Just as the turkey sits displayed at the center of the Thanksgiving feast, the keystone sentiment at the end of November must always be gratitude. Joy and fellowship also abound, but it is a thankful heart that truly rests at the center of this quintessential American holiday. When the hours of planning menus and decorations, navigating travel, and other stresses beckon us away from the spirit of Thanksgiving, let these inspiring quotes lead you back to a place of gratitude; because, truly, there is much we have to be thankful for!
“I can no other answer make but thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks.”
—William Shakespeare
“There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.”
—Ralph Blum
“Have gratitude for all that you have, and you can be happy exactly as you are.”
—Mandy Ingber
“I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.”
—Henry David Thoreau
“The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.”
—William Blake
“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.”
—Bonhoeffer
“Having a place to go is a home. Having someone to love is a family. Having both is a blessing.”
—Donna Hedges
“Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.”
—Ernest Hemingway
“But see, in our open clearings, how golden the melons lie; Enrich them with sweets and spices, and give us the pumpkin pie!”
—Margaret Junkin Preston
“It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.”
—Charles Spurgeon
“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”
—Marcel Proust
“Thanksgiving is a time of togetherness and gratitude.”
—Nigel Hamilton
“Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us; and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips and shows itself in deeds.”
—Theodore Roosevelt
“Life is a celebration. Consider everything that makes you happy as a gift from God and say, ‘Thank you.’”
—Francis Lucille
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
—William Arthur Ward
“We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.”
—John F. Kennedy
“Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.”
—Henry Van Dyke
“I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Find gratitude in the little things and your well of gratitude will never run dry.”
—Antonia Montoya
“Never let the things you want make you forget the things you have.”
—Sanchita Pandey
“Gratitude is a divine emotion. It fills theheart, not to bursting; it warms it, but not to fever.”
—Charlotte Brontë
“Even in the trials of life, if we have eyes to see them, we can find good things everywhere we look.”
—Joanna Gaines
“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
—Meoldy Beattie
“Keep your eyes open to your mercies. The man who forgets to be thankful has fallen asleep in life.”
—Robert Louis Stevenson
“When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place.”
—C. S. Lewis
“Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.”
—Karl Barth
“The more you practice the art of thankfulness, the more you have to be thankful for.”
—Norman Vincent Peale
“Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.”
—Henry Ward Beecher
“A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues.”
—Cicero
“Be consistent in your dedication to showing your gratitude to others. Gratitude is a fuel, a medicine and spiritual and emotional nourishment.”
—Steve Maraboli
“Wear gratitude like a cloak and it will feed every corner of your life.”
—Remi
“As with all commandments, gratitude isa 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
“Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.”
—Lionel Hampton
“There is no better excess in the world than the excess of gratitude.”
—Jean de La Bruyère
“When one has a grateful heart, life is so beautiful.”
—Roy Bennett
“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 the ability to experience life as a gift. It liberates us from the prison of self-preoccupation.”
—John Ortberg
“Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer.”
—Maya Angelou
“In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it’s wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying ‘thank you,’ forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices.”
—Elizabeth Gilbert
“Living in a state of gratitude is the gateway to grace.”
—Arianna Huffington
“Abundance is not a result you create. It is an existing state you recognize.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The sun looks down on nothing half so good as a household laughing together over a meal.”
—C. S. Lewis
“There is no such thing as gratitude unexpressed. If it is unexpressed, it is plain, old-fashioned ingratitude.”
—Robert Brault
“What if today, we were just grateful for everything?”
—Charlie Brown
“When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.”
—Tony Robbins
“Give thanks not just on Thanksgiving Day, but every day of your life.”
—Catherine Pulsifier
“When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food and the joy of living.”
—Chief Tecumseh
“You never know where a blessing can come from.”
—Teena Marie
“Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast.”
—William Shakespeare
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter the 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
“Thanksgiving is a joyous invitation to shower the world with love and gratitude.”
—Amy Leigh Mercree
