What is worse than having no sight is being able to see but having no vision.
Helen KellerRead
Some people are foolish enough to imagine that wealth and power and fame satisfy our hearts: but they never do, unless they are used to create and distribute happiness in the world.
Interpretation
Wealth, power, and fame alone do not bring true satisfaction; they must be used to promote happiness.
Helen Keller emphasizes that material possessions and social status do not fulfill our deeper emotional needs. True happiness comes not from what we possess but from how we use our resources to benefit others and spread joy in the world.
In practice
During a motivational speech about the value of giving back to the community.
What is worse than having no sight is being able to see but having no vision.
What could be worse than being born without sight? Being born with sight and no vision.
Knowledge is power." Rather, knowledge is happiness, because to have knowledge - broad, deep knowledge - is to know true ends from false, and lofty things from low. To know the thoughts and deeds that have marked man's progress is to feel the great heart-throbs of humanity through the centuries; and if one does not feel in these pulsations a heavenward striving, one must indeed be deaf to the harmonies of life.
Be not dumb, obedient slaves in an army of destruction. Be heroes in an army of construction.
Our beloved ones have not 'gone to a far country.' It is only the veil of sense that separates them from us, and even that veil grows thin when our thoughts reach out to them.
It's wonderful to climb the liquid mountains of the sky. Behind me and before me is God and I have no fears.
I don't think... one get a flash of happiness once, and never again; it is there deep within you.
The little cares that fretted me, I lost them yesterday Among the fields above the sea, Among the winds at play.
To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn't always know this and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.
I was born lucky, and I have lived lucky. What I had was used. What I still have is being used. Lucky.
Surrounded by all the members of my dear family, enjoying the affection of numerous friends, who have never abandoned me, and possessing a sufficient share of all that contributes to make life agreeable, I lift my grateful eyes towards the Supreme Being and feel that I am happy.
If we can accept as true that life circumstances are not the keys to happiness, we'll be greatly empowered to pursue happiness for ourselves.
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