Many people who order their lives rightly in all other ways are kept in poverty by their lack of gratitude.
Interpretation
Gratitude is essential for a fulfilling life, and its absence can lead to a sense of poverty despite other successes.
Wallace D. Wattles suggests that gratitude is a vital component of a well-ordered life. Even if individuals appear successful in various aspects, the absence of gratitude can lead to feelings of deprivation and dissatisfaction. True wealth encompasses appreciation and recognition of what one has, and neglecting gratitude can hinder true prosperity and fulfillment.
In practice
In a speech about personal development, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of gratitude.
In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy. It is necessary, then, to cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.
You want to get rich in order that you may surround yourself with beautiful things, see distant lands, feed your mind, and develop your intellect; in order that you may love others and do kind things, and be able to play a good part in helping the world to find truth.
Whatever you habitually think yourself to be, that you are. You must form, now, a greater and better habit; you must form a conception of yourself as a being of limitless power, and habitually think that you are that being. It is the habitual, not the periodical thought that decides your destiny.
That which makes you want more money is the same as that which makes the plant grow; it is life seeking fuller expression.
Never look at the visible supply; always look at the limitless riches in the formless substance and know that they are coming to you as fast as you can receive and use them.
I have an ambition to write a great book, but that's really a competition with myself. I've noticed that a lot of young writers, people in all media, want to be famous but they don't really want to do anything. I can't think of anything less worth striving for than fame.
What we learn through failure becomes a precious part of us, strengthening us in everything we do. So let the tough things make you tougher.
You just have to have a simple faith.
Ideas are elusive, slippery things. Best to keep a pad of paper and a pencil at your bedside, so you can stab them during the night before they get away.
If I sit for a while, then my impatience, crossness, frustration, are indeed annihilated, and my sense of humor returns.
Choosing to take responsibility for ourselves and for the consequences our choices create looks like hard work, but it really sets us free.
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