On June 27th we celebrate the birth of one of the world's most inspiring woman -- it is the day that we celebrate the birth of Helen Keller. Let these 14 Helen Keller quotes remind us just how special this woman was, how much she overcame and how we can all -- regardless of who we are -- learn a little something from her.



1. "Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved."

2. "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure."

3. "Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything good in the world."

4. "I seldom think of my limitations, and they never make me sad. Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times; but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers."

5. "Be of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourself a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles."

6. "No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit."

7. "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."

8. "There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his."

9. "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."

10. "I can say with conviction that the struggle which evil necessitates is one of the greatest blessings. It makes us strong, patient, helpful men and women. 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 overcomings of it. My optimism, then, does not rest on the absence of evil, but on a glad belief in the preponderance of good and a willing effort always to cooperate with the good, that it may prevail."

11. "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."

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

13. "No matter how dull, or how mean, or how wise a man is, he feels that happiness is his indisputable right."

14. "If I regarded my life from the point of view of the pessimist, I should be undone. I should seek in vain for the light that does not visit my eyes and the music that does not ring in my ears. I should beg night and day and never be satisfied. I should sit apart in awful solitude, a prey to fear and despair. But since I consider it a duty to myself and to others to be happy, I escape a misery worse than any physical deprivation."

There are few people in this world who accept not their limitations, but instead view them as challenges. There are even fewer who overcome their challenges and set an example for the rest of the world to follow. Helen Keller was one of these. Let us remember this on her birthday with the above 14 Helen Keller quotes.