Gratitude Quotes

Inspirational gratitude quotes about thankfulness and appreciation, for cards, journals, speeches, and reflection.

Edited by Michael KahnUpdated

Gratitude is easy to feel and hard to phrase. These quotes about thankfulness and appreciation work in a card, a speech, a gratitude journal, or simply as a reminder to notice the good. Many come from writers and thinkers who said it better than most.

“It isn’t what you have in your pocket that makes you thankful, but what you have in your heart.”
“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.”
— Voltaire
“Give thanks today for those who did you wrong. They unknowingly made you strong.”
“We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.”
— Cynthia Ozick
“It is impossible to feel grateful and depressed in the same moment.”
— Naomi Williams
“Well then, if ever I thank any man, I'll thank you.”
— William Shakespeare
“Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.”
— Margaret Cousins
“Thankfulness creates gratitude which generates contentment that causes peace.”
— Todd Stocker
“We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts.”
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“I am what I am thanks to my mother, my father, my brother, my sister... because they have given me everything. The education I have is thanks to them.”
— Ronaldinho
“Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.”
— Martin Luther King Jr
“If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
— Martin Luther King Jr
“Do not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess, and then thankfully remember how you would crave for them if they were not yours.”
— Marcus Aurelius
“Gratitude doesn’t change the scenery. It merely washes clean the glass you look through so you can clearly see the colors.”
— Richelle E Goodrich
“Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart.”
— Henry Clay
“The simple act of saying 'thank you' is a demonstration of gratitude in response to an experience that was meaningful to a customer or citizen.”
— Simon Mainwaring
“To witness miracles unfold in your experience, count your blessings and be thankful. Perceived small blessings accumulate to be the most powerful.”
— TF Hodge
“I'm just thankful for everything, all the blessings in my life, trying to stay that way. I think that's the best way to start your day and finish your day. It keeps everything in perspective.”
— Tim Tebow
“Gratitude paints little smiley faces on everything it touches.”
— Richelle E. Goodrich
“When you are grateful fear disappears and abundance appears.”
— Anthony Robbins
“Praise the bridge that carried you over.”
— George Colman
“So often we dwell on the things that seem impossible rather than on the things that are possible. So often we are depressed by what remains to be done and forget to be thankful for all that has been done.”
— Marian Wright Edelman
“Joy is thankfulness, and when we are joyful, that is the best expression of thanks we can offer the Lord, Who delivers us from sorrow and sin.”
— Thaddeus of Vitovnica
“There is no greater loan than a sympathetic ear.”
— Frank Tyger
“Given the amount of unjust suffering and unhappiness in the world, I am deeply grateful for, sometimes even perplexed by, how much misery I have been spared.”
— Dennis Prager
“Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out.”
— John Wooden
“You won't be happy with more until you're happy with what you've got.”
— Viki King
“Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.”
— Ernest Hemingway
“People who live the most fulfilling lives are the ones who are always rejoicing at what they have.”
— Richard Carlson
“Let us be kinder to one another.”
— Aldous Huxley

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Common questions

What is a good short gratitude quote for a card?

Short lines like "Gratitude turns what we have into enough" work well on a card because they leave room for your own words underneath.

Can I use these in a speech or toast?

Yes. A single gratitude quote is a strong way to open or close a toast, a graduation speech, or any moment where you want to thank a room full of people.

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