Quotes and aphorisms on gratitude, a collection of ideas to recognize emotions to express appreciation for what is important for living together gratefully.
Every year, September 21 is World Gratitude Day, a day of thanks the whole world celebrates together. World Gratitude Day recognizes the power of gratitude to heal, energize, and transform lives for the better. The celebration of Gratitude Day allows both individual citizens and organisations within wider society to celebrate the broad meaning of gratitude in a variety of ways.
Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.
Aesop
Nothing more detestable does the earth produce than an ungrateful man.
Decimus Magnus Ausonius
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
Melody Beattie
Gratitude is a humble emotion. It expresses itself… not for the gifts of this day only, but for the day itself; not for what we believe will be ours in the future, but for the bounty of the past
Faith Baldwin
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
John F. Kennedy
He is not rich that possesses much, but he that covets no more; and he is not poor that enjoys little, but he that wants too much.
Francis Beaumont
Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy.
Jacques Maritain
A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.
Henry Ward Beecher
Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.
Henry Ward Beecher
Next to ingratitude the most painful thing to bear is gratitude.
Henry Ward Beecher
Grant us brotherhood, not only for this day but for all our years – a brotherhood not of words but of acts and deeds.
Stephen Vincent Benet
Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that thankfulness is indeed a virtue.
William John Bennett
Whatever I am offered in devotion with a pure heart — a leaf, a flower, fruit, or water — I accept with joy.
Bhagavad Gita
You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.
William Blake
There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.
Ralph H. Blum
Be glad today. Tomorrow may bring tears. Be brave today. The darkest night will pass. And golden rays will usher in the dawn.
Sarah Knowles Bolton
Because gratification of a desire leads to the temporary stilling of the mind and the experience of the peaceful, joyful self, it’s no wonder that we get hooked on thinking that happiness comes from the satisfaction of desires. This is the meaning of the old adage, ‘Joy is not in things; it is in us.’
Joan Borysenko
Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.
Lionel Hampton
Importunity is a condition of prayer. We are to press the matter, not with vain repetitions, but with urgent repetitions. We repeat, not to count the times, but to gain the prayer. We cannot quit praying because heart and soul are in it. We pray “with all perseverance.” We hang to our prayers because by them we live. We press our pleas because we must have them, or die.
E.M. Bounds
It is only when the whole heart is gripped with the passion of prayer that the life-giving fire descends, for none but the earnest man gets access to the ear of God.
E.M. Bounds
When one has a grateful heart, life is so beautiful.
Roy Bennett
For me, every hour is grace. And I feel gratitude in my heart each time I can meet someone and look at his or her smile.
Elie Wiesel
There is neither encouragement nor room in Bible religion for feeble desires, listless efforts, lazy attitudes; all must be strenuous, urgent, ardent. Flamed desires, impassioned, unwearied insistence delight heaven. God would have His children incorrigibly in earnest and persistently bold in their efforts. Heaven is too busy to listen to half-hearted prayers or to respond to pop-calls. Our whole being must be in our praying.
E.M. Bounds
I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.
Henry David Thoreau
I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.
G.K. Chesterton
To say prayers in a decent, delicate way is not heavy work. But to pray really, to pray till hell feels the ponderous stroke, to pray till the iron gates of difficulty are opened, till the mountains of obstacles are removed, till the mists are exhaled and the clouds are lifted, and the sunshine of a cloudless day brightens – this is hard work, but it is God’s work, and man’s best labor.
E.M. Bounds
Gratitude is the ability to experience life as a gift. It liberates us from the prison of self-preoccupation.
John Ortberg
Grace is available for each of us every day — our spiritual daily bread — but we’ve got to remember to ask for it with a grateful heart and not worry about whether there will be enough for tomorrow.
Sarah Ban Breathnach
Let’s choose today to quench our thirst for the “good life” we thinks others lead by acknowledging the good that already exists in our lives. We can then offer the universe the gift of our grateful hearts.
Sarah Ban Breathnach
Whatever we are waiting for — peace of mind, contentment, grace, the inner awareness of simple abundance — it will surely come to us, but only when we are ready to receive it with an open and grateful heart.
Sarah Ban Breathnach
Cold prayers shall never have any warm answers.
