Optimism (Primary source)
Optimism presents Keller’s philosophy that despite her deafness and blindness, true happiness comes from inner faith rather than material circumstances. She argues optimism enables achievement and is essential for human progress and personal fulfillment.
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”
— Helen Keller Primary source“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope.”
— Helen Keller Primary source“The test of all beliefs is their practical effect in life. It be true that optimism compels the world forward, and pessimism retards it, them it is dangerous to propagate a pessimistic philosophy.”
— Helen Keller Primary source“One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.”
— Helen Keller Primary source“Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“Let him think I am more man than I am and I will be so.”
— Ernest Hemingway Primary source“Of course, when you are winning a war almost everything that happens can be claimed to be right and wise.”
— Winston Churchill Primary source“Any man more right than his neighbors, constitutes a majority of one already.”
— Henry David Thoreau Primary source