Birthday: June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama, USA
Birth Name: Helen Adams Keller
Height: 170 cm
Helen Keller contracted a virulent childhood disease which resulted in complete loss of sight and hearing at nineteen months. Her parents futilely sought help for her, as did family friend Alexander Graham Bell. Finally, when Keller was seven, Annie Sullivan, a young teacher, was hired by the family. Through a system involving a constant physical c...
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Helen Keller contracted a virulent childhood disease which resulted in complete loss of sight and hearing at nineteen months. Her parents futilely sought help for her, as did family friend Alexander Graham Bell. Finally, when Keller was seven, Annie Sullivan, a young teacher, was hired by the family. Through a system involving a constant physical contact with Sullivan, a touch alphabet "spelled" into Keller's hand, persistence, faith, and love - detailed in Miracle en Alabama (1962) - Keller suddenly and amazingly understood; she quickly and efficiently learned language, and the world opened to her. She asked to be taught to speak at the age of ten. With Sullivan's important emotional and intellectual support, Keller's development took off. Keller graduated - cum laude - from Radcliffe College in 1904. Sullivan was her companion until her death in 1936. Helen Keller wrote prolifically, traveled widely, lectured on various personal, political, and academic topics, and was awarded numerous honorary degrees from universities around the world. She died in 1968, one of the most famous and widely-admired women of our time. Show less «
On change: We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.
On change: We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.
One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.
One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt wi...Show more »
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart. Show less «
Instead of comparing our lot with that of those who are more fortunate than we are, we should compar...Show more »
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. Show less «
I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as t...Show more »
I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of it's heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker. Show less «
Life is a daring adventure or nothing. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in natur...Show more »
Life is a daring adventure or nothing. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature. Show less «
On the "White Hurricane Storm" in November 1913 in Cleveland, Ohio: I knew it was storming before I ...Show more »
On the "White Hurricane Storm" in November 1913 in Cleveland, Ohio: I knew it was storming before I was told. The rooms, the corridors, everywhere within this building vibrates with the power of the storm outside. The storm waves, like sound waves or the waves of the wireless, will not be denied by stone walls and plate glass windows. Show less «
Although the world is very full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.
Although the world is very full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.
I have always thought it would be a blessing if each person could be blind and deaf for a few days d...Show more »
I have always thought it would be a blessing if each person could be blind and deaf for a few days during his early adult life. Darkness would make him appreciate sight. Silence would teach him the joys of sound. Show less «
If I am an optimist, my testimony to the creed of optimism is worth hearing.
If I am an optimist, my testimony to the creed of optimism is worth hearing.
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
They took away what should have been my eyes (but I remembered Milton's Paradise). They took away wh...Show more »
They took away what should have been my eyes (but I remembered Milton's Paradise). They took away what should have been my ears, (Beethoven came and wiped away my tears) They took away what should have been my tongue, (but I had talked with god when I was young) He would not let them take away my soul, possessing that I still possess the whole. Show less «