Thomas B. Brooks
Look, as a painted man is no man, and as painted fire is no fire, so a cold prayer is no prayer.
Thomas B. Brooks
If you want an accounting of your worth, count your friends.
Merry Browne
This race is never grateful: from the first, One fills their cup at supper with pure wine, Which back they give at cross-time on a sponge, In bitter vinegar.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Gratitude to benefactors is a well-recognized virtue, and to express it in some form or other, however imperfectly, is a duty to ourselves as well as to those who have helped us.
Frederick Douglass
What if, today, we were grateful for everything.
Charlie Brown
Wear gratitude like a cloak, and it will feed every corner of your life.
Rumi
Gratitude helps you to grow and expand; gratitude brings you and laughter into your life and into the lives of all those around you.
Eileen Caddy
Remember that not to be happy is not to be grateful.
Elizabeth Carter
Leave off wishing to deserve any thanks from anyone, thinking that anyone can ever become grateful.
Galius Valerius Catullus
He who receives a good turn should never forget it; he who does one should never remember it. He who receives a benefit should never forget it; he who bestows it should never remember it.
Pierre Cbarron
Non-cooks think it’s silly to invest two hours’ work in two minutes’ enjoyment; but if cooking is evanescent, so is the ballet.
Julia Child
Feeling grateful or appreciative of someone or something in your life actually attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value into your life.
Northrup Christiane
No one who achieves success does so without the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.
Alfred North Whitehead
There is no quality I would rather have, and be thought to have, than gratitude. For it is not only the greatest virtue, but is the mother of all the rest.
Marcus T. Cicero
In ordinary life, we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
If a fellow isn’t thankful for what he’s got, he isn’t likely to be thankful for what he’s going to get.
Frank A. Clark
All good things of this world are no further good than as they are of use; and whatever we may heap up to give others, we enjoy only as much as we can make useful to ourselves and others, and no more.
Daniel Defoe
To remind a man of the good turns you have done him is very much like a reproach.
Demosthenes
Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
Charles Dickens
Glee! The great storm is over!
Emily Dickinson
There is no better excess in the world than the excess of gratitude.
Jean de La Bruyère
Deficiency motivation doesn’t work. It will lead to a lifelong pursuit of try to fix me. Learn to appreciate what you have and where and who you are.
Wayne Dyer
Gratitude is a twofold love — love coming to visit us, and love running out to greet a welcome guest.
Henry Van Dyke
Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.
Cicero
Just because you like my stuff doesn’t mean I owe you anything.
Bob Dylan
If the only prayer you say in your whole life is “Thank you,” that would suffice.
Meister Eckhart
I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and new.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sufficiency’s enough for men of sense.
Euripides
Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.
Epicurus
Maybe the only thing worse than having to give gratitude constantly is having to accept it.
William Faulkner
Gratitude opens the door to the power, the wisdom, the creativity of the universe. You open the door through gratitude.
Deepak Chopra
Gratitude is one of the least articulate of the emotions, especially when it is deep.
Felix Frankfurter
Most people return small favors, acknowledge medium ones and repay greater ones — with ingratitude.
Benjamin Franklin
When befriended, remember it; when you befriend, forget it.
Benjamin Franklin
Eaten bread is soon forgotten.
Thomas Fuller
Express gratitude for the greatness of small things.
Richie Norton
The more you practice the art of thankfulness, the more you have to be thankful for.
Norman Vincent Peale
Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.
Henry Van Dyke
To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.
Johannes A. Gaertner
Gratitude is a powerful catalyst for happiness. It’s the spark that lights a fire of joy in your soul.
Amy Collette
Revenge is profitable, gratitude is expensive.
Edward Gibbon
That’s the trouble with directors. Always biting the hand that lays the golden egg.
Samuel Goldwyn
That’s the trouble with directors. Always biting the hand that lays the golden egg.
Samuel Goldwyn
If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share.
W. Clement Stone
Every dog has its day, but it’s not every dog that knows when he’s having it.
Winifred Gordon
Hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one.
Baltasar Gracian
Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity … it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.
Melody Beattie
For today and its blessings, I owe the world an attitude of gratitude.
Clarence E. Hodges
Of all the people in the world, those who want the most are those who have the most.
