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Optimism
1903. An essay written by the American author and lecturer. Helen Keller was left blind, deaf and mute at the age of nineteen months due to an illness. She spent many years lecturing on behalf of blind and deaf persons, promoting optimism and the brighter side of life. This is one of her essays entailing the optimism within, without and the practice of optimism.
84 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1903
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About the author
Helen Keller
337 books1,820 followersBlind and deaf since infancy, American memoirist and lecturer Helen Adams Keller learned to read, to write, and to speak from her teacher Anne Sullivan, graduated from Radcliffe in 1904, and lectured widely on behalf of sightless people; her books include
Out of the Dark
(1913).
Conditions bound not Keller. Scarlet fever rendered her deaf and blind at 19 months; she in several languages and as a student wrote The Story of My Life . In this age, few women then attended college, and people often relegated the disabled to the background and spoke of the disabled only in hushed tones, when she so remarkably accomplished. Nevertheless, alongside many other impressive achievements, Keller authored 13 books, wrote countless articles, and devoted her life to social reform. An active and effective suffragist, pacifist, and socialist (the latter association earned her a file of Federal Bureau of Investigation), she lectured on behalf of disabled people everywhere. She also helped to start several foundations that continue to improve the lives of the deaf and blind around the world.
As a young girl, obstinate Keller, prone to fits of violence, seethed with rage at her inability to express herself. Nevertheless, at the urging of Alexander Graham Bell, Anne Sullivan, a teacher, transformed this wild child at the age of 7 years in an event that she declares "the most important day I remember in all my life." (After a series of operations, Sullivan, once blind, partially recovered her sight.) In a memorable passage, Keller writes of the day "Teacher" led her to a stream and repeatedly spelled out the letters w-a-t-e-r on one of her hands while pouring water over the other. This method proved a revelation: "That living world awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away." And, indeed, most of them were.
Conditions bound not Keller. Scarlet fever rendered her deaf and blind at 19 months; she in several languages and as a student wrote The Story of My Life . In this age, few women then attended college, and people often relegated the disabled to the background and spoke of the disabled only in hushed tones, when she so remarkably accomplished. Nevertheless, alongside many other impressive achievements, Keller authored 13 books, wrote countless articles, and devoted her life to social reform. An active and effective suffragist, pacifist, and socialist (the latter association earned her a file of Federal Bureau of Investigation), she lectured on behalf of disabled people everywhere. She also helped to start several foundations that continue to improve the lives of the deaf and blind around the world.
As a young girl, obstinate Keller, prone to fits of violence, seethed with rage at her inability to express herself. Nevertheless, at the urging of Alexander Graham Bell, Anne Sullivan, a teacher, transformed this wild child at the age of 7 years in an event that she declares "the most important day I remember in all my life." (After a series of operations, Sullivan, once blind, partially recovered her sight.) In a memorable passage, Keller writes of the day "Teacher" led her to a stream and repeatedly spelled out the letters w-a-t-e-r on one of her hands while pouring water over the other. This method proved a revelation: "That living world awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away." And, indeed, most of them were.
In her lovingly crafted and deeply perceptive autobiography, Keller's joyous spirit is most vividly expressed in her connection to nature:
Indeed, everything that could hum, or buzz, or sing, or bloom, had a part in my education.... Few know what joy it is to feel the roses pressing softly into the hand, or the beautiful motion of the lilies as they sway in the morning breeze. Sometimes I caught an insect in the flower I was plucking, and I felt the faint noise of a pair of wings rubbed together in a sudden terror....
The idea of feeling rather than hearing a sound, or of admiring a flower's motion rather than its color, evokes a strong visceral sensation in the reader, giving The Story of My Life a subtle power and beauty. Keller's celebration of discovery becomes our own. In the end, this blind and deaf woman succeeds in sharpening our eyes and ears to the beauty of the world. --Shawn Carkonen
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
June 29, 2020
How lucky we were to have this incredible woman sharing our planet. Sans the inaccurate paragraphs on India and her antiquated view of "savages", this is a priceless read from someone who had every reason to be pessimistic.
Quote-Notes:
-----------
"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."
"Darkness cannot shut me in again. I have had a glimpse of the shore, and can now live by the hope of reaching it."
"My optimism is no mild and unreasoning satisfaction."
"A man must understand evil and be acquainted with sorrow before he can write himself an optimist and expect others to believe that he has reason for the faith that is in him."
