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.
There is something wonderful in seeing a wrong-headed majority assailed by truth.
Nothing puts a greater obstacle in the way of the progress of knowledge than thinking that one knows what one does not yet know.
The true nature of all wealth is temporary; those who have wealth must here and now do good deeds that will live for a long time.
I think that much of the advice given to young men about saving money is wrong. I never saved a cent until I was forty years old. I invested in myself - in study, in mastering my tools, in preparation. Many a man who is putting a few dollars a week into the bank would do much better to put it into himself.
I've always felt, in all my books, that there's a deep decency in the American people and a native intelligence - providing they have the facts, providing they have the information.
Don't let us make imaginary evils, when you know we have so many real ones to encounter.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.