— compiled by Michael Josephson —
- If you want to be on speaking terms with happiness, learn the language of gratitude. – Unknown
- Gratitude unlocksthe 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
- Gratitude should be felt and experienced sincerely, expressed generously and received graciously. — Michael Josephson
- No gift is really ours until we have thanked the giver. — Proverb
- There is always, always, always something to be thankful for. – Unknown
- Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. –William Arthur Ward
- Silent gratitude isn’t very much use to anyone. –Gladys Brown Stern
- Gratitude is a feeling not statement. It is so easy to say we are grateful that I often don’t stop to really, really take the time to experience gratitude. Saying the words doesn’t mean a thing without the feeling and it takes a moment of genuine reflection to summon that feeling. This Thanksgiving don’t shortchange yourself with hollow words. – Michael Josephson
- Gratitude is the sign of a noble soul. -Aesop
- Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all. ~William Faulkner
- If you haven’t all the things you want, be grateful for the things you don’t have that you wouldn’t want. ~Unknown
- Gratitude is the memory of the heart. –J. B. Massieu
- Swift gratitude is the sweetest. –Greek Proverb
- The greatest humiliation in life, is to work hard on something from which you expect great appreciation, and then fail to get it. — Edgar Watson Howe
- The deepest need in human nature is the craving to be appreciated. – William James
- The sweetest of all sounds is praise. – Xenophon
- Be grateful that you don’t have everything you want. That means you still have an opportunity to be happier tomorrow than you are today. – unknown
- A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues. – Cicero
- The best way to show true gratitude for all our blessings is to be genuinely happy. Michael Josephson
- When was the last time you wrote a thank you note? When was the last time you went beyond a mechanical “thank you” to express authentic gratitude? We can enrich the lives of others and ourselves by making it a habit to express genuine appreciation for what others have done for us. – Michael Josephson
- Our obligation to others and a gift to ourselves is to acknowledge and authentically express genuine appreciation for courtesies, caring and concern others have given us. – Michael Josephson
- It is not enough to count our blessings and express our gratitude if we don’t truly feel grateful. It is not enough that we express our gratitude, we must experience it. We truly honor the must think about our blessings, separately and cumulatively. – Michael Josephson
- I would thank you from the bottom of my heart, but for you my heart has no bottom. ~Author Unknown
- Expressed gratitude encourages further giving; ingratitude drains vitality out of the spirit of generosity. — Michael Josephson
- The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you. ~John E. Southard
- I do not think of all the misery, but of the glory that remains. Go outside into the fields, nature and the sun, go out and seek happiness in yourself and in God. Think of the beauty that again and again discharges itself within and without you and be happy. – Anne Frank
- Try the gratitude diet – start your day by writing down one different thing you have to be grateful for and write a thank you note at least once a week. _ Michael Josephson
- It’s not happy people that are thankful. It’s thankful people who are happy.
- God gave you 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say thank you? – William Ward
- Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.” – W.T. Purkiser
- Discipline yourself to start each day identifying something to be grateful about. The world opens to those who approach it with a grateful heart. – Michael Josephson
- Remember there are millions of people who would be happy with less than you have.
- How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is/ to have a thankless child. — Shakespeare, King Lear (1605-1606)
- Unthankfulness is theft. ~ Martin Luther
- 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
- Gratefulness is a payment everyone can afford. Michael Josephson
- Gratitude is most treasured when it is unexpected. When we expect, even demand gratitude, we treat it simply as payment due for some service we rendered and we squeeze any good feeling out of it. — Michael Josephson
- Gratitude is not a payment for a kindness but another form of gift. — Michael Josephson
- It is easier to be grateful for the things we have than to the people who have helped us get them. — Michael Josephson
- Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light. – Albert Schweitzer
- For many of us gratitude to others comes with a sense of debt that can never be fully paid and therefore the things we are thankful for are never really ours. — Michael Josephson
- Never do anything for another with the expectation of gratitude. The expectation itself turns the gift into an exchange and suggests a debt is owed you. — Michael Josephson
- One problem with gratitude is that it competes with the sense of pride, self-reliance and accomplishment we have. We want to think what we have is the result of our efforts rather than the gifts, good turns and opportunities provided us by others. — Michael Josephson
- Authentic gratitude is much more rare and precious than expressions of gratitude which are often empty courtesies or simply tactical ploys to encourage further gifts or kindnesses. — Michael Josephson
- Our expectation of the gratitude of others for what we’ve done for them is sometimes exaggerated because of our deep desire for appreciation and approval. When our good work or good deeds go unrewarded by hoped for praise, we feel like failures so we treat those who denied us our due as betrayers. — Michael Josephson
- Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy. — Jacques Maritain, Reflections on America (1958)
- He who receives a good turn should never forget it; he who does one should never remember it. — Proverb
- I would rather be able to appreciate things I cannot have, than have things I cannot appreciate. — Elbert Hubbard
