I am only one, but I am still one

“I am only one, but I am still one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.” –Edward Everett Hale

I first heard this quotation attributed to Helen Keller, but this Wikiquote page on Edward Everett Hale clarified the origin. The person who shared the quotation was Len Robertson, an inspiring keynote speaker at the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Region IV conference in July 2018, encouraging attendees to involve themselves in leadership.

Apparently, there was a strong connection between Edward Everett Hale and Helen Keller. On the same Wikiquote page there is this quotation:

“Dr. Edward Everett Hale is one of my very oldest friends. I have known him since I was eight, and my love for him has increased with my years. His wise, tender sympathy has been the support of Miss Sullivan and me in times of trial and sorrow, and his strong hand has helped us over many rough places; and what he has done for us he has done for thousands of those who have difficult tasks to accomplish. He has filled the old skins of dogma with the new wine of love, and shown men what it is to believe, live and be free. What he has taught we have seen beautifully expressed in his own life — love of country, kindness to the least of his brethren, and a sincere desire to live upward and onward. He has been a prophet and an inspirer of men, and a mighty doer of the Word, the friend of all his race — God bless him!” —Helen Keller, in The Story of My Life‎ (1904), p. 136