David Grayson
After my mother’s death, I began to see her as she had really been…. It was less like losing someone than discovering someone.
Nancy Hale
Gratitude is one of those things that cannot be bought. It must be born with men, or else all the obligations in the world will not create it.
Edward F. Halifax
It is not only blessed to give thanks; it is also of vital importance to our prayer life in general. If we have noted the Lord’s answers to our prayers and thanked Him for what we have received of Him, then it becomes easier for us, and we get more courage, to pray for more.
0. Hallesby
When the world is so complicated, the simple gift of friendship is within all of our hands.
Maria Shriver
It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.
Charles Spurgeon
Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
Marcel Proust
Jesus is moved to happiness every time He sees that you appreciate what He has done for you. Grip His pierced hand and say to Him, “I thank Thee, Savior, because Thou hast died for me.” Thank Him likewise for all the other blessings He has showered upon you from day to day. It brings joy to Jesus.
0. Hallesby
The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.
William Blake
‘Thank you’ is the best prayer that anyone could say.
Alice Walker
Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.
Eckhart Tolle
I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.
John F. Kennedy
When we succeed in truly thanking God, we feel good at heart. The reason is that we have been created to give glory to God, now and forever more. And every time we do so, we feel that we are in harmony with His plans and purposes for our lives. Then we are truly in our element. That is why it is so blessed.
0. Hallesby
It’s a funny thing about life, once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things that you lack.
Germany Kent
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.
Melody Beattie
How few are our real wants, and how easy is it to satisfy them! Our imaginary ones are boundless and insatiable.
Julius Charles Hare
Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.
Oprah Winfrey
Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.
Lionel Hampton
Gratitude will shift you to a higher frequency, and you will attract much better things.
Rhonda Byrne
The public have neither shame or gratitude.
William Hazlitt
Find gratitude in the little things and your well of gratitude will never run dry.
Antonia Montoya
The past with its pleasures, its rewards, its foolishness, its punishments, is there for each of us forever, and it should be.
Lillian Hellman
True thanksgiving means that we need to thank God for what He has done for us, and not to tell Him what we have done for Him.
George R. Hendrick
Thou who has given so much to me, give one thing more: a grateful heart.
George Herbert
Who covets more is evermore a slave.
Robert Herrick
Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other.
Randy Pausch
Enough is as good as a feast.
John Heywood
There is satiety in all things, in sleep, and love-making, in the loveliness of singing and the innocent dance.
Homer
Let him who has enough wish for nothing more.
Horace
To stand on one leg and prove God’s existence is a very different thing from going down on one’s knees and thanking him.
Soren Kierkegaard
Every professional athlete owes a debt of gratitude to the fans and management, and pays an installment every time he plays. He should never miss a payment.
Bobby Hull
The average man is rich enough when he has a little more than he has got.
Dean William R. Inge
There must be fired affections before our prayers will go up.
William Jenkyn
A harbor, even if it is a little harbor, is a good thing…. It takes something from the world, and has something to give in return.
Sarah Orne Jewett
Bounty always receives part of its value from the manner in which it is bestowed.
Samuel Johnson
There are minds so impatient of inferiority that their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits, not because recompense is a pleasure, but because obligation is a pain.
Samuel Johnson
Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
So much has been given to me; I have no time to ponder over that which has been denied.
Helen Keller
I’ve had an exciting life; I married for love and got a little money along with it.
Rose F. Kennedy
Gratitude is a useless word. You will find it in a dictionary but not in life.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld
In most of mankind gratitude is merely a secret hope of further favors.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld
Do you realize what this means? The fact of being alive… I still find it staggering that I am here at all.
Christopher Leach
One is never fortunate or as unfortunate as one imagines.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld
The gratitude of most men is nothing more than a secret desire of receiving even greater benefits.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld
There is a certain kind of lively gratitude that not only releases us fro benefits we received, but also becomes a return payment to our friend that makes them become indebted to us.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.
Melody Beattie
Too great a hurry to discharge an obligation is a kind of ingratitude.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld
We find very few ungrateful people when we are able to confer favors.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld
My gratitude for good writing is unbounded; I’m grateful for it the way I’m grateful for the ocean.
Anne Lamott
Man needs so little… yet he begins wanting so much.
Louis L’Amour
We think that we suffer from ingratitude, while in reality we suffer from self-love.
Walter Savage Landor
Too much is unwholesome.
Georg C. Lichtenberg
One can get just as much exultation in losing oneself in a little thing as in a big thing. It is nice to think how one can be recklessly lost in a daisy.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Gratitude is a divine emotion: it fills the heart, but not to bursting; it warms it, but not to fever.
Charlotte Brontë
One can never pay in gratitude; one can only pay “in kind” somewhere else in life.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
How those holy men of old could storm the battlements above! When there was no way to look but up, they lifted up their eyes to God who made the hills, with unshakable confidence.
Herbert Lockyer
Thank God every morning when you get up that you have something to do that day, which must be done, whether you like it or not.
James Russell Lowell
Were a man to order his life by the rules of true reason, a frugal substance joined to a contented mind is for him great riches.
Lucretius
Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy.
Jacques Maritain
Let me burn out for God… prayer is the great thing. Oh, that I may be a man of prayer!
Henry Martyn
What you have become is the price you paid to get what you used to want.
Mignon McLaughlin
Fortunate are the people whose roots are deep.
Agnes Meyer
Nothing purchased can come close to the renewed sense of gratitude for having family and friends.
Courtland Milloy
There is so much in the world for us all if we only have the eyes to see it, and the heart to love it, and the hand to gather it to ourselves so much everywhere in which to delight, and for which to be thankful.
Lucy Maud Montgomery
I look back on my life like a good day’s work; it was done and I am satisfied with it.
Grandma Moses
Let us thank God heartily as often as we pray that we have His Spirit in us to teach us to pray. Thanksgiving will draw our hearts out to God and keep us engaged with Him; it will take our attention from ourselves and give the Spirit room in our hearts.
Andrew Murray
Nothing will content him who is not content with a little.
Greek Proverb
Swift gratitude is the sweetest.
Greek Proverb
Reflect that life like every other blessing, derives its value from its use alone.
Samuel Johnson
Swift gratitude is the sweetest.
Greek Proverb
When you consider everything we have is a gift from God, it’s amazing how little gratitude we show. Giving to others is such a small way to say thank you.
Charles L. Overby
Gratitude – the meanest and most sniveling attribute in the world.
Dorothy Parker
The good Lord has been good to me, and I am trying to return the favor. I just want to do as much good in the world as I can.
Milton Petrie
We may as well not pray at all as offer our prayers in a lifeless manner.
William S. Plumer
When I find a great deal of gratitude in a poor man, I take it for granted there would be as much generosity if he were rich.
Alexander Pope
Half a loaf is better than none.
Australian Proverb
We never know the worth of water until the well is dry.
English Proverb
Ingratitude is a kind of weakness; the clever are never ungrateful.
French Proverb
A hungry ass keeps her kicking end down.
Irish Proverb
Get down on your knees and thank God you’re still on your feet.
Irish Proverb
Better a mouse in the pot than no stew at all.
Italian Proverb
I might have lost my ring, but I still have my fingers!
Italian Proverb
Man never has what he wants, because what he wants is everything.
C.F. Ramuz
A woman has got to love a bad man once or twice in her life to be thankful for a good one.
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Two kinds of gratitude: the sudden kind we feel for what we take; the larger kind we feel for what we give.
Edwin Arlington Robinson
As I study wealthy men, I can see but one way in which they can secure a real equivalent for money spent, and that is to cultivate a taste for giving where the money may produce an effect, which will be a lasting gratification.
John D. Rockefeller
Fear of trouble, present and future, often blinds us to the numerous small blessings we enjoy, silencing our prayers of praise and thanksgiving.
Author Unknown
We must wrestle earnestly in prayer, like men contending with a deadly enemy for life.
J.C. Ryle
See how many are better off than you are, but consider how many are worse.
Marcus Annaeus Seneca
The heart is great which shows moderation in the midst of prosperity.
Marcus Annaeus Seneca
There is as much greatness of mind in acknowledging a good turn, as in doing it.
Marcus Annaeus Seneca
What is the proper limit for wealth? It is, first, to have what is necessary; and, second, to have what is enough.
