(From the SmallBusiness.com Archive. First published,
In the U.S., Thursday is Thanksgiving. It is a national holiday set aside to express our thankfulness and gratitude for the blessings we’ve received. At SmallBusiness.com, one of the things we are most thankful for is you. We thank you for using the information on the site and greatly appreciate the wisdom you share with us, as well. To celebrate the holiday, we pulled together this list of inspirational, motivational, and insightful quotations about gratitude and thankfulness.
- “O Lord that lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!”
William Shakespeare
Henry VI - Thankfulness is the tune of angels.
Edmund Spenser (1895) - “Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good.”
Maya Angelou - “Thanks are justly due for things got without purchase.”
Ovid - “That possession which we gain by the sword is not lasting; gratitude for benefits is eternal.”
Quintus Curtius Rufus
- “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
William Arthur Ward - “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”
G.K. Chesterton - “If you count all your assets, you always show a profit.”
Robert Quillen - “Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”
Robert Brault - “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
- “Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”
Charles Dickens - “Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.”
Eckhart Tolle - “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 - “If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily.”
Gerald Good - “Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves and spend without fear of bankruptcy.”
Fred De Witt
- “He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”
- Epictetus
- “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 - “The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated.”
William James - “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 - “You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “It is impossible to feel grateful and depressed in the same moment.”
Naomi Williams - “Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out.”
John Wooden - “No one who achieves success does so without the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.”
Alfred North Whitehead - “Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”
A.A. Milne - “Forget yesterday — it has already forgotten you. Don’t sweat tomorrow — you haven’t even met. Instead, open your eyes and your heart to a truly precious gift — today.”
Steve Maraboli
- “We should certainly count our blessings, but we should also make our blessings count.”
Neal A. Maxwell - “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 - “The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.”
John E. Southard - “Gratitude also opens your eyes to the limitless potential of the universe, while dissatisfaction closes your eyes to it.”
Stephen Richards - “Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”
Epicurus - “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”
Cicero - “When you are aware of all that has been given to you, it is hard not to be humbled and pleased to give back.”
Anne Lamott
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