49 Gratitude Quotes and a Poem Of Thankfulness

by Marelisa · View Comments

gratitude quotesHere are 49 beautiful gratitude quotes and a poem of thankfulness:

1. “At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” — Albert Schweitzer

2. “You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.” — G. K. Chesterton

3. “No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks”. — Unknown

4. “Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” — Marcel Proust

5. “He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” — Epictetus

6. “You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you.” — Sarah Ban Breathnach

7. “We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” — Thornton Wilder

8. “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” — Albert Einstein

9. “Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” — William Arthur Ward

10. “Take full account of the excellencies which you possess, and in gratitude remember how you would hanker after them, if you had them not.” — Marcus Aurelius

11. “Real life isn’t always going to be perfect or go our way, but the recurring acknowledgement of what is working in our lives can help us not only to survive but surmount our difficulties.” — Sarah Ban Breathnach

12. “We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.” — Cynthia Ozick

13. “Can you see the holiness in those things you take for granted–a paved road or a washing machine? If you concentrate on finding what is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.” — Rabbi Harold Kushner

14. “We can be thankful to a friend for a few acres or a little money; and yet for the freedom and command of the whole earth, and for the great benefits of our being, our life, health, and reason, we look upon ourselves as under no obligation.” — Marcus Annaeus Seneca

15. “When we become more fully aware that our success is due in large measure to the loyalty, helpfulness, and encouragement we have received from others, our desire grows to pass on similar gifts. Gratitude spurs us on to prove ourselves worthy of what others have done for us. The spirit of gratitude is a powerful energizer.” — Wilferd A. Peterson

16. “Whatever our individual troubles and challenges may be, it’s important to pause every now and then to appreciate all that we have, on every level. We need to literally “count our blessings,” give thanks for them, allow ourselves to enjoy them, and relish the experience of prosperity we already have.” — Shakti Gawain

17. “Thou that has given so much to me,
Give one thing more–a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if thy blessings had spare days;
But such a heart, whose pulse may be
Thy praise.”

– George Herbert

18.  “(Some people) have a wonderful capacity to appreciate again and again, freshly and naively, the basic goods of life, with awe, pleasure, wonder, and even ecstasy.” — A.H. Maslow

19. “If the only prayer you say in your life is thank you, that would suffice.” — Meister Eckhart

20. “Find the good and praise it.” — Alex Haley

21. “Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot.” — The Hausa of Nigeria

22. “What if you gave someone a gift, and they neglected to thank you for it-would you be likely to give them another? Life is the same way. In order to attract more of the blessings that life has to offer, you must truly appreciate what you already have.” — Ralph Marston

23. “Happiness is itself a kind of gratitude.” — Joseph Wood Krutch

24. “The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.” — Henry Miller

25. “There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.” — Ralph H. Blum

26.  “Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy — because we will always want to have something else or something more.” — Brother David Steindl-Rast

27.  “Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.” — Denis Waitley

28. “As each day comes to us refreshed and anew, so does my gratitude renew itself daily. The breaking of the sun over the horizon is my grateful heart dawning upon a blessed world. ” — Adabella Radici

29. “For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

30. “Grace isn’t a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It’s a way to live. ” — Attributed to Jacqueline Winspear

31. “When eating bamboo sprouts, remember the man who planted them.” — Chinese Proverb

32. “Only a stomach that rarely feels hungry scorns common things.” — Horace

33. “But the value of gratitude does not consist solely in getting you more blessings in the future. Without gratitude you cannot long keep from dissatisfied thought regarding things as they are.” — Wallace Wattles

34. “Blessed are those that can give without remembering and receive without forgetting.” — Author Unknown

35. “If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.” — Rabbi Harold Kushner

36. “Nothing that is done for you is a matter of course. Everything originates in a will for the good, which is directed at you. Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude.” — Albert Schweitzer

37. “God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say “thank you?” — William A. Ward

38. “Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic.” — John Henry Jowett

39. “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.” — Christiane Northrup

40.”The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it.” — Richard Bach

41. “Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes of which all men have some.” — Charles Dickens