"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it."
"The world is sown with good; but unless I turn my glad thoughts into practical living and till my own field, I cannot reap a kernel of the good."
"To what is good I open the doors of my being, and jealously shut them against what is bad."
"I never can be argued into hopelessness. Doubt and mistrust are the mere panic of timid imagination, which the steadfast heart will conquer, and the large mind transcend."
"The desire and will to work is optimism itself."
“Up, up! Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy whole might. Work while it is called To-day; for the Night cometh wherein no man may work.” - Carlyle
"Work, production, brings life out of chaos, makes the individual a world, an order; and order is optimism."
"Though the ways in which I can make myself useful are few, the work open to me is endless. The gladdest laborer in the vineyard may be a cripple."
"Darwin could work only half an hour at a time; yet in many diligent half-hours he laid anew the foundations of philosophy."
"It is my service to think how I can best fulfill the demands that each day makes upon me, and to rejoice that others can do what I cannot."
"The outward world justifies my inward universe of good."
"A deaf-blind person ought to find special meaning in Plato’s Ideal World. These things which you see and hear and touch are not the reality of realities…"
"Philosophy gives to the mind the prerogative of seeing truth, and bears us into a realm where I, who am blind, am not different from you who see."
"When I learned… that your eyes receive an inverted image of things which your brain unconsciously corrects, I began to suspect that the eye is not a very reliable instrument after all, and I felt as one who had been restored to equality with others."
"The great mystics lived alone, deaf and blind, but dwelling with God."
"Verily, blessed are ye that have not seen, and yet have believed."
"It is a splendid thing to be an American. In America the optimist finds abundant reason for confidence in the present and hope for the future…"
"The heresy of one age becomes the orthodoxy of the next."
"I find that to be an American is to be an optimist."
"I read in the history of Julius Cæsar that during the civil wars there were millions of peaceful herdsmen and laborers who worked as long as they could, and fled before the advance of the armies that were led by the few, then waited until the danger was past, and returned to repair damages with patient hands."
"The test of all beliefs is their practical effect in life."
"If Life gave him ashes for bread, it was his fault."
“Let us eat, drink and be merry,” says the pessimist, “for to-morrow we die.” If I regarded my life from the point of view of the pessimist, I should be undone."
"The optimist cannot fall back, cannot falter… He will work as if upon him alone depended the establishment of heaven on earth."
"No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit."
"Thus the optimist believes, attempts, achieves. He stands always in the sunlight."
"Because there is imperfection, there must be perfection; completeness must come of incompleteness; failure is an evidence of triumph for the fulness of the days."
"Lift up your burden, it is God’s gift, bear it nobly."
"Every optimist moves along with progress and hastens it, while every pessimist would keep the world at a standstill."
"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope."
"It is because Christ is an optimist that for ages he has dominated the Western world."
"If you are born blind, search the treasures of darkness"
"The optimist is he who sees that men’s actions are directed not by squadrons and armies, but by moral power, that the conquests of Alexander and Napoleon are less abiding than Newton’s and Galileo’s."
"I believe it is a sacred duty to encourage ourselves and others; to hold the tongue from any unhappy word against God’s world, because no man has any right to complain of a universe which God made good, and which thousands of men have striven to keep good."
"Optimism is the harmony between man’s spirit and the spirit of God pronouncing His works good."
.
Quote-Notes:
-----------
"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."
"Darkness cannot shut me in again. I have had a glimpse of the shore, and can now live by the hope of reaching it."
"My optimism is no mild and unreasoning satisfaction."
"A man must understand evil and be acquainted with sorrow before he can write himself an optimist and expect others to believe that he has reason for the faith that is in him."
"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it."
"The world is sown with good; but unless I turn my glad thoughts into practical living and till my own field, I cannot reap a kernel of the good."
"To what is good I open the doors of my being, and jealously shut them against what is bad."
"I never can be argued into hopelessness. Doubt and mistrust are the mere panic of timid imagination, which the steadfast heart will conquer, and the large mind transcend."
"The desire and will to work is optimism itself."
“Up, up! Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy whole might. Work while it is called To-day; for the Night cometh wherein no man may work.” - Carlyle
"Work, production, brings life out of chaos, makes the individual a world, an order; and order is optimism."
"Though the ways in which I can make myself useful are few, the work open to me is endless. The gladdest laborer in the vineyard may be a cripple."
