7 Bits about Optimism from Helen Keller

Not long ago, I acquired a used book about Helen Keller and her teacher, Annie Sullivan, at a library sale. Reading it, I was greatly impressed with all that Helen Keller accomplished in her lifetime, even while existing in what we think would have been a dark, silent world. Helen Keller was able to fill her world with sunlight through her own attitude.

At the age of 23, Helen Keller published her essay called “Optimism.” If someone with such physical adversity could have such a positive outlook, surely we can, too. Here are seven memorable quotes from “Optimism,” which is free on Kindle.

1. But since I consider it a duty to myself and to others to be happy, I escape a misery worse than any physical deprivation.
2. Who shall dare let his incapacity for hope or goodness cast a shadow upon the courage of those who bear their burdens as if they were privileges?
3. I long to accomplish a great and noble task; but it is my chief duty and joy to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble.
4. Doubt and mistrust are the mere panic of timid imagination, which the steadfast heart will conquer, and the large mind transcend.
5. Thus my optimism is grounded in two worlds, myself and what is about me. I demand that the world be good, and lo, it obeys. I proclaim the world good, and facts range themselves to prove my proclamation overwhelmingly true. To what is good I open the doors of my being, and jealously shut them against what is bad.
6. Although there are still great evils which have not been subdued, and the optimist is not blind to them, yet he is full of hope.
7. Every optimist moves along with progress and hastens it, while every pessimist would keep the world at a standstill.

There you have it. Seven bits about optimism from Helen Keller. Surely, even if we are faced with challenges and problems, the way we decide to look at the world shapes it for us.

Ann Silverthorn writes about a wide variety of topics in numerous genres. She’s currently working on a biography of William E. Dimorier (1871-1951), a nearly forgotten poet and educator, who dedicated his life to the betterment of young people.

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