GRATITUDE QUOTES III

quotations about gratitude

For the expectation of gratitude is mean, and is continually punished by the total insensibility of the obliged person. It is a great happiness to get off without injury and heart-burning from one who has had the ill-luck to be served by you. It is a very onerous business, this of being served, and the debtor naturally wishes to give you a slap.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

"Gifts", Essays

Tags: Ralph Waldo Emerson


There are minds so impatient of inferiority that their gratitude is a species of revenge; and they return benefits, not because recompense is a pleasure, but because obligation is a pain.

SAMUEL JOHNSON

The Life of Samuel Johnson

Tags: Samuel Johnson


Gratitude is a second pleasure, one that prolongs the pleasure that precedes and occasions it, like a joyful echo of the joy we feel, a further happiness for the happiness we have been given.

ANDRE COMTE-SPONVILLE

A Small Treatise on the Great Virtues


The expression of gratitude is a kind of metastrategy for achieving happiness. Gratitude is many things to many people. It is wonder; it is appreciation; it is looking at the bright side of a setback; it is fathoming abundance; it is thanking someone in your life; it is thanking God; it is "counting blessings." It is savoring; it is not taking things for granted; it is coping; it is present-oriented. Gratitude is an antidote to negative emotions, a neutralizer of envy, avarice, hostility, worry, and irritation. The average person, however, probably associates gratitude with saying thank you for a gift or benefit received. I invite you to consider a much broader definition.

SONJA LYUBOMIRSKY

The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want


O Lord, that lends me life,
Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Henry VI, Part II

Tags: William Shakespeare


Gratitude is a dynamic principle, one that makes us realize what we still have, even after so much has been taken. Gratitude is finding something to be grateful for, no matter how bad the situation is.

KATHLEEN O'HARA

A Grief Like No Other


Gratitude is a transformative energy. Gratitude doesn't just feel good, it affects the world around you. Gratitude is a weapon to be used against the villains of pain and unpleasantness. Gratitude is the sword of the spiritual superhero. If you are armed with true gratitude, you will soon become invincible in your spiritual journey through mortality. With gratitude you will bring a transformation to your own life and also cause a ripple effect that will help to bring about evolutionary change to the entire planet. Gratitude raises consciousness.

BRAD FLINDERS

The Evolving Soul


There is no excess in the world so commendable as excessive gratitude.

JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE

"Of the Affections", Les Caractères

Tags: Jean de La Bruyere


Thankfulness is the tune of angels.

EDMUND SPENSER

Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers

Tags: Edmund Spenser


You cannot ensure the gratitude of others for a favour conferred upon them in the way which is most agreeable to yourself.

ARTHUR HELPS

Thoughts in the Cloister and the Crowd

Tags: Arthur Helps


Gratitude is a fruit of great cultivation; you do not find it among gross people.

SAMUEL JOHNSON

Tour to the Hebrides

Tags: Samuel Johnson


Don't overload Gratitude; if you do, she'll kick.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Poor Richard's Almanack, 1741

Tags: Benjamin Franklin


Gratitude for the seemingly insignificant--a seed--this plants the giant miracle.

ANN VOSKAMP

One Thousand Gifts


It is not best to refine gratitude; it evaporates in the process of subtilization.

PIERRE NICOLE

attributed, Day's Collacon


No one is as capable of gratitude as one who has emerged from the kingdom of night.

ELIE WIESEL

Nobel acceptance speech, Dec. 10, 1986

Tags: Elie Wiesel


Be grateful for what you already have while you pursue your goals. If you aren't grateful for what you already have, what makes you think you would be happy with more.

ROY T. BENNETT

The Light in the Heart


Gratitude is a sovereign antidote, changing wrath into grace.

RUMI

Discourses of Rumi

Tags: Rumi


When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.

MAYA ANGELOU

Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now

Tags: Maya Angelou


Whatever you appreciate and give thanks for will increase in your life.

SANAYA ROMAN

Living with Joy


Gratitude is a key component for personal happiness. People who are grateful about specific things in their past, who celebrate the triumphs, instead of focusing on losses or bitter disappointments, tend to be more satisfied in the present.

NINA LESOWITZ & MARY BETH SAMMONS

Living Life as a Thank You