Being grateful for what you have, no matter how little, isn’t always easy to do when your focus is solely on all that you lack. A common theme in many of these gratitude quotes is in order to receive more, you need to be thankful for what you already have. Gratitude is connected with happiness.
Those who don’t appreciate what they have right now often find it hard to be happy even when they have more down the road because they’re constantly in a state of scarcity. If you want to be happier, learn to be more grateful. No matter how bad things are, there’s always something you can be grateful for. If your gratefulness involves another person, tell them, it’ll make their day.
“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”
– Marcel Proust
“What you focus on expands, and when you focus on the goodness in your life, you create more of it. Opportunities, relationships, even money flowed my way when I learned to be grateful no matter what happened in my life.”
– Oprah Winfrey
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”
– Marcus Tullius Cicero
“You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Who does not thank for little will not thank for much.”
– Estonian Proverb
“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.”
– Eckhart Tolle
“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”
– Albert Schweitzer
“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
“Real life isn’t always going to be perfect or go our way, but the recurring acknowledgment of what is working in our lives can help us not only to survive but surmount our difficulties.”
– Sarah Ban Breathnach
“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.”
– Willie Nelson
“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
“Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.”
– Margaret Cousins
“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
“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
“If a fellow isn’t thankful for what he’s got, he isn’t likely to be thankful for what he’s going to get.”
– Frank A. Clark
“Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.”
– Aesop
“Gratitude is one of the sweet shortcuts to finding peace of mind and happiness inside. No matter what is going on outside of us, there’s always something we could be grateful for.”
– Barry Neil Kaufman
“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
“The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated.”
– WIlliam James
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
– William Arthur Ward
“An attitude of gratitude brings great things.”
– Yogi Bhajan
“We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.”
– John F. Kennedy
“When eating bamboo sprouts, remember the man who planted them.”
– Chinese Proverb
“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
“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
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity. It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
– Melody Beattie
“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
“The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.”
– John E. Southard
“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”
– Epictetus
“Gratitude is an opener of locked-up blessings.”
– Marianne Williamson
“The struggle ends when the gratitude begins.”
– Neale Donald Walsch
“Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts.”
– Henri Frederic Amiel
“People who live the most fulfilling lives are the ones who are always rejoicing at what they have.”
– Richard Carlson