65 Inspiring Gratitude Quotes & Being Thankful Sayings
If you’re looking to find ways to be happy in your everyday life these gratitude quotes are a great place to start.
This roundup of beautiful wise words will help you see the blessings in your life right now and give you the inspiration to practice gratitude in new ways.
Inspiring Gratitude Quotes You’ll Find Below:
- Gratitude and happiness quotes
- Being thankful quotes and sayings
- Attitude of gratitude quotes
- Grateful for the little things quotes
- Grateful heart quotes
- Gratitude quotes for life
- Plus more thankfulness sayings and quotes to brighten your day
What is the Definition of Gratitude?
As defined in the Oxford English Dictionary…
Gratitude is the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.
Or as said in the words of Henry Van Dyke…
“Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.”
How To Use These Thankfulness Quotes for Your Gratitude Practice
There are many ways you can practice gratitude, however, in this article, we’re focusing on how you can practice and express gratitude with the help of these inspiring quotes.
Write a quote down each week in your journal or calendar so you can carefully think about how the gratitude quote relates to your personal experiences.
Share one of these quotes with a loved one to communicate how grateful you are that they are in your life. You can write a quote in a card, on a post-it or as a text.
Read a gratitude quote every day or write your own.
Add your favourite gratitude quote to your daily affirmations.
Share a gratitude quote with your kids at dinnertime and ask them what they’re grateful for today.
Related: 11 Meaningful Ways To Express Gratitude To Someone
65 Inspiring Gratitude Quotes & Being Thankful Sayings
As you read these gratitude messages, make sure to think about how each being grateful quote and saying relates to your life.
Gratitude and Happiness Quotes
It’s no secret that practicing gratitude can directly lead to feelings of happiness.
Get inspiration to be in control of your happiness by being grateful every day.
1. “Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.”
– Denis Waitley
2. “Shine brightly. See beauty. Speak kindly. Love truly. Give freely. Create joyfully. Live thankfully.” – Mary Davis
3. “It’s not happiness that brings us gratitude. It’s gratitude that brings us happiness.” – Anonymous
4. “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. ” – Gilbert K. Chesterton
5. “Gratitude is one of the sweet shortcuts to finding peace of mind and happiness inside.” – Barry Neil Kaufman
6. “I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness – it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.” – Brené Brown
7. “Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy – because we will always want to have something else or something more.” – David Steindl-Rast
Being Thankful Quotes and Sayings
8. “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
9. “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” – G.K. Chesterton
10. “Learn to be thankful for what you already have, while you pursue all that you want.” – Jim Rohn
The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness. - Dalai Lama #gratitude #grateful Share on X11. “The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness.” – Dalai Lama
12. “When every day seems the same, that is because people have stopped noticing the good things that appear in their lives…” – Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
Attitude of Gratitude Quotes
Having an attitude of gratitude means you are thankful every day and make it a habit to look for the blessings in your daily life.
Try practicing gratitude in your day – every day.
13. “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
14. “There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.” – Ralph H. Blum
15. “We can lift ourselves and others as well when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude.” – Thomas S. Monson
16. “The more you are in a state of gratitude, the more you will attract things to be grateful for.” – Walt Disney
17. “Thank you is the best prayer that anyone could say. I say that one a lot. Thank you expresses extreme gratitude, humility, understanding.”
– Alice Walker
18. “Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Grateful For The Little Things Quotes
There are so many simple pleasures in life and sometimes we need a little reminder to be grateful for them.
These words of wisdom do just that.
19. “May the work of your hands be a sign of gratitude and reverence to the human condition.” – Mahatma Gandhi
Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things. - Robert Brault #gratitudequotes #grateful Share on X20. “Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” – Robert Brault
21. “Never get tired of doing little things for others sometimes those little things occupy the biggest part of their hearts.” – Unknown
22. “Some people grumble that roses have thorns; I am grateful that thorns have roses.” – Alphonse Karr
23. “When you arise in the morning, this of what a privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” – Marcus Aurelius
24. “We are all more blind to what we have than to what we have not.” – Audre Lorde
If you aren’t grateful for what you already have, what makes you think you would be happy with more. - Roy T. Bennett #gratitudequotes #attitudeofgratitude Share on X25. “If you aren’t grateful for what you already have, what makes you think you would be happy with more.” – Roy T. Bennett
26. “This is a wonderful day. I’ve never seen it before.” – Maya Angelou
27. “Sometimes we should express our gratitude for the small and simple things like the scent of rain, the taste of a favorite food, or the sound of a loved one’s voice.” – Joseph B. Wirthlin
28. “Give thanks for a little, and you will find a lot.” – Hausa Proverb
Grateful Heart Quotes
29. “As with all commandments, gratitude is a 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
30. “Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart”
– Lucius Annaeus Seneca
31. “Even in the most peaceful surroundings, the angry heart finds quarrel. Even in the most quarrelsome surroundings, the grateful heart finds peace.” – Doe Zantamata
32. “Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.” Winnie-the-Pooh
33. “The most beautiful way to start and end the day is with a grateful heart.” – Unknown
34. “Among the things you can give and still keep are your word, a smile, and a grateful heart.” – Zig Ziglar
35. “A grateful heart is a magnet for miracles.” – Unknown
36. “Start each day with a positive thought and a grateful heart.” – Roy T. Bennett
37. “A grateful heart is like a sponge that soaks up God’s goodness.” – Joel Osteen
38. “The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but the thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings.” – Henry Ward Beecher
39. “A grateful heart is not one that is selective and choosy about what to be grateful for.”
– Radhanath Swami
Gratitude Quotes For Life
Inspiring words to ahow just how much gratitude contributes to a happy, purposeful life.