"Darwin could work only half an hour at a time; yet in many diligent half-hours he laid anew the foundations of philosophy."
"It is my service to think how I can best fulfill the demands that each day makes upon me, and to rejoice that others can do what I cannot."
"The outward world justifies my inward universe of good."
"A deaf-blind person ought to find special meaning in Plato’s Ideal World. These things which you see and hear and touch are not the reality of realities…"
"Philosophy gives to the mind the prerogative of seeing truth, and bears us into a realm where I, who am blind, am not different from you who see."
"When I learned… that your eyes receive an inverted image of things which your brain unconsciously corrects, I began to suspect that the eye is not a very reliable instrument after all, and I felt as one who had been restored to equality with others."
"The great mystics lived alone, deaf and blind, but dwelling with God."
"Verily, blessed are ye that have not seen, and yet have believed."
"It is a splendid thing to be an American. In America the optimist finds abundant reason for confidence in the present and hope for the future…"
"The heresy of one age becomes the orthodoxy of the next."
"I find that to be an American is to be an optimist."
"I read in the history of Julius Cæsar that during the civil wars there were millions of peaceful herdsmen and laborers who worked as long as they could, and fled before the advance of the armies that were led by the few, then waited until the danger was past, and returned to repair damages with patient hands."
"The test of all beliefs is their practical effect in life."
"If Life gave him ashes for bread, it was his fault."
“Let us eat, drink and be merry,” says the pessimist, “for to-morrow we die.” If I regarded my life from the point of view of the pessimist, I should be undone."
"The optimist cannot fall back, cannot falter… He will work as if upon him alone depended the establishment of heaven on earth."
"No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit."
"Thus the optimist believes, attempts, achieves. He stands always in the sunlight."
"Because there is imperfection, there must be perfection; completeness must come of incompleteness; failure is an evidence of triumph for the fulness of the days."
"Lift up your burden, it is God’s gift, bear it nobly."
"Every optimist moves along with progress and hastens it, while every pessimist would keep the world at a standstill."
"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope."
"It is because Christ is an optimist that for ages he has dominated the Western world."
"If you are born blind, search the treasures of darkness"
"The optimist is he who sees that men’s actions are directed not by squadrons and armies, but by moral power, that the conquests of Alexander and Napoleon are less abiding than Newton’s and Galileo’s."
"I believe it is a sacred duty to encourage ourselves and others; to hold the tongue from any unhappy word against God’s world, because no man has any right to complain of a universe which God made good, and which thousands of men have striven to keep good."
"Optimism is the harmony between man’s spirit and the spirit of God pronouncing His works good."
.
January 15, 2022
This text is likely better if read as "Why Helen Keller is an optimist" rather than "Why we should be optimists." It's an extremely good read as an application to Keller's life rather than an application to the world entirely.
Keller's optimism is largely based on her American patriotism—she is thankful for her circumstances in a country that provided stability and freedom. She is thankful for God himself. She is thankful for things in her life, such as the provision and development of education that benefits the blind and deaf. She expresses the knowledge of despair as a contributor to her optimistic outlook.
A large portion of the essay is not applicable to those outside privileged situations within the USA and Western Europe. She does address misfortunes of others within India,
"“There is no one to befriend the poor or to protect the fatherless and the widow. The sick lie untended. The blind know not how to see, nor the deaf to hear, and they are left by the roadside to die. In India it is a sin to teach the blind and the deaf because their affliction is regarded as a punishment for offences in a previous state of existence. If I had been born in the midst of these fatalistic doctrines, I should still be in darkness, my life a desert-land where no caravan of thought might pass between my spirit and the world beyond."
She does not, however, describe a reason for these non-befriended widows, fatherless, sick, poor, etc., should also follow the doctrine of optimism. Thus making optimism gratefulness for the misfortunate circumstances they are not experiencing.
I do consider myself a "wannabe optimist." I also believe that optimism ceases to be useful once it is fueled by ignorance. It should also be something available for everyone regardless of their circumstances. Thus, if a general rhetorical strategy for optimism, meant for the general pursuit of optimism, does not work for everyone, I believe it is a faulty strategy. However, this short essay is still useful to read in order to understand history.
Keller's optimism is largely based on her American patriotism—she is thankful for her circumstances in a country that provided stability and freedom. She is thankful for God himself. She is thankful for things in her life, such as the provision and development of education that benefits the blind and deaf. She expresses the knowledge of despair as a contributor to her optimistic outlook.