42. “Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend… when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present — love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure — the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on earth.” –Sarah Ban Breathnach

43. “Whenever we are appreciative, we are filled with a sense of well-being and swept up by the feeling of joy.” — M.J. Ryan

44. “Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.” –Doris Day

45. “Many people who order their lives rightly in all other ways are kept in poverty by their lack of gratitude.” — Wallace Wattles

46. “Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.” — Buddha

47. “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

48. “There is a law of gratitude, and it is . . . the natural principle that action and reaction are always equal and in opposite directions. The grateful outreaching of your mind in thankful praise to supreme intelligence is a liberation or expenditure of force. It cannot fail to reach that to which it is addressed, and the reaction is an instantaneous movement toward you.” — Wally Wattles

49. “Gratitude should not be just a reaction to getting what you want, but an all-the-time gratitude, the kind where you notice the little things and where you constantly look for the good, even in unpleasant situations. Start bringing gratitude to your experiences, instead of waiting for a positive experience in order to feel grateful.” — Marelisa Fábrega

Be Thankful

Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire,
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don’t know something
For it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations
Because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge
Because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes
They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you’re tired and weary
Because it means you’ve made a difference.

It is easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are
also thankful for the setbacks.

GRATITUDE can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles
and they can become your blessings.

Author Unknown

Creative Commons License photo credit: @ly$ in wonderland

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  • Hi Marelisa,
    I just discovered your blog while looking for a gratitude quote for mine. I love it! I'll be back!
    Betsy
    zen-mama.com
  • Hi Marelisa,

    Good Monday morning!!! I'm stealing one of your gratitude quotes as my first tweet of the day! :-)

    Donald
  • Marelisa
    Hi Donald: Go for it. :-)
  • Nice Post!
    Here's Sanskrit Verse on Gratitude

    The coconut trees, remembering the small amount of salty water they were fed with, when they were saplings, gratefully supply humans with abundant tasty sweet water from coconuts carried on their heads throughout their life. Likewise, good people never forget favors done to them.
  • Marelisa
    Hi Subhashita: Very nice verse, thank you.
  • Very encouraging Thanks
    .-= Ralph´s last blog ..Playing a Game of “Chicken” With Fear =-.
  • Gratitude allows us to appreciate the little things in life. Here are some things i am grateful for

    1. My mom, for loving unconditionally
    2. My eyes for sight
    3. The brain with in my head
    4. Life
    .-= jonathanfigaro´s last blog ..Top 10 Quotes to Improve Mind Instantly =-.
  • Marelisa
    Hi Jonathan: Thank you for sharing some of the things you're grateful for. :-)
  • Marelisa
    Hi Hilary: The quotes do cover thousands of years, I hadn't thought of that. :-)

    Hi Arswino: Every time we achieve something--however small--we have to sit down and congratulate ourselves and savor it, instead of immediately getting up to chase after the next goal. Sometimes I forget to do this, but I keep trying to remind myself. :-)

    Hi Chris: Gratitude can have a very dramatic impact. It sounds like you've had a great 24 hours, I'm glad. :-)
  • Chris
    This rocked my world, thanks so much for these. The world seems to open up when I practice thankfulness for everything. Negativity is banished and opportunities arise that weren't there before, and thats just in the last 24 hours after reading this :)
  • Mare, thanks for these wonderful quotes.
    I love #26 : “Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy — because we will always want to have something else or something more.”
    .-= Arswino´s last blog ..85 Ways to Motivate Yourself =-.
  • Hi Marelisa .. I loved the quotes - they are always so pertinent and cover thousands of years .. who knows what we may leave for future generations .. we need to be grateful there will be future generations -

