Last Updated on April 4, 2024
“The Root Of Joy Is Gratefulness.” – David Steindl-Rast
Many books and articles have been written on how to find happiness or inspiring quotes of gratitude. Life can be hard and we all experience sadness at times during our life. One of the keys to living a life of joy is gratitude.
Very simply, gratitude is being thankful for something or someone in your life. Showing gratitude is not as simple as stating, “Sure, I’m grateful for what I have.” In order for gratitude to really be impactful, you need to have intention and focus. Mindlessly saying the words will not have a transformative effect.
Thornton Wilder says, “We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”
Being conscious, taking the time to really reflect and think about the positives in our life is the secret to truly feeling a sense of gratitude. Wilder uses the word “treasures”, but he doesn’t mean things that necessarily have great monetary value. What you find joy in can be simple and have value for any number of reasons.
There is much in our hectic, demanding lives today that can get us down. We may struggle with chronic pain, the loss of a loved one, or even putting food on the table, but living a life of gratitude can help us find joy in life amidst the tough stuff.
The quotes in this article about gratitude are divided into four categories: inspirational, thankful, about life, and motivational. This allows you to focus on the area that will be most helpful to you.
Inspirational Gratitude Quotes
In this first section you will find quotes that inspire you. If you are feeling low and can’t seem to find the right path, these inspirational gratitude quotes can provide you with the motivation to take the next step to viewing your world in a light that illuminates joy.
Thankful Gratitude Quotes
These quotes really help with the act of being grateful, the ‘how’ of being grateful. The word “thankful” is essential to having a sense of gratitude. These helpful nuggets will help you zero in on what aspects of your life you can be grateful or thankful for.
Gratitude Quotes About Life
In this section, you’ll find quotes that span the gamut from the hilarious comedian Amy Poehler to the great British playwright William Shakespeare. These quotes will help you by reading how being grateful has helped others.
Motivational Gratitude Quotes
Find a phrase, or a word even that you connect with, and can lead you to make a practice of gratitude a routine part of your life.
Inspirational Gratitude Quotes
“It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.” – David Steindl-Rast
“Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.” – Lionel Hampton
“The greatest source of happiness is the ability to be grateful at all times.” – Zig Ziglar
“You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” – Thornton Wilder
“Change your expectation for appreciation and the world changes instantly.” – Tony Robbins
“Love those who appreciate you, and appreciate those who love you.” – Connor Chalfant
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues but the parent of all others.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
“I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness – it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.” – Brene Brown
“I am happy because I’m grateful. I choose to be grateful. That gratitude allows me to be happy.” – Will Arnett
“‘Enough’ is a feast.” – Buddhist Proverb
“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
“Everything we do should be a result of our gratitude for what God has done for us.” – Lauryn Hill
“Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.” – Doris Day
“We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.” – Cynthia Ozick
“This is a wonderful day. I have never seen this one before.” – Maya Angelou
“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” – Voltaire
“When eating fruit, remember the one who planted the tree.” – Vietnamese Proverb
“Always have an attitude of gratitude.” – Sterling K. Brown
“I think gratitude is a big thing. It puts you in a place where you’re humble.” – Andra Day
“The more grateful I am, the more beauty I see.” -Mary Davis
“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” – Robert Brault
“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
“When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out and the tide of love rushes in.” -Kristin Armstrong
“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” – Marcel Proust
“Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.” – Henry Ward Beecher
“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
“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.” – A.A. Milne
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Gratitude looks to the Past and love to the Present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead.” – C.S. Lewis
“Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.” – Aesop
“The way to develop the best that is in a person is by appreciation and encouragement.” – Charles Schwab
“Gratitude is a powerful catalyst for happiness. It’s the spark that lights a fire of joy in your soul.” – Amy Collette
“Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” – Charles Dickens
“Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.” – Karl Barth
“What separates privilege from entitlement is gratitude.” – Brené Brown
“Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy.” – Jacques Maritain
“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
“Gratitude turns what we have into enough.” – Anonymous
“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” – Melody Beattie
“Today I choose to live with gratitude for the love that fills my heart, the peace that rests within my spirit, and the voice of hope that says all things are possible.” – Anonymous
“No one who achieves success does so without the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.” – Alfred North Whitehead
“Gratitude and attitude are not challenges; they are choices.” – Robert Braathe
“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
“The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated. ” – William James
“Gratitude will shift you to a higher frequency, and you will attract much better things.” – Rhonda Byrne
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” – William Arthur Ward
“Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
“The root of joy is gratefulness.” – David Steindl-Rast
“Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude.” – Albert Schweitzer
“Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.” – Doris Day
Thankful Gratitude Quotes
“The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.” – William Blake
“Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.” – Brian Tracy
“Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts.” – Henri Frederic Amiel
“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
“Thankfulness is the quickest path to joy.” – Jefferson Bethke
“Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses.” – Alphonse Karr
“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
“True forgiveness is when you can say, ‘Thank you for the experience.'” – Oprah
“I’m still thanking all the stars, one by one.” – Marissa Meyer
“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” – G.K. Chesterton
“Being thankful is not always experienced as a natural state of existence, we must work at it, akin to a type of strength training for the heart.” – Larissa Gomez
“Got no checkbooks, got no banks, still I’d like to express my thanks. I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night.” – Irving Berlin
“Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that thankfulness is indeed a virtue.” – William Bennett
“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” – Gilbert C. Chesterton
“For my part, I am almost contented just now, and very thankful. Gratitude is a divine emotion: it fills the heart, but not to bursting; it warms it, but not to fever.” – Charlotte Brontë
“We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.” – John F. Kennedy
“There is always, always, always something to be thankful for.” – Unknown
“I lie in bed at night, after ending my prayers with the words ‘Ich danke dir für all das Gute und Liebe und Schöne.’ (Thank you, God, for all that is good and dear and beautiful.)” – Anne Frank
“No duty is more urgent than giving thanks.” – James Allen
“The soul that gives thanks can find comfort in everything; the soul that complains can find comfort in nothing.” – Hannah Whitall Smith
“The heart that gives thanks is a happy one, for we cannot feel thankful and unhappy at the same time.” – Douglas Wood
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“There’s no happier person than a truly thankful, content person.” – Joyce Meyer
“When I pray, I always thank Mother Nature for all the beauty in the world. It’s about having an attitude of gratitude.” – Miranda Kerr
“When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself.” – Tecumseh
“I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Gratitude Quotes About Life
“I looked around and thought about my life. I felt grateful. I noticed every detail. That is the key to time travel. You can only move if you are actually in the moment. You have to be where you are to get where you need to go.” – Amy Poehler
“There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.” – Ralph H. Blum
“Gratitude is the sweetest thing in a seekers life – in all human life. If there is gratitude in your heart, then there will be tremendous sweetness in your eyes.” – Sri Chinmoy
“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
“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.” – Melody Beattie
“Gratitude helps you to grow and expand; gratitude brings joy and laughter into your life and into the lives of all those around you.” – Eileen Caddy
“I’ve had a remarkable life. I seem to be in such good places at the right time. You know, if you were to ask me to sum my life up in one word, gratitude.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” – Willie Nelson
“When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.” – G.K. Chesterton
“O Lord that lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness.” – William Shakespeare
“Gratitude bestows reverence…changing forever how we experience life and the world.” – John Milton
“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” – Willie Nelson
“Gratitude for the present moment and the fullness of life now is the true prosperity.” – Eckhart Tolle
“Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.” – Margaret Cousins
“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
“Gratitude goes beyond the ‘mine’ and ‘thine’ and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift.” – Henri J.M. Nouwen
“Wear gratitude like a cloak, and it will feed every corner of your life.” – Rumi
“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” – Eckhart Tolle
“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
“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
“Live a life full of humility, gratitude, intellectual curiosity, and never stop learning.” – GZA
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“As with all commandments, gratitude is a description of a successful mode of living. The thankful heart opens our eyes to a multitude of blessings that continually surround us.” – James E. Faust
“If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.” – Meister Eckhart
Motivational Gratitude Quotes
“Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.” – Oprah Winfrey
“Be grateful for what you already have while you pursue your goals. If you aren’t grateful for what you already have, what makes you think you would be happy with more.” – Roy T. Bennett
“Gratitude is an antidote to negative emotions, a neutralizer of envy, hostility, worry, and irritation. It is savoring; it is not taking things for granted; it is present-oriented.” – Sonja Lyubomirsky
“When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.” – Anthony Robbins
“If you fail to carry around with you a heart of gratitude for the love you’ve been so freely given, it is easy for you not to love others as you should.” – Paul David Tripp
“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
“Opening your eyes to more of the world around you can deeply enhance your gratitude practice.” – Derrick Carpenter
“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
“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” – Epictetus
“We learned about gratitude and humility – that so many people had a hand in our success.” – Michelle Obama
“Rest and be thankful.” – William Wordsworth
“The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but the thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings.” – Henry Ward Beecher
“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
How Quotes Can Be Helpful?
