On Gratitude

Food for thought from ancient and modern thinkers.

"When a person doesn't have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude." --Elie Wiesel

"If the only prayer you say in your life is "thank you," that would suffice." --Meister Eckhart

"Find the good -- and praise it." --Alex Haley

Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot." --The Hausa of Nigeria

"They are not poor that have little, but they that desire much. The richest man, whatever his lot, is the one who's content with his lot" --Dutch Proverb

"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

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." --Marcel Proust

"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others." --Cicero

"Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart." --Seneca

"Gratitude is our most direct line to God and the angels. If we take the time, no matter how crazy and troubled we feel, we can find something to be thankful for. The more we seek gratitude, the more reason the angels will give us for gratitude and joy to exist in our lives." --Terry Lynn Taylor

"Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul." --Henry Ward Beecher

"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

"A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves." --Henry Ward Beecher

"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

"Love wholeheartedly, be surprised, give thanks and praise--then you will discover the fullness of your life." --Brother David Steindl-Rast

"Life without thankfulness is devoid of love and passion. Hope without thankfulness is lacking in fine perception. Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude. Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along the spiritual road." --John Henry Jowett

"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

"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

"Happiness is itself a kind of gratitude." --Joseph Wood Krutch

"I had the blues because I had no shoes until upon the street, I met a man who had no feet." --Denis Waitely

"If you can't be thankful for what you receive, be thankful for what you escape." --Unknown

"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

"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." --Sara Ban Breathnach

"A thankful person is thankful under all circumstances. A complaining soul complains even if he lives in paradise." --Baha'u'llah

"Gratitude is the heart's memory." --French Proverb

"God has two dwellings; one in heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart." --Izaak Walton

"Gratitude is heaven itself." --William Blake

"A single grateful thought toward heaven is the most complete prayer." --Gotthold Lessing

"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

"Thou that has given so much to me, Give one thing more--a grateful heart; Not thankful when it pleases me, As if Thy blessings had spare days; But such a heart, whose pulse may be Thy praise." --George Herbert

"(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

"Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone." --Gladys Berthe Stern

"There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy." --Ralph H. Blum

"I remember those happy days and often wish I could speak into the ears of the dead the gratitude which was due to them in life and so ill-returned." --Gwyn Thomas

"No longer forward nor behind I look in hope or fear; But, grateful, take the good I find, The best of now and here." --John Greenleaf Whittier

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