蘇利文老師天賦的才能、旺盛且敏感的同情心、老練且機智的鍾愛，讓我有非常出色的基本教育。因為她能適時把握契機，讓我在愉快和滿意中接受知識。她知道孩童的心靈和教養，就像一條淺流的小溪在多石的河道上喧嘩、跳躍，在這裡映照了一朵花兒，那裡一叢灌木，遠處有雲輕柔漂浮….她正是企圖如此引導我心靈成長的流程，讓我明白就像一條小溪會到處匯聚山泉地湧，終於變成既壯闊又深沉的大河，有能力在它沉著寧靜的河面映出一朵小花的可愛小臉，也有能力映出像大浪連綿起伏的山巒、樹林輝煌的光影和萬里晴空。 

任何教師都可能讓一個孩童走進教室，但不是每一個教師都能讓這個孩童學會。無論這教師忙碌或鬆散，他都不會教得愉快，除非他意識到這是自己的心甘情願。在他興沖沖就任這種不討好的工作之前，他絕對必要能夠對成功時的志得意滿、失望時的意氣消沉有心理準備，而且下定決心要不屈不撓的在單調重覆的教科生涯中搖擺。 

蘇利文老師對我那樣親近，以至於我幾乎沒想到會和她分離。我永遠無法分別能夠對於所有美麗事物感到欣喜，有多少是我天性使然，有多少是她的感化影響。我覺得她的生命和我的密不可分，我生命的足跡和她的緊依相隨。我全部的美好，都是她的賜與──如果不曾有她對我那樣的愛，讓我感動，將我喚醒，我自己不可能發生絲毫的才能、抱負或者成功。 

It was my teacher's genius, her quick sympathy, her loving tact which made the first years of my education so beautiful. It was because she seized the right moment to impart knowledge that made it so pleasant and acceptable to me. She realized that a child's mind is like a shallow brook which ripples and dances merrily over the stony course of its education and reflects here a flower, there a bush, yonder a fleecy cloud; and she attempted to guide my mind on its way, knowing that like a brook it should be fed by mountain streams and hidden springs, until it broadened out into a deep river, capable of reflecting in its placid surface, billowy hills, the luminous shadows of trees and the blue heavens, as well as the sweet face of a little flower.

Any teacher can take a child to the classroom, but not every teacher can make him learn. He will not work joyously unless he feels that liberty is his, whether he is busy or at rest; he must feel the flush of victory and the heart-sinking of disappointment before he takes with a will the tasks distasteful to him and resolves to dance his way bravely through a dull routine of textbooks.

My teacher is so near to me that I scarcely think of myself apart from her. How much of my delight in all beautiful things is innate, and how much is due to her influence, I can never tell. I feel that her being is inseparable from my own, and that the footsteps of my life are in hers. All the best of me belongs to her–there is not a talent, or an aspiration or a joy in me that has not been awakened by her loving touch.