Helen Keller (1880-1968)

Helen Adams Keller was an American author, disability rights advocate, political activist and lecturer. Born in West Tuscumbia, Alabama, she lost her sight and her hearing after a bout of illness when she was 19 months old. She then communicated primarily using home signs until the age of seven, when she met her first teacher and life-long companion Anne Sullivan. Sullivan taught Keller language, including reading and writing. After an education at both specialist and mainstream schools, Keller attended Radcliffe College of Harvard University and became the first deafblind person in the United States to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Quotes

Many persons have the wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
Not the senses I have but what I do with them is my kingdom.
College isn't the place to go for ideas.

Education, Ideas
The world is moved not only by the mighty shoves of the heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.
No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.
When one door of happiness closes, another one opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened to us.
Keep your eyes to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows.
Is there anything worse than being blind? Yes, a man with sight and no vision.
People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions. Conclusions are not always pleasant.
Tyranny cannot defeat the power of ideas.
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.
Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything good in the world.
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.
I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.
When one door of happiness closes, another one opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.
We would never learn to be patient if there were only joy in the world.
Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it.
Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.

Friendship
The world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming it.

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

Beauty