Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.
Helen Keller (1880–1968) lost her hearing and sight at nineteen months. With her teacher Anne Sullivan she learned to read and write, and became the first deafblind person to earn a university degree. She wrote and lectured all her life, campaigning for disability rights and for women's suffrage.
About this theme: Courage
Aristotle placed courage precisely between cowardice and recklessness, settling a confusion that still recurs. Courage is not the absence of fear — that would be insensibility, which is not a virtue but a failure of judgement. Courage is acting despite fear, and it assumes the fear is present and warranted.
More by Helen Keller
- Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.
- Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.
- The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart.
- Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
- Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.
More on Courage
- Fortune favors the bold.— Latin Proverb
- I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.— Louisa May Alcott
- No one knows what he can do till he tries.— Publilius Syrus
- Dare to know! Have the courage to use your own understanding.— Immanuel Kant
- Courage is knowing what not to fear.— Plato