Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love, to work, to play, and to look up at the stars.

The line is a compact statement of Van Dyke’s characteristic moral optimism: life is to be welcomed not because it is easy or permanent, but because it offers concrete arenas for meaning. The sequence—love, work, play, and finally contemplation of the stars—moves from human relationship to vocation, to recreation, to awe, suggesting a balanced, humane ideal of flourishing. The closing image lifts the thought beyond daily duties into wonder and perspective, implying that gratitude is sustained by both ordinary joys and a sense of the larger universe. Read this way, the quote functions as a secular benediction: an exhortation to gratitude grounded in action and attention.