Gratitude is one the simplest but most powerful tools there is to find more joy in daily life.
Just taking a few seconds or a minute to appreciate what we have – it can be a helpful co-worker, something funny your child or friend said or simply a cup of tea or coffee – opens up the mind to positive emotions and thoughts and to easily find more things to feel thankful for.
And in today’s post I’d like to share 135 of the most uplifting, empowering and inspirational gratitude quotes.
I hope these timeless words of wisdom will help you to find more happiness throughout your day and in your life but also to find new strength and optimism during the hard times we all sometimes experience.
Inspirational Gratitude Quotes
“Gratitude is an antidote to negative emotions, a neutralizer of envy, hostility, worry, and irritation. It is savoring; it is not taking things for granted; it is present-oriented.”
– Sonja Lyubomirsky
“This is a wonderful day. I have never seen this one before.”
– Maya Angelou
“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
“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
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues but the parent of all others.”
– Cicero
“Gratitude opens the door to the power, the wisdom, the creativity of the universe. You open the door through gratitude.”
– Deepak Chopra
“Gratitude can transform any situation. It alters your vibration, moving you from negative energy to positive. It’s the quickest, easiest, most powerful way to effect change in your life — this I know for sure.”
– Oprah Winfrey
“Wear gratitude like a cloak, and it will feed every corner of your life.”
– Rumi
“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
“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.”
– Melody Beattie
“When gratitude becomes an essential foundation in our lives, miracles start to appear everywhere.”
– Emmanuel Dagher
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
– Albert Einstein
“Gratitude is a powerful process for shifting your energy and bringing more of what you want into your life.”
– Rhonda Byrne
“The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach.”
– Seneca
“Gratitude is the sweetest thing in a seeker’s life – in all human life. If there is gratitude in your heart, then there will be tremendous sweetness in your eyes.”
– Sri Chinmoy
“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.”
– Seneca
“When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out, and the tide of love rushes in.”
– Kristin Armstrong
“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
“Gratitude is one of the most medicinal emotions we can feel. It elevates our moods and fills us with joy.”
– Sara Avant Stover
“Gratitude unlocks all that’s blocking us from really feeling truthful, really feeling authentic and vulnerable and happy.”
– Gabrielle Bernstein
“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”
– Gilbert K. Chesterton
“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 looks to the Past and love to the Present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead.”
– C.S. Lewis
“Always have an attitude of gratitude.”
– Sterling K. Brown
“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.”
– Willie Nelson
Inspirational Gratitude Quotes for Work and Colleagues
“The way to develop the best that is in a person is by appreciation and encouragement.”
– Charles Schwab
“Make it a habit to tell people thank you. To express your appreciation, sincerely and without the expectation of anything in return.”
– Ralph Marston
“No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.”
– Alfred North Whitehead
“Be grateful for what you have and work hard for what you don’t have.”
– Zig Ziglar
“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
“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
“A grateful mind is a great mind which eventually attracts to itself great things.”
– Plato
“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
“Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other.”
– Randy Pausch
“Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy.”
– Jacques Maritain
“Silent gratitude isn’t very much use to anyone.”
– Gertrude Stein
“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.”
– Voltaire
“Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you.”
– Brian Tracy
“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.”
– Oscar Wilde
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
– William Arthur Ward
“What separates privilege from entitlement is gratitude.”
– Brené Brown
“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing.”
– Seneca
“It’s a sign of mediocrity when you demonstrate gratitude with moderation.”
– Roberto Benigni
“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
“The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love.”
– Henri Nouwen
“We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.”
– John F. Kennedy
“We learned about gratitude and humility — that so many people had a hand in our success.”
– Michelle Obama
“Gratitude is a duty which ought to be paid, but which none have a right to expect.”
– Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“Learn to be thankful for what you already have, while you pursue all that you want.”
– Jim Rohn
“Nothing new can come into your life unless you are grateful for what you already have.”
– Michael Bernhard
“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
Thankful Quotes for Kids and Family
“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”
– Marcel Proust
“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”
– A.A. Milne
“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”
– Maya Angelou
“Family is not an important thing. It’s everything.”
– Michael J. Fox
“The secret of saying thanks is this: there is always something to be thankful for.”
– Douglas Wood
“When eating fruit, remember the one who planted the tree.”
– Vietnamese Proverb
“Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.”
– Khalil Gibran
“Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses.”
– Confucius
“For each new morning with its light, For rest and shelter of the night, For health and food, for love and friends, For everything Thy goodness sends.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
“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
“To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything.”
– Thomas Merton
“Gratitude, like faith, is a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it grows.”
– Alan Cohen
“Don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.”
– Leroy Satchel Paige
“It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.”
– David Steindl-Rast
“We can choose to be grateful no matter what.”
– Dieter F. Uchtdorf
“Enough is a feast.”
– Buddhist Proverb
“If you want to find happiness, find gratitude.”
– Steve Maraboli
“Act with kindness, but do not expect gratitude.”
– Confucius
“Every blessing ignored becomes a curse.”
– Paulo Coelho
“Find the good and praise it.”
– Alex Haley
“Things must be felt with the heart.”
– Helen Keller
“Through the eyes of gratitude, everything is a miracle.”
