77 quotes
Many persons have a wrong of idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
Helen Keller's Journal: 1936-1937 (1938)
Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world.
Optimism is the harmony between man's spirit and the spirit of God pronouncing His works good.
Optimism (1903)
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.
Let Us Have Faith (1940)
I had now the key to all language, and I was eager to learn to use it.
It is a mistake always to contemplate the good and ignore the evil, because by making people neglectful it lets in disaster. There is a dangerous optimism of ignorance and indifference.
Optimism (1903)
Virgil is serene and lovely like a marble Apollo in the moonlight; Homer is a beautiful, animated youth in the full sunlight with the wind in his hair.
It is wonderful how much time good people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow men, the devil would die in his own tracks of ennui.
Tolerance is the first principle of community; it is the spirit which conserves the best that all men think.
Optimism (1903)
No matter how dull, or how mean, or how wise a man is, he feels that happiness is his indisputable right.
Optimism (1903)
Happiness is the final and perfect fruit of obedience to the laws of life.
The Simplest Way to be Happy (1933)
I feel the delicate symmetry of a leaf. I pass my hands lovingly about the smooth skin of a silver birch, or the rough shaggy bark of a pine.
Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much.
Our puny sentimentalism has caused us to forget that a human life is sacred only when it may be of some use to itself and to the world.
It all comes to this: the simplest way to be happy is to do good.
The Simplest Way to be Happy (1933)
I feel the delightful, velvety texture of a flower, and discover its remarkable convolutions; and something of the miracle of Nature is revealed to me.
Three Days to See (1933)
To know the history of philosophy is to know that the highest thinkers of the ages, the seers of the tribes and the nations, have been optimists. The growth of philosophy is the story of man's spiritual life.
Optimism (1903)
I have found out that though the ways in which I can make myself useful are few, yet the work open to me is endless.
Optimism (1903)
I who cannot see find hundreds of things to interest me through mere touch.
Three Days to See (1933)
The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.