40. “Appreciation has become my destiny in life. Perhaps it’s the instinct of a polar bear enjoying hibernation in the vast snows.” – Liu Xiaobo
41. “Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.” – Marcus Aurelius
42. “Be thankful for the moments, the things you have, and the life you live.” – Wazim Shaw
42. “Life is unpredictable, it changes along with every individual. Today you have and tomorrow you may not have, be thankful for the good that stays with you.” – Rashida Rowe
43. “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.”
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer
44. “Love wholeheartedly, be surprised, give thanks and praise – then you will discover the fullness of your life.” – David Steindl–Rast
45. “If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.” – Harold Kushner
46. “I’ve found in my life that the easiest way to increase my joy is to religiously practice gratitude until I’m a gratitude machine!” – Rhonda Byrne
47. “Gratitude helps you to grow and expand; gratitude brings joy and laughter into your life and into the lives of all those around you.” – Eileen Caddy
48. “Gratitude is the ability to experience life as a gift. It liberates us from the prison of self–preoccupation.” – John Ortberg
49. “When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” – Willie Nelson
50. “Wear gratitude like a cloak, and it will feed every corner of your life.” – Rumi
51. “Life is strange, beautiful, and terrifying…and I am thankful for every minute of it that I have had. I am thankful for every minute yet to come.“ – Benjamin W. Bass
More Thankfulness Sayings and Quotes
52. “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
53. “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.” – Elisabeth Gilbert. Eat, Pray, Love
54. “If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.”
– Meister Eckhart
55. “When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.”
56. “Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” – Eckhart Tolle
57. “Once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things that you lack.” – Germany Kent
58. “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” – William Arthur Ward
59.“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.” – Zig Ziglar
60. “Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” – Voltaire
61. “Happiness doesn’t result from what we get, but from what we give.” – Ben Carson
62. “Gratitude is a posture of your heart. I believe that it has been a gatekeeper in my life and has brought on so many blessings,“ – Amanda Kloots
63. “Those who find gratitude in the little things find humility in the big things“ – Lidia Longorio
64. “Gratitude opens the door to… the power, the wisdom, the creativity of the universe, You open the door through gratitude.” – Deepak Chopra
65. “The miracle of gratitude is that is shifts your perception to such an extent that it changes the world you see.” – Dr. Robert Holden
Related: 65 Inspiring Quotes to Live in the Present
How to Practice Gratitude: More Ways to Experience Thankfulness
The wonderful part about practicing gratitude is it can make a big impact on your daily happiness.
All it takes is a small effort to mindfully focus on gratitude every day.
Other than reading these beautiful gratitude quotes, here are more ways you can experience the power of gratitude.
Use a Gratitude Journal
It’s a simple way to spend 5 minutes every day focusing on what’s important to you.
Check out this 52 week gratitude journal I published with writing prompts to get you started.
Use Gratitude Journal Prompts
This is perfect for those of you who have a hard time figuring out what to write in a gratitude journal.
These gratitude writing prompts will help you focus on specific aspects of your life and remind you that there is a lot to be thankful for.
Share Your Gratitude
This is your chance to write a postcard, a text, an email or simply tell someone how you are grateful for them.
This will make you both feel good.
Focus on the Simple Pleasures in Life
A great way to do this is to use your 5 senses.
Get inspiration from this ultimate list of simple pleasures that will bring you joy.
Surround Yourself with Positive People, who are also Grateful
Amazing things happen when you are around positive people most of the time and being grateful is just one of them.
Enjoy These Gratitude Quotes at your Thanksgiving Dinner
…or any other important occasion.
Choose a quote and write it on a placeholder card. Then everyone can read out their quote at dinner time.
Take A Gratitude Walk
If you’ve never tried this it’s a great way to learn the art of practicing gratitude alongside something as simple as taking your daily walk.
Learn more about the 4 ways to take a gratitude walk.
Gratitude Quotes & Being Thankful Sayings: Conclusion
I hope these gratitude quotes, messages, sayings and images will help you remember:
- Gratitude turns what we have into enough
- Always be grateful for what you have
- Thankfulness is the being of true happiness
- Having an attitude of gratitude can change your perception of the world and how you exist within it
What are your favourite gratitude quotes?
Share in the comments below!
Related Gratitude Posts and Resources:
- 225 Things To Be Thankful for Everyday
- 15 Gratitude Exercises for a Fulfilled Life
- 13 Ways to be Grateful for What You Have
- The Importance of Gratitude & How To Be Grateful in Life
About Yolanda
Website Owner / Content Creator
I’m passionate about helping you live life to the fullest so you can choose to find happiness and purpose. Learn how to CREATE THE LIFE YOU LOVE with intentional living and discovery of the simple things life has to offer. Learn more!
The practice of gratitude is so important for our mental and emotional health. This post is an important reminder of that and how to go about it.
Great list! Helps to remind me not to stress the little that s and enjoy what matters! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Katherine! Reading these quotes is definitely a good reminder for me to 🙂
Great list! It’s been a long year and being showing gratitude and being thankful is important not to forget! Ots a great list and a great reminder! Thanks!
Hi Katherine – It sure has been a long year! Here’s to many things to be grateful for even though 2020 is crazy!
These are great! I put a quote up on the white board in my home office, changing it up from week to week. The purpose – to help me get my ‘head on right’ and be in the right mindset to move forward and achieve my goals. There are quite a few quotes on this list that I am going to have to write down so that I can use them in the future!
I love that you do this Britt and I wish I had space to put a white board! Focusing on a quote every week is so good for direction xo
Yolanda, these are lovely quotes! I especially love #20. It’ s so true, that often the thing we don’t have gratitude for is the thing we had wished for deeply in the past.
Thanks so much Genesis! I love #20 too – the little things in life are really the important things to be grateful for 🙂 Good point about having gratitude about things we’ve achieved or wished for. So important.