by Curt Kovener
Between all the hectic preparations to be with family and enjoy some time to count your blessings, make some time to just be quiet and read what others—some famous, some not-so-well known—have to say about a grateful heart.
“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
“One of the main reasons that we lose our enthusiasm in life is because we become ungrateful. We let what was once a miracle become common to us. We get so accustomed to his goodness it becomes a routine.”
~Joel Osteen
“Rest and be thankful.”
~William Wordsworth
“We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small gifts.”
~Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“God gave us minds to think with and hearts to thank with. Instead we use our hearts to think about the world as we would like it to have been, and we use our minds to come up with rationalizations for our ingratitude. We are a murmuring, discontented, unhappy, ungrateful people. And because we think we want salvation from our discontents.”
~Douglas Wilson
“Thankfulness creates gratitude which generates contentment that causes peace.”
~Todd Stocker
“I may not be where I want to be but I’m thankful for not being where I used to be.”
~Habeeb Akande
“Be thankful for all the people in your life. Anyway, no one ever has made you feel the same. If everyone made you feel happy, how would you ever be able to separate good from evil? How would you ever know the meaning of tears? How would you ever be able to recognize the good ones? Be thankful for everything, no person in your life, gives you the same feeling. I guess, that’s how we fall in love and make new friendships, by feeling what we never felt before, with other people. Be thankful for all the people in your life. Someone is just a lesson, the other one a beautiful experience!”
~Sara Pepic
“It is only normal that people count losses with their minds, and ignore to count blessings with the graciousness of their hearts.”
~Suzy Kassem
“Were there no God, we would be in this glorious world with grateful hearts, and no one thank.”
~Christina Rossetti
“I wish upon a glimmering star,
My hopes as distant and as far.
So if this wish does not come true,
I’m thankful for the few that do.”
~Richelle E. Goodrich
“Cultivate and nurture being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. Remembering that In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.”
~Angie Karan
“There is no such thing as gratitude unexpressed. If it is unexpressed, it is plain, old-fashioned ingratitude.”
~Robert Brault
“Gratitude magnifies the sweet parts of life and diminishes the painful ones.”
~Yuval Levin
“I am thankful for my struggle because without it, I wouldn’t have stumbled upon my strength.”
~Alexandra Elle
“With all respect to your religion or world-view — thank God, thank the universe, thank evolutionary processes — the keyword is “thank” — just have some gratitude and be thankful.”
~Bryant McGill
“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
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.” ~ Cicero
“If we magnified blessings as much as we magnify disappointments, we would all be much happier.”
~ John Wooden
“Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses.”
~ Alphonse Karr
“Make it a habit to tell people thank you. To express your appreciation, sincerely and without the expectation of anything in return. Truly appreciate those around you, and you’ll soon find many others around you. Truly appreciate life, and you’ll find that you have more of it.”
~ Ralph Marston
“You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Life is an echo. What you send out, comes back. What you sow, you reap. What you give, you get. What you see in others, exists in you. Remember, life is an echo. It always gets back to you. So give goodness. ”
~ Unknown
