If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away. This responsiveness had nothing to do with that flabby impressionability which is dignified under the name of the "creative temperament"--it was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again. No--Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men. F. Scott Fitzgerald
About This Quote

The quote above is from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. This passage is a great example of how people can make their own luck in life. Gatsby’s luck was his ability to see something in others and find beauty there.

He saw something in people, like Tom Buchanan, that he wanted to be around. He wanted to be in Tom’s presence because of the way Tom’s smile lit up the room when he entered. Thus, he stayed with Tom even though his wife was always nagging him.

His obsession with Tom became part of the reason that Tom drank himself into an early grave and wasted away with sadness. Gatsby was searching for something that could last forever but instead found fleeting beauty in people who would not last long at all.

Source: The Great Gatsby

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