100+ Strong Inspiring Helen Keller Quotes

Helen Keller is known for her famous works of literature and activism. Discover famous Helen Keller quotes on happiness, courage, and education.

By Katee Fletcher

Updated 4 years ago, January 21, 2021

American author Helen Adams Keller was born on June 27th, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. At the young age of 19 months, Keller permanently lost her sight and hearing. She became deaf and blind from an unknown illness, turning her into a disruptive and wild child. Looking back on her youth, she often stated that March 3rd, 1887 was a day that entirely changed her life. It was the day Anne Mansfield Sullivan came to be her teacher. Sullivan aimed to teach Keller to connect objects and words. This was done by giving objects to Keller and then signing into her hand what their names were.

Within a month, Keller had finally learned her first word, water, and from there, her education went swimmingly. By 1898, Keller entered the Cambridge School for Young Ladies to prepare herself to enter college. Within a year, she began school at Radcliffe College. She excelled in her academics, graduating cum laude in 1904 as the first deaf-blind person to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Primarily defining herself as an activist and author, she published her first book, The Story of My Life, in 1903 while attending Radcliffe. During her years, Helen Keller was a major activist for many causes. She fought for the women’s suffrage movement, civil rights, and the labor union movement. She served as an early member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). She also worked for the American Foundation for the Blind for over 40 years. Then she sat on the American Braille Press’s first board of directors. Not to mention, when the American Braille Press became the American Foundation for Overseas Blind, Keller was made the counselor of international relations.

She saddened many with her death on June 1st, 1968, but she left behind a large legacy to be remembered by. Being a deaf-blind person herself, she provided hope to many in the disabled community worldwide, touring over 35 countries, publishing 14 books and a plethora of articles, writing and delivering over 475 speeches, and receiving numerous awards such as the French Legion of Honor (1953), the Lions Humanitarian Award (1961), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1964), being elected into the Women’s Hall of Fame (1965), and receiving a variety of honorary degrees from around the world. Gain some inspiration by reading the best Helen Keller quotes below on life, happiness, and overcoming adversity. Discover a favorite Helen Keller quote to adore and some great inspirational quotes or enlightening sayings to share with friends or family.

Motivational Helen Keller Quotes on Life and Happiness

“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

“Life is short and unpredictable. Eat the dessert first.” – 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. The fearful are caught as often as the bold. Faith alone defends.” – Helen Keller

“It all comes to this: the simplest way to be happy is to do good.” – 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

“I take happiness very seriously. It is a creed, a philosophy, and an objective.” – Helen Keller

“There is joy in self-forgetfulness. So I try to make the light in others’ eyes my sun, the music in others’ ears my symphony, the smile on others’ lips my happiness.” – Helen Keller

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – 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

“As selfishness and complaint pervert and cloud the mind, so sex with its joy clears and sharpens the vision.” – 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

“Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.” – Helen Keller.

“The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight but no vision.” – 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

“No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars or sailed an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.” – Helen Keller

“Faith is a mockery if it does not teach us that we can build a more complete and beautiful world.” – Helen Keller

“Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into light.” – Helen Keller

“I believe in the immortality of the soul because I have within me immortal longings.” – Helen Keller

“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight and no vision.” – Helen Keller

“The chief handicap of the blind is not blindness, but the attitude of seeing people towards them.” – Helen Keller

“Relationships are like Rome — difficult to start out, incredible during the prosperity of the ‘golden age,’ and unbearable during the fall. Then, a new kingdom will come along, and the whole process will repeat itself until you come across a kingdom like Egypt… that thrives and continues to flourish. This kingdom will become your best friend, your soul mate, and your love.” – Helen Keller

“Joy is the holy fire that keeps our purpose warm and our intelligence aglow.” – Helen Keller

“What we once enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose. For all that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” – Helen Keller

“We are never really happy until we try to brighten the lives of others.” – Helen Keller

“Love is like a beautiful flower which I may not touch, but whose fragrance makes the garden a place of delight just the same.” – Helen Keller

“Knowledge is love and light and vision.” – Helen Keller

“Four things to learn in life: To think clearly without hurry or confusion; To love everybody sincerely; To act in everything with the highest motives; To trust God unhesitatingly.” – Helen Keller

“Each day comes to me with both hands full of possibilities.” – Helen Keller

“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.” – Helen Keller – Helen Keller

“Happiness is the final and perfect fruit of obedience to the laws of life.”

“Long before I learned to do a sum in arithmetic or describe the shape of the earth, Miss Sullivan had taught me to find beauty in the fragrant woods, in every blade of grass, and in the curves and dimples of my baby sister’s hand.” – Helen Keller

“It is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble.” – Helen Keller

“Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.” – Helen Keller

“There is no better way to thank God for your sight than by giving a helping hand to someone in the dark.” – Helen Keller

Strong Inspiring Helen Keller Quotes

“I believe that God is in me as the sun is in the color and fragrance of a flower – the Light in my darkness, the Voice in my silence.” – Helen Keller

“I am thankful that in a troubled world, no calamity can prevent the return of spring.” – Helen Keller

“Never bend your head. Hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.” – 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

“No one has the right to consume happiness without producing it.” – Helen Keller

“You cannot touch love, but you can feel the sweetness it pours into everything.” – Helen Keller

“I rejoice to live in such a splendidly disturbing time!” – Helen Keller

“What a strange life I lead— a kind of Cinderella-life—half glitter in crystal shoes, half mice and cinders! But it is a wonderful life all the same.” – Helen Keller