A large portion of the essay is not applicable to those outside privileged situations within the USA and Western Europe. She does address misfortunes of others within India,
"“There is no one to befriend the poor or to protect the fatherless and the widow. The sick lie untended. The blind know not how to see, nor the deaf to hear, and they are left by the roadside to die. In India it is a sin to teach the blind and the deaf because their affliction is regarded as a punishment for offences in a previous state of existence. If I had been born in the midst of these fatalistic doctrines, I should still be in darkness, my life a desert-land where no caravan of thought might pass between my spirit and the world beyond."
She does not, however, describe a reason for these non-befriended widows, fatherless, sick, poor, etc., should also follow the doctrine of optimism. Thus making optimism gratefulness for the misfortunate circumstances they are not experiencing.
I do consider myself a "wannabe optimist." I also believe that optimism ceases to be useful once it is fueled by ignorance. It should also be something available for everyone regardless of their circumstances. Thus, if a general rhetorical strategy for optimism, meant for the general pursuit of optimism, does not work for everyone, I believe it is a faulty strategy. However, this short essay is still useful to read in order to understand history.
December 5, 2021
na stranu privatno postignuće helen keller -ostavši gluhom i slijepom nakon preboljelog meningitisa u 2. godini života, uz pomoć anne sullivan, isprva učiteljice, a potom i životne družice, naučila je sporazumijevati se, školovati se, služila se s pet jezika i doktorirala iz filozofije. dakle, ne govorim ovdje o tome kako je na osobnom planu postigla puno, da... sve je to zahtjevalo veliku žrtvu, posvećenost, ustrajnost, želju za podizanjem kvalitete života. da, uspjela si puno postići, helen. gluhoslijepim osobama utrla si puteve kakve do tada nisu mogli zamisliti da se mogu doseći. u tom smislu, pomaknula si granice invaliditeta.
međutim....
ovaj esej.
u ovom eseju iznosi neke prilično neutemeljene i besmislene ideje (npr.: "najveći su filozofi bili opimisti" (wtf...?), "nikada niti jedan pesimist nije otkrio tajne zvijezda, nije našao nepoznatu zemlju niti čovječjem saznanju otvorio nova nebesa" (wtf...), "svi veliki svjetski filozofi ljubili su Boga i vjerovali su u unutarnju dobrotu ljudi" (?!?), "pročitajte schopenhauera i omara pa ćete pomalo nalaziti taj svijet isto tako šupljim i praznim kao što su ga i oni nalazili. ako pak čitate greenovu povijest engleske, učinit će vam se kao da je svijet nastanjen junacima" (what...) i još brdo bedastoća tog tipa) i blebeće o optimizmu kao jedinom ispravnom, moralnom i prihvatljivom načinu funkcioniranja.
cijeli esej -boguhvala tek pedesetak stranica u mini formatu- baziran je na uvjeravanju da je svo dobro svijeta proizašlo iz ljudskog optimizma, a svo zlo iz pesimizma. tim stavom helen keller osuđuje, vrijeđa i omalovažava barem polovicu čovječanstva.
posve neuvjerljivo, neutemeljeno i besmisleno - jedinu vrijednost ima kao osobni krik "sretna sam! ljubim život! ja sam optimist!" - a to mi je sasvim neupotrebljivo.
međutim....
ovaj esej.
u ovom eseju iznosi neke prilično neutemeljene i besmislene ideje (npr.: "najveći su filozofi bili opimisti" (wtf...?), "nikada niti jedan pesimist nije otkrio tajne zvijezda, nije našao nepoznatu zemlju niti čovječjem saznanju otvorio nova nebesa" (wtf...), "svi veliki svjetski filozofi ljubili su Boga i vjerovali su u unutarnju dobrotu ljudi" (?!?), "pročitajte schopenhauera i omara pa ćete pomalo nalaziti taj svijet isto tako šupljim i praznim kao što su ga i oni nalazili. ako pak čitate greenovu povijest engleske, učinit će vam se kao da je svijet nastanjen junacima" (what...) i još brdo bedastoća tog tipa) i blebeće o optimizmu kao jedinom ispravnom, moralnom i prihvatljivom načinu funkcioniranja.
cijeli esej -boguhvala tek pedesetak stranica u mini formatu- baziran je na uvjeravanju da je svo dobro svijeta proizašlo iz ljudskog optimizma, a svo zlo iz pesimizma. tim stavom helen keller osuđuje, vrijeđa i omalovažava barem polovicu čovječanstva.
posve neuvjerljivo, neutemeljeno i besmisleno - jedinu vrijednost ima kao osobni krik "sretna sam! ljubim život! ja sam optimist!" - a to mi je sasvim neupotrebljivo.