    I loved everyone's comments ..
    Thanks - Hilary Melton-Butcher
    Positive Letters Inspirational Stories
    .-= Hilary´s last blog ..Where would you describe a population of 22 as dizzy, amazing, extraordinary? =-.
  • Wow, quotes must be in the air. This is the second quotes post that I've read today and I love it!
    .-= Melissa Donovan´s last blog ..Types of Poems: English Sonnets =-.
  • Marelisa
    Hi Melissa: Yeah, I just landed a bit earlier on a blog that has a post on quotes for today too. Maybe it was the same blog. :-)
  • I am already in love with the first quote on this list. I practice gratitude for the blessings I enjoy. Thanks for a wonderful reminder to be thankful for every little thing in my life.
  • Marelisa
    Hi Evelyn: I just had the best chicken tacos for lunch. Really, does life get any better than chicken tacos? :-)
  • Nice collection.
    .-= Rohit Prakash´s last blog ..The Story of Corporate Culture =-.
  • Marelisa
    Thank you Rohit. :-)
  • Marelisa,
    After following the uplevel your life coaching sessions by Christinekane dot com, I now write a gratitude journal every evening listing 5 things I am grateful for. Sometimes I have many more that I want to list, sometimes it is hard to find more than 2. But it changes your perspective indeed. During the day you something nice happens that you are thankful for and think ' I'm gonna write that down tonight'. It makes you more aware. It makes you happier.
    Mimi
    .-= Mindful Mimi´s last blog ..If you don't have a list of at least twenty things you like to do, then you don't have a menu for enjoying life - Marelisa Fabrega =-.
  • Marelisa
    Hi Mimi: I like how keeping a gratitude journal makes you more aware during the day of the little things you can add to your list of things to be grateful for.
  • Hi Marelisa,

    I was trying to pick a favorite quote, but everyone is great. I like how quotes can say so much in just a few words.

    Thank you for compiling this list. Each one reflects your positive attitude.
    .-= Barbara Swafford´s last blog ..Looking Into The Future =-.
  • Marelisa
    Hi Barbara: I found a lot of good quotes on gratitude, but I thought these were the best. :-)
  • Marelisa
    Hi Lori: It's so true: by being grateful we realize that we already have everything we need. Thank you for adding Melody's quote.
  • Thank you for sharing those. May I share another? Melody Beattie put it in this wonderful way,

    "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."
    .-= Lori Hoeck´s last blog ..What you can do about a shooter in the building, part 2 =-.
  • Marelisa
    Hi Dani: I'm a huge fan of quotes too. They pack a lot of meaning into just a few words. :-)


    Hi Amit: I like #37 too, as well as the one you contributed in your comment. :-)


    Hi Vered: He, he, he, I thought I'd sneak my own quote in there. :-)
  • I love your own quote, Mare. I'm actually getting better at being in a constant mindset of being grateful, although I still whine too much. :)
    .-= Vered - Blogger for Hire´s last blog ..Sin City Pictures =-.
  • Hey Marelisa,

    Fantastic collection. I love them all and especially number 37. If I was going to contribute something about gratitude to this list it would be... Love=Gratitude and Gratitude=Love.

    Thank you! xx
    .-= Amit Sodha´s last blog ..How To Write & Deliver A Speech: Top 10 Tips =-.
  • What wonderful quotes! I am a HUGE fan of quotes and actually wrote a post about them today on my site. Thanks for sharing these.
    .-= Positively Present´s last blog ..a positive present just for you =-.
  • Hi Mare,
    These are so wonderful and filled with so much goodness. While there are many that really are so awesome - the one today that is holding special meaning is #6 by Sarah Ban Breathnach. What a beautiful thought - about what consciously giving thanks for all the amazing things in our life - how this will change us...in so many wonderful ways!
    .-= Lance´s last blog ..Tri-ing Life =-.
  • Marelisa
    Hi Lance: Being grateful does change our life. And it's interesting because all that needs to happen is that we shift our perspective. :-)
  • An awesome inspirational collection, Marelisa! I've been consciously practising gratitude quite a bit lately - this will come in handy - thanks! - R
    .-= Robin´s last blog ..Blogger Meet-Up! =-.
  • Marelisa
    Hi Robin: These quotes can be turned into prompts for writing in a gratitude journal.
  • Great compilation of quotes and nice poem about thankfulness. Thanks a lot for sharing this awesome post.
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