Gratitude Quotes

Note: Some of these quotes were condensed for easier recording during the conference.

“How grateful I am with no thing to be grateful for.” (Paul Reps, from Spiritual Odyssey)

“A day of profound gratitude. When we are grateful we are joyous. Gratitude does not mean rejoicing because some desire has been satisfied.” (Justin Stone, from Spiritual Odyssey)

“…it’s very easy to have a good life. One word tells you how: Gratitude. If you live with gratitude and express the gratitude, you can’t be unhappy. You can’t be unhappy and feel gratitude. The two don’t go together. I say (many times during the day) what I’m grateful for. True gratitude doesn’t come from getting a new car, or from when something good has happened. That lasts two or three days before it wears off. True gratitude and bliss are synonymous. I would say from my experience: If you’re looking for a good life, be grateful. Particularly, the people here should be grateful … I believe that teachers who’ve taught you T’ai Chi Chih have helped your lives very greatly. Do you agree? If you’re doing T’ai Chi Chih and getting the benefits of it, it’s not hard to be grateful. That’s the secret of a happy life …” (Justin Stone, from the 2005 T’ai Chi Chih Teachers’ Conference in Albuquerque, where he spoke of “The Play Within The Play”)

When acknowledging an introduction, Paul Reps would say, “Thank you for your life.” (Spiritual Odyssey)

“All that we send into the lives of others comes back into our own.”

“Consciously cultivating thankfulness is a journey of the soul, one that begins when we look around us and see the positive effects that gratitude creates.” (MJ Ryan)

“I express gratitude upon awakening each day for granting me a new day of possibility, joy and love.” (Jan Block)

“Expressing gratitude keeps the cycle going.”

“Gratitude is the heart’s memory.” (French Proverb)

“Not desire, but gratitude for what we have.”

“Let gratitude fall on my heart.”

“Gratitude with comings, gratitude with goings, continually with Chi.”

“If the only prayer you utter is ‘thank you,’ it will be enough.” (Meister Eckhart)

“Gratefulness makes us happy.”

“Find the goodness in each situation and you’ll be grateful.”

“Each day is a gift to unwrap. That’s why we call it the present.”

“If we stay connected to nature we’ll be close to gratitude all the time.”

“Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all.” (William Faulkner)

“Gratitude unlocks the 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)

“Giving thanks with the expectation of nothing in return.”

“Gratitude is the best attitude.”

“It is great to be grateful.”

“If God is light, keeping a gratitude journal turns me into a light bulb!” (Sr. Alice Holden)

“I am grateful for the answer before I know what the answer is.”

“Living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.”

“What I have is enough.”

To be grateful opens the space.”

“The practice of cherishing or gratitude can be taken very deeply if done wordlessly, allowing yourself to feel the love and appreciation that already exists in your heart.” (Dalai Lama)

“Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.” (Henry Ward Beecher)

“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)

“Gratitude is a duty which ought to be paid, but which none have a right to expect.” (Jean-Jacques Rousseau)

“He’s a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” (Epictetus)

“Grow flowers of gratitude in the soil of prayer.” (Verbena Woods)

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” (William Arthur Ward)

“Two kinds of gratitude: The sudden kind we feel for what we take; the larger kind we feel for what we give.” (Edwin Arlington Robinson)

“There is a calmness to a life lived in Gratitude, a quiet joy.” (Ralph H. Blum)

“As we express our gratitude we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” (John F. Kennedy)

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” (Thornton Wilder)

“There is a destiny that makes us brothers. None goes his way alone. All that we send into the lives of others Comes back into our own.” (The Woodmen Creed, Modern Woodmen of America)

vLife is too short to express our love and gratitude to everyone we love and are grateful for.” (Hannah Hedrick)

“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.” (Rabbi Harold Kushner)

“Be soft in your practice. Think of the method as a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the stream, have faith in its course. It will go its own way, meandering here, trickling there. It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices. Just follow it. Never let it out of your sight. It will take you …” (Sheng-yen)

Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire.

If you did, what would there be to look forward to?”

Be thankful when you don’t know something

For it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.

During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations

Because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge

Because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes

They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you’re tired and weary

Because it means you’ve made a difference.

It is easy to be thankful for the good things.

A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are also thankful for the setbacks.

Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.

Find a way to be thankful for your troubles and they can become your blessings.

Author Unknown