Quotes have the ability to guide us in reflection, to inspire us and motivate us to make our existence better.
They are brief phrases that impart wisdom, and provide views from different vantage points that we can then take and apply to our own lives.
Reading the thoughts and wisdom of others can help us to have an understanding of the world around us, and where we stand in it.
When life is tough and it is hard to keep going, reading a thoughtful quote can serve to lift us up, and give us the strength to go on. An inspiring quote can help us feel less alone. Reading of the suffering of others and how they moved beyond that can help us to be more positive in the face of adversity.
Quotes can also help us to know ourselves better, and to feel good about our values and opinions. The reading of meaningful quotes can lead us to greater self-awareness.
In so many ways, our lives can be enriched by reading quotes and reflecting on them, making our existence more meaningful.
How Quotes Of Gratitude Can Help You?
Quotes of gratitude can help you recognize what is positive in your life. You might be in a position in your life where you cannot see anything good, but reading quotes that speak to aspects of life that we can all be grateful for can enable you to see those things in your own life.
A phrase that speaks of suffering and how to move beyond that through gratitude can lift you out of a dark place, and help you find light in each day.
Sometimes a few words of wisdom can give you what you need to take the next step, and recalling those words whenever you start to feel burdened, can be enough to alter how you are looking at life.
Quotes of gratitude can help you reassess your values, and what you think is important in life. Being thankful for simple pleasures may make you realize that you have been putting too much worth in something that is not valuable.
How To Incorporate Quotes Of Gratitude Into Your Life?
Make a specific time to sit and relax and consciously reflect on what you have in your life to be grateful for. You might want to say those things out loud to give them more impact.
Make an actual written list of all of the things you are grateful for. The act of writing things down helps things stick in our memory, and seeing things written makes them stand out more to us.
When you wake each morning, take a few moments to think about the day ahead, and give thanks for the day. This will put you in a positive mindset before you even have your first coffee!
Be grateful for small things as well as big things. Don’t feel that you must have major objects or occurrences to be grateful for. The small things are just as important, and maybe even more important as it is these small things throughout our daily existence that provide us with many moments of gratitude, and re-establish that positive mindset again and again.
Close your day with a moment of thanks. This practice will give you a sense of peace and happiness before you drift off into a satisfied sleep.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Prayer A Form Of Gratitude?
Prayer is a wonderful way to give thanks. If faith is a part of your life, embrace times to pray and recognize all of the blessings in your life, expressing your gratitude for these.
Is Gratitude Like ‘Being In The Moment’?
Consciously thinking about what you have in your life to be grateful for is very much like being in the moment. Take time at any point in your day to reflect on where you are, what you are doing, the person you are with, etc., and say a quiet word of thanks for it.
We need to be aware of our lives, our words, and our actions in order to recognize all that we can and should be grateful for.
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