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“He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.”
A glad disposition can make ordinary life feel abundant even when circumstances are modest, because experience is shaped partly by the heart meeting it.
Source note: Proverbs 15:15 in the King James Version; concluding clause of the verse.
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“Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.”
Happiness is connected with gaining wisdom and understanding, suggesting that a good life depends on discernment as well as circumstance.
Source note: Proverbs 3:13 in the King James Version; the verse begins a passage praising the value of wisdom.
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“With the first word I used intelligently, I learned to live, to think, to hope.”
Language is remembered as opening several capacities at once—thought, hope and a fuller experience of living—rather than merely adding a vocabulary item.
Source note: Optimism: An Essay (1903), Project Gutenberg #31622. Keller is reflecting on her own early experience of language and education.
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“Be thankful, therefore, for the least benefit and thou shalt be worthy to receive greater.”
The devotional instruction treats gratitude as a discipline of scale: small benefits should not disappear merely because larger gifts are desired, since attention to what is received is itself part of humility.
Source note: The Imitation of Christ, Book II, Chapter X, “Of gratitude for the Grace of God,” William Benham translation, Project Gutenberg #1653. The passage is explicitly Christian devotional writing about divine grace rather than a general causal promise that gratitude earns material rewards.
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“I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.”
Joy and doing good are placed together as practical goods available within a life whose timing cannot be fully controlled.
Source note: Ecclesiastes 3:12 in the King James Version.
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“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.”
The verse directs attention toward the source of what is received as good, making gratitude a response to gifts rather than a claim of self-sufficiency.
Source note: James 1:17 in the King James Version; the verse continues with language about God’s constancy.