Crawl or Soar

I was thinking about Helen Keller.

She said something like

A person cannot consent to crawl, when she has the urge to soar.

I like that.

Of course, the "she" in that sentence applies to all people, all genders, just like "he" has applied to women, as well as men, for hundreds of years.

Has it been hundreds of years? I have read that "they" is now used as plural or singular, because it does apply to both genders.

What I really admire about Helen Keller, is that she was a professional speaker!

This is what she actually said:

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

Of course, she used the singular pronoun "one." You don't hear that very often these days. But it was a wise choice.

Optimism and the Hypnotic Fountain of Youth

I found a great quotation!

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope or confidence. - Helen Keller

And in Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman, he mentions that optimism leads to better health, which leads to longer life. It seems that the immune system is strengthened by positive thoughts and weakened by negative thoughts. This agrees with another book, You can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought by John-Roger & Peter McWilliams.