Gratitude is a nice touch of beauty added last of all to the countenance. Giving a classic beauty, an angelic loveliness, to the character.
Interpretation
Gratitude enhances one's character, adding beauty and charm to a person's demeanor.
The quote emphasizes the transformative power of gratitude, suggesting that it is the finishing touch that adds depth and attractiveness to a person's character. Just like a beautiful smile can enhance one's appearance, gratitude enriches our interactions and relationships, making a person more appealing and admirable.
In practice
In a speech about personal growth, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of cultivating gratitude.
A democracy,- that is a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people; of course, a government of the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God; for shortness' sake I will call it the idea of Freedom.
Want and wealth equally harden the human heart, as frost and fire are both alien to the human flesh. Famine and gluttony alike drive away nature from the heart of man.
The books which help you most are those which make you think the most. The hardest way of learning is by easy reading; every man that tries it finds it so. But a great book that comes from a great thinker, β it is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth, with beauty too.
No man is so great as mankind.
Outward judgment often fails, inward judgment never.
You may not, cannot, appropriate beauty. It is the wealth of the eye, and a cat may gaze upon a king.
True will is quiet humility, resilience, and flexibility; the other kind of will is weakness disguised by bluster and ambition.
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope, For hope would be hope for the wrong thing.
But the things that we feel most deeply we ought to learn to be silent about, at least until we have talked them over thoroughly with God.
Upon reflection, I decided I had three main weaknesses: I was confused (evidenced by a lack of facts, an inability to coordinate my thoughts, and an inability to verbalize my ideas); I had a lack of confidence, which cause me to back down from forcefully stated positions; and I was overly emotional at the expense of careful, 'scientific' though. I was thirty-seven years old and still discovering who I was.
The greater part of human pain is unnecessary. It is self-created as long as the unobserved mind runs your life.
There's a certain grace in accepting what your life is and embracing all the good things that have been - but there's still an expectation of good things to come. Not necessarily what you expected.
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