The grateful person, being still the most severe exacter of himself, not only confesses, but proclaims, his debts.

South defines gratitude as a form of self-exaction: the grateful person is hardest on himself, not on others. Instead of treating benefits received as trivial or “deserved,” he insists on naming them as debts. The paradox is that gratitude, often imagined as gentle feeling, becomes a rigorous moral posture—one that refuses self-flattery and openly credits benefactors. By “proclaims,” South suggests that gratitude should be public and explicit, countering pride and ingratitude, which thrive on silence or forgetfulness. The line also implies that moral nobility lies in enlarging, not shrinking, one’s sense of obligation.