Keller
“It gives me a deep, comforting sense that ‘things seen are temporal and things unseen are eternal.” – Helen Keller
“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.” – Helen Keller
“It is not required of every man and woman to do or be something great. Most of us have to be content to take small parts in the drama of life.” – Helen Keller
“The power of effecting changes for the better is within ourselves, not in the favorableness of circumstances.” – Helen Keller
“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.” – Helen Keller
“The world is sown with good; but unless I turn my glad thoughts into practical living and till my own field, I can not reap a kernel of good.” – Helen Keller
“Unless we can help the world where we are, we could not help it if we were somewhere else.” – Helen Keller
“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.” – Helen Keller
“What life can be more satisfying than to think high thoughts undisturbed and keep one’s spirit in the strong, simple wisdom of nature’s ways?” – Helen Keller
“People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions. Conclusions are not always pleasant.” – Helen Keller
“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.” – Helen Keller
“Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything good in the world.” – Helen Keller
“Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousand of miles and all the years you have lived.” – Helen Keller
“Optimism that does not count the cost is like a house built on sand.” – Helen Keller
“Only through joy and suffering can the soul be strengthened ambition inspired and success achieved.” – Helen Keller
“Every optimist moves along with progress and hastens it, while every pessimist would keep the world at a standstill.” – Helen Keller
“People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions. Conclusions are not always pleasant.” – Helen Keller
“No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars or sailed to an uncharted land or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.” – Helen Keller
“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.” – Helen Keller
“Only people count. Only people who think and feel and work together make civilization.” – Helen Keller
“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.” – Helen Keller
“More than at any other time, when I hold a beloved book in my hand my limitations fall from me, my spirit is free.” – Helen Keller
“Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.” – Helen Keller
“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” – Helen Keller
“Of all the senses, sight must be the most delightful.” – Helen Keller
“When you lose your vision, you lose contact with things. When you lose your hearing, you lose contact with people.” – Helen Keller
“No doubt the reason is that character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” – Helen Keller
“As selfishness and complaint pervert the mind, so love with its joy clears and sharpens the vision.” – Helen Keller
“Knowledge is love and light and vision.” – Helen Keller
