Many spiritual teachers emphasize the importance of gratitude. Some even place it at the core of spirituality and happiness.
What is gratitude, and what sort of impact can being a grateful person have on our lives? These 25 wonderful quotations are a great source of inspiration and reflection.
1. “Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all.” – William Faulkner
2. “Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” – Melody Beattie
3. “It is delightfully easy to thank God for the grace we ourselves have received, but it requires great grace to thank God always for the grace given to others.” – James Smith
This, I must admit, is something which isn’t easy to master.
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4. “Some people complain because God put thorns on roses, while others praise Him for putting roses among thorns.” – Unknown
It’s all about perspective, isn’t it?
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5. “Love wholeheartedly, be surprised, give thanks and praise, then you will discover the fullness of your life.” – David Steindl-Rast
6. “Only a stomach that rarely feels hungry scorns common things.” – Horace
Have we lost the tendency to be grateful because good things in life have come to us too easily?
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7. “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
8. “We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.” – Cynthia Ozick
9. “We can always find something to be thankful for, and there may be reasons why we ought to be thankful for even those dispensations which appear dark and frowning.” – Albert Barnes
10. “Grace isn’t a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It’s a way to live.” – Jackie Windspear
11. “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
Gratitude is a way of life!
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12. “A single grateful thought toward heaven is the most complete prayer.” – Gotthold Lessing
13. “If I have enjoyed the hospitality of the Host of this universe, Who daily spreads a table in my sight, surely I cannot do less than acknowledge my dependence.” – G. A. Johnston Ross
14. “God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say ‘thank you?'” – William Arthur Ward
15. “If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share.” – W. Clement Stone
Selfishness is thus a by-product of ingratitude.
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16. “Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.” – Seneca
17. “If you count all your assets, you always show a profit.” – Robert Quillen
We came with nothing, and EVERYTHING we have in life is a blessing bestowed upon us.
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18. “Gratitude is not a spiritual or moral dessert which we may take or push away according to the whims of the moment, and in either case without material consequences. Gratitude is the very bread and meat of spiritual and moral health, individually and collectively. What was the seed of disintegration that corrupted the heart of the ancient world beyond the point of divine remedy…? What was it but ingratitude?” – Noel Smith
19. “Gratitude goes beyond the ‘mine’ and ‘thine’ and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift. In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.” – Henri J. M. Nouwen
More reminders that gratitude should be a way of life, entrenched in our daily chores and interactions.
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20. “We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.” – Frederick Keonig
21. “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.” – Cicero
22. “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
23. “Who does not thank for little will not thank for much.” – Estonian Proverb
24. “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
And finally…
25. “If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily.” – Gerald Good
A powerful statement, indeed. It’s something we should all try.
There are more gratitude quotes at allinspiration.com, and more on gratitude is also covered at Inspiration 4 Living and Life Changing Quotes.
Some fun thanksgiving ideas can be found at 101InspirationalIdeas.com.
Reuben also owns several health websites, including Insights on Health and All 4 Natural Health.