Encouraging Helen Keller Quotes on Courage and Overcoming Adversity

“I am younger today than I was at twenty-five. Of course, the furrows of suffering have been dug deeper, but so have those of understanding sympathy and inner happiness. Whatever age may do to my earthly shell, I shall never grow cynical or indifferent—and one cannot measure the reserve power locked up in that assurance.” – 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

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” – Helen Keller

“Be of good cheer. Do not think of today’s failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere, and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.” – Helen Keller

“We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world.” – Helen Keller

“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

“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” – Helen Keller

“The world is not moved only by the mighty shoves of the heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.” – 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

“We bereaved are not alone. We belong to the largest company in all the world – the company of those who have known suffering.” – Helen Keller

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” – Helen Keller

“The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome. The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful if there were no dark valleys to traverse.” – Helen Keller

Beautiful Quotes by Hellen Keller

“A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships.” – Helen Keller

“The infinite wonders of the universe are revealed to us in exact measure as we are capable of receiving them. The keenness of our vision depends not on how much we can see, but on how much we feel.” – Helen Keller

“It has been said that life has treated me harshly, and sometimes I have complained in my heart because many pleasures of human experience have been withheld from me… if much has been denied me, much, very much, has been given me…” – Helen Keller

“We can do anything we want to if we stick to it long enough.” – Helen Keller

“The struggle of life is one of our greatest blessings. It makes us patient, sensitive, and Godlike. It teaches us that although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” – Helen Keller

“Keep your face to the sunshine, and you cannot see a shadow.” – 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

“All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming.” – Helen Keller

“To keep on trying in spite of disappointment and failure is the only way to keep young and brave. Failures become victories if they make us wise-hearted.” – Helen Keller

“What really counts in life is the quiet meeting of every difficulty with the determination to get out of it all the good there is.” – Helen Keller

“While they were saying among themselves, it cannot be done; it was done.” – Helen Keller

“Toleration is the greatest gift of the mind; it requires the same effort of the brain that it takes to balance oneself on a bicycle.” – 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. It then appears that we are among the privileged.” – Helen Keller

“What I’m looking for is not out there; it is in me.” – Helen Keller

“Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.” – Helen Keller

“I do not want the peace that passeth understanding. I want the understanding which bringeth peace.” – Helen Keller

“I thank God for my handicaps for, through them, I have found myself, my work, and my God.” – Helen Keller

“Meanwhile, the desire to express myself grew. The few signs I used became less and less adequate, and my failures to make myself understood were invariably followed by outbursts of passion.” – 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

“We have prayed, we have coaxed, we have begged, for the vote, with the hope that men, out of chivalry, would bestow equal rights upon women and take them into partnership in the affairs of the state. We hoped that their common sense would triumph over prejudices and stupidity. We thought their boasted sense of justice would overcome the errors that so often fetter the human spirit, but we have always gone away empty-handed. We shall beg no more.” – Helen Keller

“A person who is severely impaired never knows his hidden sources of strength until he is treated like a normal human being and encouraged to shape his own life.” – Helen Keller

“Until the great mass of the people shall be filled with a sense of responsibility for each other’s welfare, social justice can never be attained.” – Helen Keller

“Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them, but do not let them master you. Let them teach you patience, sweetness, insight.” – Helen Keller

“Unless we can help the world where we are, we could not help it if we were somewhere else.” – Helen Keller

“He who is content with what has been done is an obstacle in the path of progress.” – Helen Keller

“Unless we form the habit of going to the Bible in bright moments as well as in trouble, we cannot fully respond to its consolations because we lack equilibrium between light and darkness.” – Helen Keller

“The heart of a friend gives out sufficient light for us in the dark to rise by.” – Helen Keller

“The true test of a character is to face hard conditions with the determination to make them better.” – Helen Keller

Motivational Helen Keller Quotes on Literature and Education

“The highest result of education is tolerance.” – Helen Keller

“Education should train the child to use his brains, to make for himself a place in the world and maintain his rights even when it seems that society would shove him into the scrap-heap.” – Helen Keller

“The bulk of the world’s knowledge is an imaginary construction.” – Helen Keller

“The living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free!” – Helen Keller

“When one reads hurriedly and nervously, having in mind written tests and examinations, one’s brain becomes encumbered with a lot of bric-a-brac for which there seems to be little use.” – Helen Keller

“If I write what my soul thinks, it will be visible, and the words will be its body.” – Helen Keller

“Great poetry needs no interpreter other than a responsive heart.” – Helen Keller

“Trying to write is very much like trying to put a Chinese puzzle together. We have a pattern in mind which we wish to work out in words, but the words will not fit the spaces, or, if they do, they will not match the design.” – Helen Keller

“Literature is my Utopia.” – Helen Keller

“True teaching cannot be learned from textbooks any more than a surgeon can acquire his skill by reading about surgery.” – 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

“Every child has a right to be well-born, well-nurtured, and well-taught, and only the freedom of woman can guarantee him this right.” – Helen Keller

“What do I consider a teacher should be? One who breathes life into knowledge so that it takes new form in progress and civilization.” – Helen Keller

Other Quotes by 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

“People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions. Conclusions are not always pleasant.” – Helen Keller

“Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there’s a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see.” – Helen Keller

“You don’t love someone for their looks, or their clothes, or for their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear.” – 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

“Everything has its wonders, even darkness, and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.” – Helen Keller

“One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.” – Helen Keller

“Many people know so little about what is beyond their short range of experience. They look within themselves – and find nothing! Therefore they conclude that there is nothing outside themselves either.” – Helen Keller

“I believe humility is a virtue, but I prefer not to use it unless it is absolutely necessary.” – Helen Keller