Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s path to becoming Liberia’s first female president was not an easy one. In speaking up against the nation’s inequalities early in her career, she endured periods of exile, prison, and even near-executions. But her commitment to a better future for her country never wavered, and as president she championed education, development, and free elections. “My experience sends a strong message that failure is just as important as success,” said Sirleaf in her 2011 commencement speech at Harvard. She reminds us that the dreams that come with risks are worth pursuing, no matter how daunting they may seem in the beginning. In fact, often what limits us is not the obstacles in our path but the fears and doubts that stop us from dreaming big in the first place.

Author, lecturer, and disability rights advocate Helen Keller wrote these words in a letter to a friend in 1890. But the person to whom she’s really directing this insight is her younger self. In the letter, she reflects on becoming deaf and blind at 19 months old. She recalls feelings of deprivation and isolation, believing that “everybody [else] was always happy.” With perspective, however, she grew to appreciate the benefits that came with surviving hardships. In this quote, she highlights bravery and patience — two undeniably remarkable virtues — but leaves out the underlying reason for her bravery and patience in the first place: hope, her ability to find light where there was none; to see in the dark.