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.
Where these words come from
- Lots of sources credit Helen Keller with this, and they agree with each other. The book or the speech it first came from hasn't turned up yet.
- https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31622
More from Helen Keller
See allAlone we can do so little; together we can do so much.
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Helen KellerI had now the key to all language, and I was eager to learn to use it.Helen KellerLife is either a daring adventure, or nothing.Helen KellerAlthough the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.Helen KellerOptimism is the faith that leads to achievement.Helen KellerThe highest result of education is tolerance.Helen KellerMore on wisdom
There have never been people who know but do not act.
Wang YangmingIf I am happy in spite of my deprivations, if my happiness is so deep that it is a faith, so thoughtful that it becomes a philosophy of life,—if, in short, I am an optimist, my testimony to the creed of optimism is worth hearing.Helen KellerAs sinners stand up in meeting and testify to the goodness of God, so one who is called afflicted may rise up in gladness of conviction and testify to the goodness of life.Helen KellerNight fled before the day of thought, and love and joy and hope came up in a passion of obedience to knowledge.Helen KellerWith the first word I used intelligently, I learned to live, to think, to hope.Helen KellerI have had a glimpse of the shore, and can now live by the hope of reaching it.Helen Keller
Wang YangmingIf I am happy in spite of my deprivations, if my happiness is so deep that it is a faith, so thoughtful that it becomes a philosophy of life,—if, in short, I am an optimist, my testimony to the creed of optimism is worth hearing.Helen KellerAs sinners stand up in meeting and testify to the goodness of God, so one who is called afflicted may rise up in gladness of conviction and testify to the goodness of life.Helen KellerNight fled before the day of thought, and love and joy and hope came up in a passion of obedience to knowledge.Helen KellerWith the first word I used intelligently, I learned to live, to think, to hope.Helen KellerI have had a glimpse of the shore, and can now live by the hope of reaching it.Helen Keller