February 10, 2022
A short freebie I received from Amazon.
Everyone knows Helen Keller and the story of how she learned to communication despite being deaf and blind. She wrote this essay before graduating cum laude, from Radcliffe College in 1904, at the age of 24. Well, isn't everyone optimistic at that age? (Perhaps not with college debt now.)
As you might expect there's a heavy dose of patrotism here, and she mades a good point about our legal system. "In England and the United States there is an optimistic presumption that the accused is innocent until it is no longer possible to deny his guilt." I never thought of it that way.
Everyone knows Helen Keller and the story of how she learned to communication despite being deaf and blind. She wrote this essay before graduating cum laude, from Radcliffe College in 1904, at the age of 24. Well, isn't everyone optimistic at that age? (Perhaps not with college debt now.)
As you might expect there's a heavy dose of patrotism here, and she mades a good point about our legal system. "In England and the United States there is an optimistic presumption that the accused is innocent until it is no longer possible to deny his guilt." I never thought of it that way.
January 21, 2018
Interesting read if you want a perspective into the thoughts of a historically significant figure, although it's a pamphlet in defense of totalitarianism and not optimism.
Just two paragraphs after she finished a lengthy sermon about the virtues of tolerance and the vice that is intolerance, she delves into pessimism being the ultimate evil. According to Keller, pessimists like Schopenhauer are - literal quote - "enemies of the race".
Helen Kellers world view is scary, and it's hard for me to understand the positive sentiments many reviewers have towards this essay.
Expressing negative thoughts about the situation of the world in general or, in her case, the United States, are basically the same as causing the situation to actually become negative. Life is just and whoever suffers does so because it's their own fault. Thus, it's a duty to silence those labelled "pessimist" to ensure prosperity of the fatherland - especially if those pessimists happen to be the press. Such "pessimism", according to Keller, might include mentioning the war crimes committed by the US in the Philippines.
And according to her, every single Indian that had to suffer under the British rule had it coming because "pessimism".
Maybe I've read a different text than the rest of my fellow reviewers, or maybe I'm not that easily lulled in by some flowery words about optimism and what's essentially a fallacy called law of attraction.
If we were to follow Keller's advice, we'd be a step closer to fascism.
Just two paragraphs after she finished a lengthy sermon about the virtues of tolerance and the vice that is intolerance, she delves into pessimism being the ultimate evil. According to Keller, pessimists like Schopenhauer are - literal quote - "enemies of the race".
Helen Kellers world view is scary, and it's hard for me to understand the positive sentiments many reviewers have towards this essay.
Expressing negative thoughts about the situation of the world in general or, in her case, the United States, are basically the same as causing the situation to actually become negative. Life is just and whoever suffers does so because it's their own fault. Thus, it's a duty to silence those labelled "pessimist" to ensure prosperity of the fatherland - especially if those pessimists happen to be the press. Such "pessimism", according to Keller, might include mentioning the war crimes committed by the US in the Philippines.
And according to her, every single Indian that had to suffer under the British rule had it coming because "pessimism".
Maybe I've read a different text than the rest of my fellow reviewers, or maybe I'm not that easily lulled in by some flowery words about optimism and what's essentially a fallacy called law of attraction.
If we were to follow Keller's advice, we'd be a step closer to fascism.
September 30, 2018
Open the doors to what is good and shut them against what is bad....... Helen Keller
July 19, 2017
I've recently found my way into a library of free e-books, and decided to solve the problem of choice among a multitude (I WANNA READ IT ALL) by focusing on female writers. (Because even though I've in recent years read quite a few books by excellent female authors - by chance, not choice, I feel I haven't quite read enough by female writers - by chance, not choice - and it's time to change that.)
This slight book by the by all accounts remarkable deaf-blind author, activist and lecturer Helen Keller ended up being the first book among the several I've chosen just because...it's something different. (And slightness of it definitely helped.)
You really have to take to account when this was published (over 100 years ago) and that due to the sort of education she got at that time, her condition - and relative youth - Keller can come over quite naive to today's reader. But that in itself is not a reason to dismiss everything in this work.
