A biography for Anne Sullivanhasn’t been written yet.
“We imagine that we want to escape our selfish and commonplace existence, but we cling desperately to our chains.”
“We have no firm hold on any knowledge or philosophy that can lift us out of our difficulties.”
“The wrong things are predominantly stressed in the schools - things remote from the student's experience and need.”
“Keep on beginning and failing. Each time you fail, start all over again, and you will grow stronger until you have accomplished a purpose - not the one you began with perhaps, but one you'll be glad to remember.”
“If the child is left to himself, he will think more and better, if less showily. Let him go and come freely, let him touch real things and combine his impressions for himself.”
“No matter how mistaken Communist ideas may be, the experience and knowledge gained by trying them out have given a tremendous impetus to thought and imagination.”
“Certain periods in history suddenly lift humanity to an observation point where a clear light falls upon a world previously dark.”
“The immediate future is going to be tragic for all of us unless we find a way of making the vast educational resources of this country serve the true purpose of education, truth and justice.”
“People seldom see the halting and painful steps by which the most insignificant success is achieved.”
“A strenuous effort must be made to train young people to think for themselves and take independent charge of their lives.”
“We are afraid of ideas, of experimenting, of change. We shrink from thinking a problem through to a logical conclusion.”
“I have thought about it a great deal, and the more I think, the more certain I am that obedience is the gateway through which knowledge, yes, and love, too, enter the mind of the child.”
“Yes, I am proud, and very humble too.”
“Children require guidance and sympathy far more than instruction.”
“My heart is singing for joy this morning! A miracle has happened! The light of understanding has shone upon my little pupil's mind, and behold, all things are changed!”
“We all like stories that make us cry. It's so nice to feel sad when you've nothing in particular to feel sad about.”
“We are bothered a good deal by people who assume the responsibility of the world when God is neglectful.”
“I need a teacher quite as much as Helen. I know the education of this child will be the distinguishing event of my life, if I have the brains and perseverance to accomplish it.”
“The Great War proved how confused the world is. Depression is proving it again.”
“Our material eye cannot see that a stupid chauvinism is driving us from one noisy, destructive, futile agitation to another.”