- If you pick up a dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you. This is the principle difference between a dog and a man. — Mark Twain
- In most of mankind gratitude is merely a secret hope of further favors. — François, Duc de La Rochefoucauld
- Men are slower to recognize blessings than evils. — Livy
- People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them. — Eric Hoffer
- That’s the trouble with directors. Always biting the hand that lays the golden egg. — Samuel Goldwyn
- Appreciation is like an insurance policy. It has to be renewed every now and then. –Dave McIntyre
- You have not lived a perfect day unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay you. — Ruth Smeltzer
- Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting. — Elizabeth Bibesco
- Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers. ~Garth Brooks
- “If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with.” ~The lesson Dorothy learned, Wizard of Oz
- Appreciation is a wonderful thing; it makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well. ~ Voltaire
- The sky is the daily bread of the eyes. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time. Then your time on earth will be filled with glory. ~Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
- Persons thankful for little things are certain to be the ones with much to be thankful for. – Frank Clark
- Cherish all your happy moments. – Margaret Moore
- The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has just done you a small favor wish that he might have done you a greater one. Russell Lynes
- Be grateful for the joy of life. Be glad for the privilege of work. Be thankful for the opportunity to give and serve. Good work is the great character-builder, the sweetener of life, the maker of destiny. Let the spirit of your work be right, and whether your task be great or small you will then have the satisfaction of knowing it is worth while. – Grenville Kleiser
- I hate ingratitude more in a man / Than lying, vainness, babbling drunkenness, / Or any taint of vice whose strong corruption / Inhabits our frail blood. – William Shakespeare (Twelfth Night)
- I have a need inside me, of a certain joy, you see? An expression of joy. I feel it. I suppose that I am glad to be alive, glad to have a man whom I love and a life that I enjoy and the things which I work on which sometimes make my spirit sing. And I hope everybody has that feeling inside. I am grateful that I have a spirit inside me which often sings. – Nina Holton, sculptor
- Gratitude is the heart’s money. – French proverb,
- I am grateful for all those people who said no. It is because of them that I did it myself.
- Practice an attitude of gratitude.
- You can either be miserable dwelling on the troubles you have or grateful for the ones you don’t have. Your troubles don’t care but it makes a huge difference in your life. – Michael Josephson
- At home, be grateful. At work, be appreciative. Gratitude is a gift we give ourselves. Appreciation is a gift we give to others. – Michael Josephson
As a pre-Thanksgiving bonus, we’ve collected Michael Josephson’s best original quotes on gratitude. We hope you will share your favorites.
1) Gratitude is a feeling not statement. It is so easy to say we are grateful that I often don’t stop to really, really take the time to experience gratitude. Saying the words doesn’t mean a thing without the feeling and it takes a moment of genuine reflection to summon that feeling. This Thanksgiving don’t shortchange yourself with hollow words.
2) Gratitude should be felt and experienced sincerely, expressed generously and received graciously.
3) The best way to show true gratitude for all our blessings is to be genuinely happy.
4) Our obligation to others and a gift to ourselves is to acknowledge and authentically express genuine appreciation for courtesies, caring and concern others have given us.
5) It is not enough that we express our gratitude, we must experience it.
6) Try the gratitude diet – start your day by writing down one different thing you have to be grateful for and write a thank you note at least once a week.
7) Discipline yourself to start each day identifying something to be grateful about. The world opens to those who approach it with a grateful heart.
8) Expressed gratitude encourages further giving; ingratitude drains vitality out of the spirit of generosity.
9) Gratefulness is a payment everyone can afford.
10) Gratitude is not a payment for a kindness but another form of gift.
11) It is easier to be grateful for the things we have than to the people who have helped us get them.
12) You can either be miserable dwelling on the troubles you have or grateful for the ones you don’t have. Your troubles don’t care but it makes a huge difference in your life.
13) Never do anything for another with the expectation of gratitude. The expectation itself turns the gift into an exchange and suggests a debt is owed you.
14) When was the last time you wrote a thank you note? When was the last time you went beyond a mechanical “thank you” to express authentic gratitude? We can enrich the lives of others and ourselves by making it a habit to express genuine appreciation for what others have done for us.
15) At home, be grateful. At work, be appreciative. Gratitude is a gift we give ourselves. Appreciation is a gift we give to others.
Digging a little deeper . . .
16) One problem with gratitude is that it competes with the sense of pride, self-reliance and accomplishment we have. We want to think what we have is the result of our efforts rather than the gifts, good turns and opportunities provided us by others.
17) Gratitude is most treasured when it is unexpected. When we expect, even demand gratitude, we treat it simply as payment due for some service we rendered and we squeeze any good feeling out of it.
18) For many of us gratitude to others comes with a sense of debt that can never be fully paid and therefore the things we are thankful for are never really ours.
19) Authentic gratitude is much more rare and precious than expressions of gratitude which are often empty courtesies or simply tactical ploys to encourage further gifts or kindnesses.