Keller was obviously someone possessing incredible energy and strong spirit.
I worked on an app for blind people once, helping to evaluate the user experience via interviews and testing experiments - and was struck by how differently people coped with their condition. And our bunch of testers were already people who were interested in new things etc etc. I can remember two women who were exceptional in their attitude and and sheer ability to live life to the fullest. And Keller reminds me of those two.
The thing about exceptional people with heaps of energy and can-do attitude is...they can inspire you, but they can also depress you. It's a delicate balance.
I think Keller, details aside, strikes the right kind of note. It's not a "if even I can be optimistic, anyone can (and if you can't you're a horrible human being)." even though she easily could have gone for that. She goes for a naive, Christian-American kind of optimism, but even I can't bring myself to disagree with the core of it:
"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it."
But I suppose my favourite quote is the following:
"I long to accomplish a great and noble task; but it is my chief duty and joy to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble."
I think this one strikes home for anyone who lives with a disability of any kind (the less obvious one, the harder to explain and be accepted) or for anyone who lives or cares for someone who needs help in everyday life.
I do think it's good to strive for something better...sometimes. But sometimes realising how good you fucking are when you're able to what you do (however "normal" it can be for the majority) can't hurt. On the contrary, it can heal.
This slight book by the by all accounts remarkable deaf-blind author, activist and lecturer Helen Keller ended up being the first book among the several I've chosen just because...it's something different. (And slightness of it definitely helped.)
You really have to take to account when this was published (over 100 years ago) and that due to the sort of education she got at that time, her condition - and relative youth - Keller can come over quite naive to today's reader. But that in itself is not a reason to dismiss everything in this work.
Keller was obviously someone possessing incredible energy and strong spirit.
I worked on an app for blind people once, helping to evaluate the user experience via interviews and testing experiments - and was struck by how differently people coped with their condition. And our bunch of testers were already people who were interested in new things etc etc. I can remember two women who were exceptional in their attitude and and sheer ability to live life to the fullest. And Keller reminds me of those two.
The thing about exceptional people with heaps of energy and can-do attitude is...they can inspire you, but they can also depress you. It's a delicate balance.
I think Keller, details aside, strikes the right kind of note. It's not a "if even I can be optimistic, anyone can (and if you can't you're a horrible human being)." even though she easily could have gone for that. She goes for a naive, Christian-American kind of optimism, but even I can't bring myself to disagree with the core of it:
"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it."
But I suppose my favourite quote is the following:
"I long to accomplish a great and noble task; but it is my chief duty and joy to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble."
I think this one strikes home for anyone who lives with a disability of any kind (the less obvious one, the harder to explain and be accepted) or for anyone who lives or cares for someone who needs help in everyday life.
I do think it's good to strive for something better...sometimes. But sometimes realising how good you fucking are when you're able to what you do (however "normal" it can be for the majority) can't hurt. On the contrary, it can heal.
August 28, 2019
I happen to be reading this in conjunction with a collection of Keller’s socialist writings and speeches...and the difference in tone is striking. Whereas Keller writes here at the age of 22 with the same fire and passion as she would ten years later in her socialist years, the tone is almost delusional in its sheltered view of the world. It often feels like an undergraduate student essay (which is likely how it evolved) in which the student throws out recently-learned names and theories to “kick the tires” on certain ideas. Even worse, her perspective is colored by a vintage American exceptionalism in which she praises the glorious American experiment (how just! how noble! how righteous in the eyes of a Christian God!) in comparison to European continental philosophy, Tolstoyism, and oddly, India, which she bashes to the point of prejudice. Yikes. Again, in comparison to her socialist writings, this is quite a stark contrast.
I wonder what Keller thought of this essay in later years? Did she reject it or try to rationalize it? But I guess my reaction is one of a pessimist!
I wonder what Keller thought of this essay in later years? Did she reject it or try to rationalize it? But I guess my reaction is one of a pessimist!
September 24, 2020
A good 50 page pep talk I recommend for each and every one of us.
November 25, 2021
The only real thoughtnugget from this book was that optimists change the world and pessimists want to keep things as they are. (Which I read as optimists with hope believe in their ways and will try new things, pessimists are scared and defensive.) Other than that this book is just about Helen Kellers love for God and America, and in these times that falls flat for me. I do see her points in some of the parts and I understand what she means but she even writes that the only reason shes an optimist is because she was priveliged enough to be taught to write and read so that she can do things too. (Brought light to her darkness) So her optimism wasnt there before this. So that means that optimism comes from having good circumstance, if your life is shit then I guess no optimism for you.
It wasn't what I expected to read at all when my workplace sent us these books.
I believe you can be optimistic even if your atheistic and born in a place thats worse off and less free. Its harder if everythings shit but optimism is also acceptance of what is and wishing for what could be. Optimism is not giving up and always trying to better things. But hope really is a poison too in some aspects. Helen Keller didnt talk about psychology at all. She doesnt know what the people she criticized has gone through that has made them pessimists. Since she seems to realize that her specific situation allowed her optimism it seems she hates pessimists although she literally admits to them having a tougher life than her. Theres no understanding from her side for their struggles and feelings. Optimism, Its all about working (what work does a blind deaf person do anyway?) And believing in good through god and the possibilities in America. I learnt nothing.
It wasn't what I expected to read at all when my workplace sent us these books.
I believe you can be optimistic even if your atheistic and born in a place thats worse off and less free. Its harder if everythings shit but optimism is also acceptance of what is and wishing for what could be. Optimism is not giving up and always trying to better things. But hope really is a poison too in some aspects. Helen Keller didnt talk about psychology at all. She doesnt know what the people she criticized has gone through that has made them pessimists. Since she seems to realize that her specific situation allowed her optimism it seems she hates pessimists although she literally admits to them having a tougher life than her. Theres no understanding from her side for their struggles and feelings. Optimism, Its all about working (what work does a blind deaf person do anyway?) And believing in good through god and the possibilities in America. I learnt nothing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 17, 2012
I really enjoyed this read. Just knowing her story made it that much more inspiring. I would have given it five stars, but the eurocentrisim/racism just left a bad taste in my mouth. Its extremely hard to get over similar passages by writers from the same era, even though I know that it was written during a certain time with different ideologies and morals. There is only so much of it we can take.
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August 25, 2016How lucky are we that Helen Keller existed to share her mind with the world.
Bought at The Capitol, Washington DC. Donated to Atlas House, New Orleans.
Bought at The Capitol, Washington DC. Donated to Atlas House, New Orleans.
April 9, 2023
I agree with her on the importance of Optimism and hope, that the pessimist is a traitor to his race, that defeatism has no place in the human experience. Pessimism is being used in our age to destroy the human spirit, better to control the masses, that tends to happen when secularism seems lauded and no one believes in something bigger. But i digress, the low-ish rating is for the colonialist language taking over the examples in that essay. To believe that America is a land of the free when it was built on genocide and slavery is quite embarrassing, and that’s one example. This essay is written early on in her life, and i’ve read some of her later works which are very different in sentiment in regard to America’s past. So basically good message, great writing as usual, but arguments built on colonialist delusions.
November 23, 2024
🖍️ An interesting essay by Helen Keller that started out interesting, but when I read the lines
I closed the book and put it back on the shelf. She seemed confused, but they were her opinions, nonetheless. 🗑 Conversely, other readers may find this essay their cup of tea.
📕 Published in 1903.
☞Why this book? Just to see what Keller wrote.
જ⁀➴🟢The e-book version can be found on the Project Gutenberg website.
🟣 Kindle.
▬▬▬▬
21%
I recognize the beneficence of the power which we all worship as supreme—Order, Fate, the Great Spirit, Nature, God.
I closed the book and put it back on the shelf. She seemed confused, but they were her opinions, nonetheless. 🗑 Conversely, other readers may find this essay their cup of tea.
📕 Published in 1903.
☞Why this book? Just to see what Keller wrote.
જ⁀➴🟢The e-book version can be found on the Project Gutenberg website.
🟣 Kindle.
▬▬▬▬
21%
June 5, 2019
I salute the mighty lady for her undying optimism and her fearless pursuit of life in its fullest spirit. I am compelled to wash away my insecurities with the mighty words that she had shared with humanity.
The book is recommended for the central message - Optimism. We now understand the power of optimism and how it can shape our physical and mental well being. Optimism can shape your life along with passion and hardwork. It's that singular quality that's like a muscle; one can that can be build with the right effort and Mrs.Keller proves useful in taking off. The rest is upto you.
