Life & Wisdom Quote by William Arthur Ward

Ward’s line is devotional productivity dressed up as gratitude, a neat little piece of mid-century American moral coaching that turns time into currency and manners into meaning. The hook is the number: 86,400. It sounds scientific, objective, unarguable. By quantifying the day, he smuggles in a worldview where life is an allotted budget, not a sprawling mess. You don’t just “have time” - you’ve been issued it, by God, on a strict daily renewal plan.

The question is the pressure point. “Have you used one” implies scarcity, but also absurd ease: it costs only a single second to perform the right kind of personhood. Gratitude becomes a micro-action, frictionless and measurable, which is exactly why it works as a goad. If thanking someone is that cheap, failing to do it reads as not busy-but-thoughtless, not overwhelmed-but-ungracious. The subtext is gentle accusation.

Context matters: Ward wrote in a tradition of inspirational writing that flourished in classrooms, churches, and corporate bulletin boards - where spirituality, self-management, and optimism often share the same font. The line can be read as sincere piety, but it also fits a culture that loves to moralize efficiency: even your humility should be time-smart.

There’s a quiet psychological trick here, too: “God gave you” shifts gratitude upward (toward the divine) so you’ll practice it outward (toward people). A tiny “thank you” becomes proof you didn’t squander the gift.