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
afar afflicted ages America beautiful dream Behold believe Brahminism Carlyle century cere Christmas Day civilization confidence coun courage creed cries crime darkness deaf and blind deaf-blind dull economist England evil eyes face faith that leads falter genius glad God's Greece Green's history Haiiy hand happiness hear heart heaven Hindoos human Idea ideals idiot India intelligence Israel Jesus labor land to land laughed leads to achievement leap learned lieve live look Mammon manded ment message of peace Middle Ages mighty mind misery mism mist ness noble offered to teach Omar Once I knew opti optimism optimist perfec pessimism pessimist philoso philosophy Plato poet poor prophet refuge rejoice restore Rome Schopenhauer shut society soul spirit story of man's struggle sure tained task teach the blind things thought thousand timist tion Tolstoi trust truth whole stay
Popular passages
Page 19 - 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 21 - 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 21 - 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 17 - 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 13 - 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 29 - 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 56 - 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 26 - 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 66 - ... call evil good, and good evil, and put darkness for light, and light for darkness.
Page 44 - 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 |