Top 20 Helen Keller Quotes to Inspire You to Never Give Up

Born in Tuscumbia, Alabama in 1880, Helen Keller was only 19 months old when she lost her sight and hearing due to an unknown illness. She was an extremely intelligent child who became aware of her difference from an early age, and was so frustrated by her inability to communicate with her parents that she would frequently fly into rages, sometimes on an hourly basis.

Then, at 7 years old, Keller met her miracle teacher in the person of 20 year-old Anne Mansfield Sullivan. Keller would later mark the day they met as her "soul's birthday," and the most significant moment in her life. Despite a tempestuous start to their relationship -- the young Keller pinched and kicked her new teacher, and knocked out one of her teeth -- Sullivan persevered, patiently earning the girl's trust and affection. With the help of her teacher, Keller learned to use her hands to interpret and connect with the world.

So began a relationship between teacher and pupil that lasted 49 years, and that saw Keller blossom into one of America's most inspirational figures. From her lifelong struggle to perfect her oral and non-verbal communications skills, to her array of academic and literary achievements, Keller's life was defined by a fierce determination to not let her disabilities hold her back. She became the first ever deaf and blind person to graduate from college in 1904, and later went on to co-found the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in 1920. Through her spirited advocacy for the rights of women and people with disabilities, Keller was committed to ensuring that those who came after her would have an easier hill to climb than she had.

Helen Keller was a leading figure of the 20th century, whose lifetime of achievement as an author, lecturer and humanitarian earned her a long list of honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964, election to the Women's Hall of Fame in 1965, and numerous honorary degrees from universities around the world.

Here are our Top 20 Helen Keller Quotes to Inspire You to Never Give Up.

Top 20 Helen Keller Quotes to Inspire You to Never Give Up

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough.

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.

Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.

Believe. No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit

Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved.

What I’m looking for is not out there, it is in me.

A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships.

The best way out is always through.

Never bend your head. Hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.

The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome. The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful if there were no dark valleys to traverse.

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow.

Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.

One can never content to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.

When we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.

While they were saying among themselves it cannot be done, it was done.