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68 gratitude quotes to express your deep appreciation this year

Let loved ones and friends know just how thankful you are with one of these short and inspiring sayings.

Thanksgiving is all about giving thanks, hence the name.

This year, if you're hoping to show your appreciation for life's many blessings, there are certainly plenty of ways show your thanks. For instance, you can donate your time, lend a helping hand to someone who needs it or simply let loved ones know how grateful you are for them by sharing one of these meaningful gratitude quotes.

Write one of these inspiring sentiments in a greeting card or send a gratitude quote via text. Either way, know that it's the thought that counts and whoever is on the receiving end will surely benefit from these short, inspirational words.

To make sure you've got plenty of options, we've gathered a variety of quotes including short gratitude quotes, thankful quotes for friends, inspiring quotes and a host of others to share your feelings or post on Instagram as a caption.

From luminaries including John F. Kennedy and Louisa May Alcott to philosophers like Voltaire who's noted as once saying, "Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well," there's something in this collection of sayings for just about everyone.

Whichever of these quotes you choose, they are sure remind anyone who reads it that practicing gratitude today and every day of the year is what life is truly about.

Gratitude Quotes

Gratitude quotes for friends

  • “Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.” — Woodrow Wilson
  • “A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.” — Elbert Hubbard
  • "I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new." — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Gratitude Quotes
  • “When the world is so complicated, the simple gift of friendship is within all of our hands.” — Maria Shriver
  • “To have friends who will always take you to higher ground is an incalculable blessing.” — John Bytheway
  • I’m just thankful for the people that never left me and equally thankful for those who did.” ― Nitya Prakash
Gratitude Quotes
  • “We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.” ― John F. Kennedy
  • “There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.” — Thomas Aquinas
  • “When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place.” — C.S. Lewis
  • “A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.” — Walter Winchell
Gratitude Quotes
  • “There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.” — Thomas Aquinas
  • “To like and dislike the same things, that is what makes a solid friendship.” —Sallust
  • “Friendship isn’t a big thing — it’s a million little things.” — Paulo Coelho
  • "A friend is one of the best things you can be and the greatest things you can have." — Sarah Valdez

Short gratitude quotes

  • "When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude." — G.K. Chesterton
  • “The more you practice the art of thankfulness, the more you have to be thankful for.” — Norman Vincent Peale
  • "Gratitude is the ability to experience life as a gift. It liberates us from the prison of self-preoccupation." — John Ortberg
Gratitude Quotes
  • “If the only prayer you said was ‘thank you,’ that would be enough.” ― Meister Eckhart
  • “Being grateful does not mean that everything is necessarily good. It just means that you can accept it as a gift.” — Roy T. Bennett
  • “Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” — Melody Beattie
  • “Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” ― Voltaire
Gratitude Quotes
  • "Those who are not grateful soon begin to complain of everything." — Thomas Merton
  • “Gratitude isn’t a burdening emotion.” — Loretta Young
  • “Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy.” — Jacques Maritain
  • "Never let the things you want make you forget the things you have." — Sanchita Pandey 
  • "The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely." — Louisa May Alcott
  • “Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” — Marcel Proust
Gratitude Quotes
  • “Gratitude is one of the most powerful human emotions. Once expressed, it changes attitude, brightens outlook and broadens our perspective.” ― Germany Kent
  • “Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.” — Thich Nhat Hanh, “Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life”
  • “Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.” — Doris Day
  • “Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.” ― Karl Barth
  • “Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone.” — Gertrude Stein
  • “The highest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude.” ― Thornton Wilder

Inspiring gratitude quotes

  • “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, “Celebrations: Rituals of Peace and Prayer”
  • “Gratitude and love are always multiplied when you give freely. It is an infinite source of contentment and prosperous energy.” — Jim Fargiano, “The Spoken Words of Spirit: Lessons from the Other Side”
  • “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 Quotes
  • “Whatever you appreciate and give thanks for will increase in your life." ― Sanaya Roman, “Living with Joy: Keys to Personal Power and Spiritual Transformation”
  • “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorns have roses." ― Alphonse Karr, “A Tour Round My Garden”
  • “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
  • “Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.” ― A.A. Milne, “Winnie-the-Pooh”
  • “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
  • “Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” ― Eckhart Tolle, “A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose”
Gratitude Quotes
  • “'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
  • “Gratitude is one of the strongest and most transformative states of being. It shifts your perspective from lack to abundance and allows you to focus on the good in your life, which in turn pulls more goodness into your reality.” — Jen Sincero
  • “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, “Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, and Grumblings for Every Day of the Year”
  • “Life is a celebration. Consider everything that makes you happy as a gift from God and say, ‘Thank you.” ― Francis Lucille, “The Perfume of Silence”
  • “I try hard to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful heart cannot entertain great conceits. When brimming with gratitude, one’s heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love, the finest emotion we can ever know.” ― Bill Wilson
Gratitude Quotes
  • “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
  • “Have gratitude for all that you have, and you can be happy exactly as you are.” — Mandy Ingber
  • “Got no checkbooks, got no banks. Still I’d like to express my thanks — I’ve got the sun in the mornin’ and the moon at night.” ― Irving Berlin
  • “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

Love and gratitude quotes

  • “What separates privilege from entitlement is gratitude.” ― Brené Brown
  • “Living in a state of gratitude is the gateway to grace.” — Arianna Huffington
  • “The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but the thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings.” ― Henry Ward Beecher
  • “Gratitude is a powerful catalyst for happiness. It’s the spark that lights a fire of joy in your soul.” — Amy Collette
Gratitude Quotes
  • “Gratitude changes the pangs of memory into a tranquil joy.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer
  • “The best way to show my gratitude is to accept everything, even my problems, with joy.” — Mother Teresa
  • “Of all the characteristics needed for both a happy and morally decent life, none surpasses gratitude. Grateful people are happier, and grateful people are more morally decent.” — Dennis Prager
  • “Gratitude is a divine emotion. It fills the heart, not to bursting; it warms it, but not to fever.” — Charlotte Bronte
Gratitude Quotes
  • “When a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude.” — Elie Wiesel
  • “Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.” — Margaret Cousins
  • “Gratitude, warm, sincere, intense, when it takes possession of the bosom, fills the soul to overflowing and scarce leaves room for any other sentiment or thought.” — John Quincy Adams
  • “Giving is an expression of gratitude for our blessings.” — Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen
Gratitude Quotes
  • “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” ― William Arthur Ward
  • “If you want to find happiness, find gratitude.” ― Steve Maraboli, “Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience”
  • “I may not be where I want to be but I’m thankful for not being where I used to be.” ― Habeeb Akande
  • “I am happy because I’m grateful. I choose to be grateful. That gratitude allows me to be happy.” — Will Arnett