While the world might recognize Helen Keller‘s name because of her disabilities, this author, political activist, and strong advocate for disability rights never let her challenges with communication slow her down. In fact, Keller is known as one of the most talented writers of her time and is respected for being extremely insightful and optimistic. Despite being blind and deaf, we still refer to Helen Keller quotes for everything from overcoming challenges to respecting human life.
Born in Alabama, Keller lost her sight and hearing after surviving a serious illness when she was only 19 months old. While her family did their best to help Keller learn and communicate, it wasn’t until seven-year-old Keller met her first teacher, Anne Sullivan, that she finally began to understand language. The process was tedious, but Keller eventually learned to speak and understand other people’s speaking using the Tadoma method.
With Sullivan always by her side, Keller completed several levels of education and became the first deaf and blind person to achieve a Bachelor of Arts degree. This was a monumental accomplishment, but it was only the beginning for Keller. She developed a passion for learning and literature. At the time of her death, she had written 14 books along with hundreds of published speeches and essays.
Keller used her voice to campaign for disability rights, women’s rights, and world peace. Her method of communication was different than those around her, but her perseverance and refusal to ever be silenced has inspired millions. We continue to celebrate her legacy by recognizing Helen Keller quotes in all facets of life.
Here are the most notable Helen Keller quotes from her books, essays, and everyday life.
1. “What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.”
2. “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.”
3. “Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.”
4. “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”
5. “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.”
6. “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.”
7. “Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.”
8. “Life is either a great adventure or nothing.”
9. “Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.”
10. “The highest result of education is tolerance.”
11. “Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.”
12. “No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.”
13. “What I am looking for is not out there. It is in me.”
14. “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.”
15. “The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision.”
16. “Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world.”
17. “Life is an exciting business, and most exciting when it is lived for others.”
18. “People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions. Conclusions are not always pleasant.”
19. “Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousands of miles and all the years you have lived.”
20. “The heresy of one age becomes the orthodoxy of the next.”
21. “There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his.”
22. “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. It then appears that we are among the privileged.”
23. “No one has a right to consume happiness without producing it.”
24. “When one door closes, another opens. But we often look so regretfully upon the closed door that we don’t see the one that has opened for us.”
25. “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.”
While life is never easy, these Helen Keller quotes remind us to always look for the good and to strive for better. Share this list with friends and family to spread the message that life is always worth living.
