our second page of quotations on gratitude

Feeling gratitude and not
expressing it is like wrapping
a present and not giving it.

William Arthur Ward

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

Gratitude is one of those things that cannot be bought. It must be born with people, or else all the obligations in the world will not create it. A real sense of a kind thing is a gift of nature, and never was, nor can be, acquired.

Lord Halifax

The finest test of character is seen in the amount and power of gratitude we have.

Milo H. Gates

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

When I awaken in the morning, I am thankful for a new day. I am thankful
for everything that I have materially. I am thankful for everything
that I have spiritually. I thank God for allowing me to experience
these things, even the experiences that may not seem so positive,
such as developing an illness. I may not understand why I have the illness,
but I sense that it is there for a purpose, and so I thank God for it.
I ask him to allow me to expand beyond my narrow-mindedness
and self-centeredness so that I can see the good
that comes from everything.

Betty Eadie

I'm grateful for the opportunity to live on this beautiful
and astonishing planet Earth. In the morning,
I wake up with a sense of gratitude.

Earl Nightingale

These are the gifts I ask
Of Thee, Spirit serene:
Strength for the daily task,
Courage to face the road,
Good cheer to help me bear the traveler's load,
And, for the hours of rest that come between,
An inward joy of all things heard and seen.

Henry Van Dyke

(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

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

Anon.

We can be thankful to a friend for a few acres or a little money;
and yet for the freedom and command of the whole earth,
and for the great benefits of our being, our life, health,
and reason, we look upon ourselves as under no obligation.

Marcus Annaeus Seneca

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

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

Not what we say about our blessings,
but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.

W.T. Purkiser

HOME - contents - Full Life Online
abundance - acceptance - achievement - action - adversity - aging - anticipation - appreciation - attitude - authenticity
awareness - balance - beauty - being yourself - beliefs - body - character - children - Christianity - coincidence
commitment - common sense - community - compassion - compliments - compromise - confidence - conscience
contentment - courage - creativity - death - determination - earth - ego - encouragement - enthusiasm - eternity
faith - family - flowers - forgiveness - freedom - friendship - fun - gardening - gentleness - giving - God - goodness
grace - gratitude -growing up - happiness - healing - helpfulness - home - hope - humility - imagination
integrity - joy - kindness - laughter - learning - letting go - life - listening - love - marriage - miracles - mystery
nature - now - open-mindedness - opportunity - optimism - patience - peace - perseverance - perspective
play - prayer - principle - purpose - religion - rest - role models - sadness - self - self-respect - serving others - silence
simplicity - spirit - success - time - today - truth - values - war - wisdom - wonder - work - worship
spring - summer - fall - winter - Christmas - Thanksgiving - New Year - zen sayings
obstacles to living life fully - e-zine archives - quotations contents

Creative gratitude is an attitude.
It is magnetic and will draw good to you.
It is good therapy, a road to happiness.

Thankfulness is a way of living more fully. Be thankful for your health
and you will have health in more abundance. Be thankful for
the love you receive and it will be increased. Be thankful for your success and you'll open doors to further achievement. Be thankful for your friends and more friends will come to you. Be thankful for beauty
and you'll experience it more deeply.

Thankfulness is a way of enhancing relationships.
Expressions of gratitude create in others an eagerness
to reciprocate. When we become more fully aware that our success
is due in large measure to the loyalty, helpfulness, and encouragement
we have received from others, our desire grows to pass on similar gifts.
Gratitude spurs us on to prove ourselves worthy of what others
have done for us. The spirit of gratitude is a powerful energizer.

Thankfulness is a way of worshiping. All through the Psalms
the emphasis is on thankfulness: "Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving". . .
"Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving". . .
"O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good; for His steadfast love
endures forever". . . "I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart."

When Jesus healed the ten lepers only one returned to fall
at the feet of the Master and give thanks to God.
With this in mind someone has written that nine were healed,
while the one who gave thanks was made whole.
The expression of gratitude made the big difference.

Creative gratitude is a force for harmony and goodwill.
It brings people together in love and understanding.
It is high on the scale of creative qualities to be practiced
day in and day out in our moment-to-moment contacts.

Wilferd A. Peterson

Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.

Henry Ward Beecher

When you consider everything we have is a gift from God,
it's amazing how little gratitude we show. Giving to others
is such a small way to say thank you.

Charles L. Overby

Gratitude is a duty which ought
to be paid, but which none
have a right to expect.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Those who receive a benefit
with gratitude repay the first
installment on their debt.

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

There is no quality I would rather have, and be thought to have,
than gratitude. For it is not only the greatest virtue,
but is the mother of all the rest.

Marcus Tillius Cicero

When something does not insist on being noticed,
when we aren't grabbed by the collar or struck on the skull
by a presence or an event, we take for granted
the very things that most deserve our gratitude.

Cynthia Ozick

The more I focused on lack and on what I couldn’t have, the more depressed I became. The more depressed I became, the more I focused on lack. My soul whispered that what I really yearned for was not financial security but financial serenity. I was still—quiet enough to listen. At that moment I acknowledged the deep longing in my heart. What I hungered for was an inner peace that the world could not take away. I asked for help and committed to following wheresoever Spirit would lead me. For the first time in my life I discarded my five-year goals and became a seeker, a pilgrim, a sojourner.
When I surrendered my desire for security and sought serenity instead, I looked at my life with open eyes. I saw that I had much for which to be grateful. I felt humbled by my riches and regretted that I took for granted the abundance that already existed in my life. How could I expect more from the universe when I didn’t appreciate what I already had?

Sarah Ban Breathnach

Gratefulness brings joy to my life. How could I feel joy in what
I take for granted? So I stop taking for granted, and there is not end
to the surprises I find. A grateful attitude is a creative one, because,
in the final analysis, opportunity is the gift within the gift of every moment--
the opportunity to see and hear and smell and touch and taste with pleasure.

David Steindl-Rast

You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert
and the opera, and grace before the play and the pantomime, and grace
before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming,
fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing, and grace
before I dip the pen in the ink.

G. K. Chesterton

Be grateful for yourself. . .
be thankful.

William Saroyan

Seeds of discouragement will not grow
in the thankful heart.

anon.

Whatever our individual troubles and challenges may be,
it’s important to pause every now and then to appreciate
all that we have, on every level. We need to literally
“count our blessings,” give thanks for them, allow ourselves
to enjoy them, and relish the experience of prosperity we already have.

Shakti Gawain

Be grateful simply for being alive. When you are grateful for life,
pure and simple, your life becomes one you can be grateful for. That
may strike you as circular or even backward logic, but your attitude
really does have an effect on how things work out. When you can’t
change your life any other way, you can still change your attitude.
When you do, your life changes. You find more chances to love,
and you will be surprised to see how much more love is returned to you.
The next time someone says, “It’s a lovely day,” try saying,
“Yes, it is.” Today is always the best day of your life.

Bernie Siegel

Gratitude is the heart of our religion. We pray on rising in the morning
for a new day, for the beauty of the gift of life. We have regular
prayer meetings, sweat lodges—we call them the little
brother—and Sun Dances, the big brother. The whole adds up to a
cycle of praise. What else should human beings be if not praising beings?

Tom Yellow Tail

Most religion is based on gratitude. Our feelings of
thankfulness for all that we have and the opportunity
to live on this beautiful planet are a driving force in
our lives, and our lives become something less when
we start to take things for granted and not feel thankful
any longer. We lose the ability to see and recognize
beauty when we're not thankful for it, and we lose
the ability to enjoy music when we don't feel
gratitude for the fact that it exists.

tom walsh