Thanks for all the comments here. I'm deliriously satisfied with it myself. I think this is yet another reaction to what I see as a fairly goofy challenge subject. In order to go beyond something that either looks or acts like a person, what do you have to do? The idea is to have something that apparently thinks or feels in human terms. This bit of brass is actually disingenuous in appearing to do so, which is even more human.
OK, it was a joke...
Raish, I don't understand the personification here. Plenty of people did, so it's just my density. I love the title. It is my high school class motto, and I do try to live by it.