Helen Keller: The Deafblind American author, activist and lecturer

Helen Adams Keller was an American author, activist and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to graduate from college.

The story of how Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, broke through the isolation imposed by a near complete lack of language, allowing the girl to blossom as she learned to communicate, has become known worldwide through the dramatic depictions of the play The Miracle Worker.

What is less well known is how Keller's life developed after she completed her education. A prolific author, she was well traveled, and was outspoken in her opposition to war. She campaigned for women's suffrage, workers' rights and socialism, as well as many other progressive causes.

Here are her famous quotations:

• "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."
  

• "I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do."
  

• "One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar."

• "I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble."
  

• "The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision."
  

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