Optimism: An Essay |
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I just the love the spirit and optimism of Helen Keller. As I was reading her essay, I had to keep reminding myself
That this giant of a spirit is blind and deaf. It is truly the greatest courage I have known. The
Spirit of Helen is the spirit of God, as he lives in her and talks in her.
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All 7 reviews »This book has brought a lot of attention to me about Helen Keller herself. It has defined the one and only true story of living with the disabilities of being deaf and blind. This book has truly changed my way of thinking towards Helen Keller and others dealing with currently the same problems faced with being deaf and blind.
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Common terms and phrases
achievement afflicted ages America beautiful become believe better blind century civilization cold confidence courage creed crime darkness deaf death desire doubt dreams dull earth efforts evil eyes face facts faith feel felt field glad hand happiness hear heart heaven hold hope human hundred Idea ideals ignorance keep knew knowledge labor laid land laughed leap learned light live longer look man's mean measure meets ment mighty million mind moved never noble Once optimism optimist pain past peace pessimist philosophy poor practical principle progress prophet reach realities reason recognize refuge regard rejoice remember rest restore seek sense shut society soul spirit stand struggle suffering sure task teach things thought thousand tion true trust truth turned universe whole wonderful
Popular passages
Page 17 - Produce! Produce! Were it but the pitifullest infinitesimal fraction of a Product, produce it, in God's name ! 'Tis the utmost thou hast in thee : out with it, then. Up, up ! Whatsoever thy hand rindeth to do, do it with thy whole might. Work while it is called To-day; for the Night cometh, wherein no man can work.
Page 19 - 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.
Page 19 - Green, the historian,1 tells us that the world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker; and that thought alone suffices to guide me in this dark world and wide.
Page 15 - It lets us into the soul of things and teaches us that although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.
Page 11 - God, so one who is called afflicted may rise up in gladness of conviction and testify to the goodness of life. Once I knew the depth where no hope was, and darkness lay on the face of all things. Then love came and set my soul free. Once I knew only darkness and stillness. Now I know hope and joy. Once I fretted and beat myself against the wall that shut me in. Now I rejoice in the consciousness that I can think, act and attain heaven. My life was without past or future; death, the pessimist would...
Page 27 - Thou art the source and centre of all minds, Their only point of rest, eternal Word ! From thee departing they are lost, and rove At random without honour, hope, or peace.
Page 54 - No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.
Page 24 - Philosophy is the history of a deaf-blind person writ large from the talks of Socrates, up through Plato, Berkeley, and Kant. Philosophy records the efforts of human intelligence to be free of the clogging material world and fly forth into a universe of pure idea. A deaf-blind person ought to find special meaning in Plato's Ideal World.
Page 64 - ... call evil good, and good evil, and put darkness for light, and light for darkness.
Page 42 - The highest result of education is tolerance. Long ago men fought and died for their faith ; but it took ages to teach them the other kind of courage,— the courage to recognize the faiths of their brethren and their rights of conscience. Tolerance is the first principle of community; it is the spirit which conserves the best that all men think. No loss by flood and lightning, no destruction of cities and temples by the hostile forces of nature, has deprived man of so many noble lives and impulses...
Bibliographic information
| Title | Optimism: An Essay |
| Author | Helen Keller |
| Edition | 11 |
| Publisher | T.Y. Crowell, 1903 |
| Original from | the University of Michigan |
| Digitized | Oct 27, 2006 |
| Length | 75 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |