The Wisdom Letter #077

5 quotes from Helen Keller (1880–1968)

✹ For today's Wisdom Letter, we have carefully curated five bite-sized quotes from the American author, Helen Keller (1880–1968).

Quote № 01:

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it. My optimism, then, does not rest on the absence of evil, but on a glad belief in the preponderance of good and a willing effort always to cooperate with the good, that it may prevail.”

— Helen Keller, “Optimism”

Quote № 02:

“Strike against war, for without you no battles can be fought. Strike against manufacturing shrapnel and gas bombs and all other tools of murder. Strike against preparedness that means death and misery to millions of human beings. Be not dumb, obedient slaves in an army of destruction. Be heroes in an army of construction.”

— Helen Keller

Quote № 03:

“Most people measure their happiness in terms of physical pleasure and material possession. Could they win some visible goal which they have set on the horizon, how happy they would be! Lacking this gift or that circumstance, they would be miserable. If happiness is to be so measured, I who cannot hear or see have every reason to sit in a corner with folded hands and weep. If I am happy in spite of my deprivations, if my happiness is so deep that it is a faith, so thoughtful that it becomes a philosophy of life, — if, in short, I am an optimist, my testimony to the creed of optimism is worth hearing.”

— Helen Keller, “Optimism”

Quote № 04:

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

— Helen Keller, “The Simplest Way to be Happy”

Quote № 05:

“I who am blind can give one hint to those who see — one admonition to those who would make full use of the gift of sight: Use your eyes as if tomorrow you would be stricken blind. And the same method can be applied to other senses. Hear the music of voices, the song of a bird, the mighty strains of an orchestra, as if you would be stricken deaf to-morrow. Touch each object you want to touch as if tomorrow your tactile sense would fail. Smell the perfume of flowers, taste with relish each morsel, as if tomorrow you could never smell and taste again. Make the most of every sense; glory in all the facets of pleasure and beauty which the world reveals to you through the several means of contact which Nature provides.”

— Helen Keller, “Three Days to See”

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✺ Today’s Questions

Three philosophical questions to foster your curiosity:

Question № 01:

Is optimism inherently beneficial, or can it sometimes lead to detrimental outcomes? How do we balance positive thinking with realistic expectations?

Question № 02:

Is happiness a fleeting emotion or a sustainable state of being? How do we define and measure true happiness in our lives?

Question № 03:

How does pessimism influence our relationships with others? Does it foster deeper connections through shared vulnerability, or does it create barriers and distance?

✽ Thank you for reading today’s Wisdom Letter.

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