Marcus Annaeus Seneca
He receives comfort like cold porridge.
William Shakespeare
Have gratitude for all that you have, and you can be happy exactly as you are.
Mandy Ingber
I hate ingratitude more in a person than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness, or any taint of vice whose strong corruption inhabits our frail blood.
William Shakespeare
We can no other answer make but thinks, and thanks and ever thanks.
William Shakespeare
Independence may be found in comparative as well as in absolute abundance; I mean where a person contracts his desires within the limits of his fortune.
William Shenstone
Our Father, let the spirit of gratitude so prevail in our hearts that we may manifest thy Spirit in our lives.
W.B. Slack
One never hugs one’s good luck so affectionately as when listening to the relation of some horrible misfortunes which has overtaken others.
Alexander Smith
How many things there are which I do not want.
Socrates
If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daisies.
Nadine Stair
Gratitude is a sickness suffered by dogs.
Joseph Stalin
I am because my little dog knows me.
Gertrude Stein
I have come to understand that every day is something to cherish.
Kerri Strug
One ungrateful man does an injury to all who stand in need of aid.
Publilius Syrus
One ungrateful man does an injury to all who stand in need of aid.
Publilius Syrus
One ungrateful person, does an injury to all needy people.
Publilius Syrus
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving.
The Holy Bible
Unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
The Holy Bible
Ingratitude is treason to mankind.
James Thomson
Not what we have But what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.
Epicurus
Love is the true means by which the world is enjoyed: our love to others, and others love to us.
Thomas Traherne
Love is the true means by which the world is enjoyed: our love to others, and others love to us.
Thomas Traherne
If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
Mark Twain
Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is, knows how deep a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our race. He brought death into the world.
Mark Twain
A person doesn’t know how much he has to be thankful for until he has to pay taxes on it.
Author Unknown
Even though we can’t have all we want, we ought to be thankful we don’t get all we deserve.
Author Unknown
God deserves far more praise than any of us could ever give Him.
Author Unknown
God receives little thanks, even for his greatest gifts.
Author Unknown
Gratitude is the doorman’s payment.
Author Unknown
Gratitude is the music of the heart, when its chords are swept by the breeze of kindness.
Author Unknown
He has enough who is contented with little.
Author Unknown
If you can’t be thankful for what you receive, be thankful for what you escape.
Author Unknown
One day of pleasure is worth two of sorrow.
Author Unknown
Our favorite attitude should be gratitude
Author Unknown
She is not rich that possesses much, but she that is content with what she has.
Author Unknown
There is always, always, always something to be thankful for.
Author Unknown
There is nothing that can have a more powerful effect on your mental health than the spirit of thankfulness.
George E. Vandeman
When the insects take over the world we hope they will remember, with gratitude, how we took them along on all our picnics.
Bill Vaughan
God has two dwellings; one in heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart.
Izaak Walton
Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgiving, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.
William A. Ward
It made me gladsome to be getting some education, it being like a big window opening.
Mary Webb
Never let the things you want make you forget the things you have.
Sanchita Pandey
Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.
Karl Barth
As the dew to the blossom, the bud to the bee; As the scent to the rose, are those memories to me.
Amelia C. Welby
Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.
Margaret Cousins
Bear up the hands that hang down, by faith and prayer; support the tottering knees. Storm the throne of grace and persevere therein, and mercy will come down.
John Wesley
Giving is an expression of gratitude for our blessings.
Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen
I take it as a prime cause of the present confusion of society that it is too sickly and too doubtful to use pleasure as a test of value.
Rebecca West
Whoever is not in his coffin and the dark grave, let him know he has enough.
Walt Whitman
Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.
Marianne Williamson
Gratitude is not only the memory but the homage of the heart rendered to God for his goodness.
Nathaniel P. Willis
Keep a grateful journal. Every night, list five things that you are grateful for. What it will begin to do is change your perspective of your day and your life.
Oprah Winfrey
Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer.
Maya Angelou
Living in a state of gratitude is the gateway to grace.
Arianna Huffington
When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.
Tony Robbins
Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts.
Henri Frédéric Amiel
Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: It must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all.
William Faulkner
A moment of gratitude makes a difference in your attitude.
Bruce Wilkinson
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Thanksgiving and gratitude quotes