The book is recommended for the central message - Optimism. We now understand the power of optimism and how it can shape our physical and mental well being. Optimism can shape your life along with passion and hardwork. It's that singular quality that's like a muscle; one can that can be build with the right effort and Mrs.Keller proves useful in taking off. The rest is upto you.
July 20, 2020
Passionate writer
Helens passion for optimism, equality, and overcoming radiates broadly through the text at hand. I highly recommend this essay for anybody who is looking to broaden their perspective on life, it’s journey, and the challenges which come with it. Helen has a beautiful way she goes about her writing, her poetry finds its way into the paragraphs more often than not. Hope the next reader enjoys this one as much as I did.
Helens passion for optimism, equality, and overcoming radiates broadly through the text at hand. I highly recommend this essay for anybody who is looking to broaden their perspective on life, it’s journey, and the challenges which come with it. Helen has a beautiful way she goes about her writing, her poetry finds its way into the paragraphs more often than not. Hope the next reader enjoys this one as much as I did.
March 26, 2022
This book was just okay. It wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. It was more like a philosophical piece about optimism. There were some out of date, potentially offensive things that would be politically incorrect today, but we need to remember the time that it was written in. From the perspective of a non-American, it was a bit too US patriotic too, but overlooking those factors, there were still some good things to learn and keep in mind about optimism.
September 18, 2018
Helen Keller was severely handicapped and yet she learned a great deal about what went on in the world of her time and was unusually optimistic about her place in it. She does not hold back from naming pessimists who spread negative opinions. The one shortcoming I see here is her opinion that India is Brahmin dominated. It’s as if she hasn’t heard of Buddha.
April 13, 2021
This Applewood American Roots series takes popular authors and condenses their thoughts into very small books. In this book, Helen Keller shares what causes her to be optimistic even though we would all think that would be impossible for a deaf, blind, and mute person to write. I have newfound admiration for Helen Keller.
June 3, 2021
Solid
Solid read. Not the most philosophically dense read, but I enjoyed it. There’s some really good one-liners in there. Who knows it Keller was a fraud or not, regardless, this book is worth the read.
Solid read. Not the most philosophically dense read, but I enjoyed it. There’s some really good one-liners in there. Who knows it Keller was a fraud or not, regardless, this book is worth the read.
October 9, 2021
A great reminder of and argument for the power of optimism in the midst of challenges and obstacles. Interesting to read parallels of early 1900s to today with respect to assumptions about and treatment of people based on perceived disabilities.
December 12, 2021
* Optimism is the way to forward.
* UK is having difficulties to welcome people while US is greatly successful (we know that's not completely true, it has its own style of problems).
That's it, it doesn't say anything else but throws you a lot of "complex" sentences under philosophy mask.
* UK is having difficulties to welcome people while US is greatly successful (we know that's not completely true, it has its own style of problems).
That's it, it doesn't say anything else but throws you a lot of "complex" sentences under philosophy mask.
February 6, 2025
Best Read on Optimism
Keller is not just inspired she is inspiring. How quick I am to see the worst in our world when I am truly blessed. Yet she who we might see as a victim is in fact optimistic about herself, her nations, and others!
Keller is not just inspired she is inspiring. How quick I am to see the worst in our world when I am truly blessed. Yet she who we might see as a victim is in fact optimistic about herself, her nations, and others!
March 15, 2025
What an absolute pleasure it was that a mind so beautiful, and so utterly inspiring, took the time and effort to grace these pages (and others) with her incredible, unbreakable spirit. God bless her and others like her, my life will never be the same after having read this work.
July 7, 2017
Hellen Keller's optimism
This was an inspirational read, written by a woman who was born blind & deaf, and yet saw the world as essentially a welcoming one!
This was an inspirational read, written by a woman who was born blind & deaf, and yet saw the world as essentially a welcoming one!
December 24, 2017
Pressure makes diamonds.
March 16, 2018
I bought this book at the Capitol in the gift shop. What a gem!!!!! I keep it by my bedside. A lovely, encouraging, and enlightening read!
December 24, 2019
I. LIKE THIS BOOK.
April 29, 2020
Very empowering
An optimism speech coming from a women who struggled half of her life to be as optimist as she were is a wonderful thing to read. Very empowering and enlightening.
An optimism speech coming from a women who struggled half of her life to be as optimist as she were is a wonderful thing to read. Very empowering and enlightening.
April 7, 2021
Thanks, Librivox.
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