– Mary Davis
“Each day brings new opportunities, allowing you to constantly live with love — be there for others — bring a little light into someone’s day.”
– Kyo Maclear
“Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little.”
– Buddha
“Everyone needs a house to live in, but a supportive family is what builds a home.”
– Anthony Liccione
“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more.”
– Oprah Winfrey
“Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses.”
– Alphonse Karr
“We must take care of our families wherever we find them.”
– Elizabeth Gilbert
Inspirational Gratitude Quotes for Friends
“Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt
“I think that real friendship always makes us feel such sweet gratitude, because the world almost always seems like a very hard desert, and the flowers that grow there seem to grow against such high odds.”
– Stephen King
“I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Learn to remember you got great friends, don’t forget that and they will always care for you no matter what.”
– Marilyn Monroe
“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.”
– Henri Matisse
“Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.”
– Woodrow Wilson
“When a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity.”
– Elie Wiesel
“The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it.”
– Richard Bach
“Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.”
– Lucius Annaeus Seneca
“Giving is an expression of gratitude for our blessings.”
– Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen
“Walk as if you are kissing the earth with your feet.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh
“The highest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude.”
– Thornton Wilder
“Friendship’s the wine of life.”
– Edward Young
“I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.”
– Henry David Thoreau
“For me, prayer is an upward leap of the heart, an untroubled glance towards heaven, a cry of gratitude and love which I utter from the depths of sorrow as well as from the heights of joy.”
– Therese of Lisieux
“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”
– Robert Brault
“Home is people. Not a place.”
– Robin Hobb
Inspirational Gratitude Quotes on Life
“Love and gratitude can part seas… It can move mountains and it can create miracles.”
– Rhonda Byrne
“Fill your hearts with love and gratitude. Life gives us what we need and not necessarily what we want.”
– Mata Amritanandamayi
“Gratitude and love are always multiplied when you give freely. It is an infinite source of contentment and prosperous energy.”
– Jim Fargiano
“I have learned over a period of time to be almost unconsciously grateful — as a child is — for a sunny day, blue water, flowers in a vase, a tree turning red.”
– Faith Baldwin
“If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.”
– James Herriot
“When I pray, I always thank Mother Nature for all the beauty in the world. It’s about having an attitude of gratitude.”
– Miranda Kerr
“Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.”
– Lionel Hampton
“The thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings.”
– Henry Ward Beecher
“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”
– Thornton Wilder
“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
“The world has enough beautiful mountains and meadows, spectacular skies and serene lakes. What the world needs more of is people to appreciate and enjoy it.”
– Michael Josephson
“Those with a grateful mindset tend to see the message in the mess. And even though life may knock them down, the grateful find reasons, if even small ones, to get up.”
– Steve Maraboli
“Being thankful is not always experienced as a natural state of existence, we must work at it, akin to a type of strength training for the heart.”
– Larissa Gomez
“It’s a funny thing about life, 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
“When you look at life through the eyes of gratitude, the world becomes a magical and amazing place.”
– Jennifer Gayle
“Every once in a while God allows you to stub your toe as a kind reminder to be grateful for the miraculous body attached to it.”
– Richelle E. Goodrich
“It is necessary, then, to cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously.”
– Wallace D. Wattles
“It’s up to us to choose contentment and thankfulness now—and to stop imagining that we have to have everything perfect before we’ll be happy.”
– Joanna Gaines
“Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.”
– John Milton
“My gratitude for good writing is unbounded; I’m grateful for it the way I’m grateful for the ocean.”
– Anne Lamott
“Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”
– Charles Dickens
“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
Short Inspirational Gratitude Quotes
“Gratitude opens up the mind to things the closed mind simply can’t see.”
– Joy Stevens
“So much has been given to me; I have no time to ponder over that which has been denied.”
– Helen Keller
“Strive to find things to be thankful for, and just look for the good in who you are.”
– Bethany Hamilton
“Our favorite attitude should be gratitude.”
– Zig Ziglar
“Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.”
– Karl Barth
“The more grateful I am, the more beauty I see.”
– Mary Davis
“The essence of all beautiful art is gratitude.”
– Friedrich Nietzsche
“Three meals plus bedtime make four sure blessings a day.”
– Mason Cooley
“The root of joy is gratefulness.”
– David Steindl-Rast
“The struggle ends when gratitude begins.”
– Neale Donald Walsch
“Gratitude turns what we have into enough.”
– Aesop
“Be grateful for each day, even the dark ones.”
– Pepper Winters
“Humor is mankind’s greatest blessing.”
– Mark Twain
“Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude.”
– Albert Schweitzer
“Live a life full of humility, gratitude, intellectual curiosity, and never stop learning.”
– GZA
“Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.”
– Henry Ward Beecher
“Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed.”
– Mark Twain
“No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.”
– James Allen
“‘Thank you’ is the best prayer that anyone could say.”
– Alice Walker
“If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share.”
– W. Clement Stone
“A moment of gratitude makes a difference in your attitude.”
– Bruce Wilkinson
Want more helpful inspiration about gratitude? Then have a a look at his post with 5 small gratitude tips you can use in your everyday life and this one with 10 simple things you can be grateful for even when life is tough.