No matter what life throws at you—good, bad, big, little—incorporating gratitude in your daily routine can significantly impact your well-being and perspective on life. Expressing gratitude can help you overcome challenges in hard times and appreciate when things seem right on track. Giving thanks for yesterday, today, tomorrow and all that you’ve experienced brings mindfulness to the ups and downs of your personal journey.
While it may not always be easy, being grateful for all that you have in your life can spur positive change—not just for yourself but for others, too. Let those around you know you appreciate them and observe the small, transformational shifts that can come from them.
Quotes on being thankful can help you stay positive, overcome challenges and inspire a new perspective. Let these 55 gratitude quotes inspire you to appreciate yourself, those around you and all that life has to offer.
Inspirational Gratitude Quotes To Appreciate All Life Brings
1. “Gratitude is one of the strongest and most transformative states of being. It shifts your perspective from lack to abundance and allows you to focus on the good in your life, which in turn pulls more goodness into your reality.” —Jen Sincero
2. “Gratitude, warm, sincere, intense, when it takes possession of the bosom, fills the soul to overflowing and scarce leaves room for any other sentiment or thought.” —John Quincy Adams
3. “Great things happen to those who don’t stop believing, trying, learning and being grateful.” ―Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
4. “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” ―Marcus Tullius Cicero
5. “When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive—to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love—then make that day count!” ―Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free
6. “The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but the thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings.” ―Henry Ward Beecher
7. “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” ―William Arthur Ward
8. “Be thankful for everything that happens in your life; it’s all an experience.” ―Roy T. Bennett
9. “Gratitude is a powerful catalyst for happiness. It’s the spark that lights a fire of joy in your soul.” —Amy Collette
10. “I try hard to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful heart cannot entertain great conceits. When brimming with gratitude, one’s heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love, the finest emotion we can ever know.” ―Bill Wilson
11. “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
12. “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
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13. “He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” ―Epictetus
14. “When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out and the tide of love rushes in.” —Kristin Armstrong
15. “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
16. “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.” —Sonia Lyubomirsky
17. “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
18. “True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.” ―Seneca
19. “Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” ―Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose
20. “You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.” ―Kahill Gibran, The Prophet
21. “My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus.” ―Stephen W. Hawking, “The Science of Second Guessing,” New York Times Magazine
22. “When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.” —Tony Robbins
23. “Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.” ―Melody Beattie
24. “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns or rejoice because thorns have roses.” ―Alphonse Karr, A Tour Round My Garden
25. “When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place.” —C.S. Lewis
26. “Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.” — Ernest Hemingway
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Short Gratitude Quotes To Inspire A New Perspective
27. “Gratitude isn’t a burdening emotion.” —Loretta Young
28. “If the only prayer you said was ‘thank you,’ that would be enough.” ―Meister Eckhart
29. “Living in a state of gratitude is the gateway to grace.” —Arianna Huffington
30. “Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.” —Melody Beattie
31. “What separates privilege from entitlement is gratitude.” ―Brené Brown
32. “Have gratitude for all that you have, and you can be happy exactly as you are.” —Mandy Ingber
33. “Gratitude changes the pangs of memory into a tranquil joy.” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer
34. “If you want to find happiness, find gratitude.” ―Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
35. “Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy.” —Jacques Maritain
36. “Never let the things you want make you forget the things you have.” —Sanchita Pandey
37. “Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.” —Doris Day
38. “Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.” ―Karl Barth
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39. “Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” ― Marcel Proust
40. “Gratitude and love are always multiplied when you give freely. It is an infinite source of contentment and prosperous energy.” —Jim Fargiano, The Spoken Words of Spirit: Lessons from the Other Side
41. “I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
42. “We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.” ―John F. Kennedy
43. “The highest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude.” ―Thornton Wilder44. “In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich without such gratitude. It is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others.” ―Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison
45. “I’m just thankful for the people that never left me and equally thankful for those who did.” ―Nitya Prakash
46. “There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.” —Thomas Aquinas
47. “A friend is one of the best things you can be and the greatest things you can have.” —Sarah Valdez
Religious Gratitude Quotes For Appreciating Life’s Blessings
48. “God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say thank you? ” ―William Arthur Ward
49. “Every once in a while God allows you to stub your toe as a kind reminder to be grateful for the miraculous body attached to it.” ―Richelle E. Goodrich, Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, and Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
50. “The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but the thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings.” ―Henry Ward Beecher
51. “The best way to show my gratitude is to accept everything, even my problems, with joy.” —Mother Teresa
52. “Life is a celebration. Consider everything that makes you happy as a gift from God and say, ‘thank you.’” ―Francis Lucille, The Perfume of Silence
53. “Of all the characteristics needed for both a happy and morally decent life, none surpasses gratitude. Grateful people are happier, and grateful people are more morally decent.” —Dennis Prager
54. “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, Celebrations: Rituals of Peace and Prayer
55. “Gratitude is an offering precious in the sight of God, and it is one that the poorest of us can make and be not poorer but richer for having made it.” ―A.W. Tozer
Thankfulness Quotes Can Motivate A Shift In Mindset
Practicing gratitude―toward yourself and others―can be a great way to shift your perspective and cultivate an appreciation for life throughout all of its ups and downs.
After reading these gratitude quotes, try compiling your own list of what you’re thankful for and taking stock of how you feel. As you reflect on your blessings rather than what your life may lack, you’ll likely feel slightly more positive and content.
This simple practice can provide a sense of happiness, well-being and fulfillment that you may not have known was possible. Share a few quotes on being thankful with others in your life, too, and pass the gratitude on.
This article was updated July 2024. Photo By Bagus Production/Shutterstock.com
