Have you ever wondered about the secret to happiness? Have you ever wondered how some people seem to be in a great mood all day long no matter what?
Much of the time we go searching outside ourselves to find the key to happiness.
We go to a faraway exotic destination thinking “surely if I get away from myself and immerse myself in a different place I will feel different and know myself better?” Or perhaps you’ve said, “when I make this amount of money I can finally do x-y-z, and then I’ll be happy.”
Unfortunately, this is all wrong, and it won’t lead you to happiness. The key to happiness is having an attitude for gratitude. How do we know? Well, you don’t need to take our word for it, just see the following 17 gratitude quotes.
”Start each day with a positive thought and a grateful heart.” – Roy T. Bennett
How we think and feel in the morning will make the difference between a bad day and a good day.
For example, have you ever stubbed your toe in the morning, missed breakfast, been late to work, and then the rest of the day continued to be full of disaster?
This is a pretty typical scenario of many of us who can be disorganized at times, and find it easy to just point the blame at everything or everyone else.
The morning goes terribly wrong and then “magically” the day seems to snowball and get worse and worse… It’s not magic. Because it's the Law Of Attraction and how we start the day is a direct link to how the day goes.
This is why have a personal responsibility to start each day with a grateful heart. You will only find more of it for the rest of the day.
“Those that are hard to please, may get nothing in the end.” – Aesop
Leave it to Greeks to give us gratitude quotes that teach us the same lessons that have been around for thousands of years.
Technology may change. We may have the internet. We may have rocket engines with the capability to take us to the moon and back. However, happiness and being grateful are as old as time.
Aesop was a Greek writer and storyteller known to have been alive around 600 B.C. His wisdom teaches us how to appreciate what you have to find happiness within.
People like this end up with fewer friends, less love, and just a whole bunch of lack. This is why they may end up with nothing in the end.
“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
This is one of the best gratitude quotes ever. As we’ve established, gratitude and appreciation are some of the greatest tenants to live our lives by.
Expressing it as much as possible to friends, family, and complete strangers actually is extremely important to do in life. It’s what brings more meaning, joy, and dignity to our lives.
It also brings more value, decency, and love and of course, none of this means anything without knowing what we mean and meaning what we say.
The power of gratitude is more than the action of “saying it”. It’s the action of thinking and feeling it. We must allow gratitude to fill us up so much that we feel like we’re going to overflow, and then share that same passion and gratitude with others.
“Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.” -Brian Tracy
Brian Tracy is one of the greatest success coaches and speakers today. He has over 70 titles to his name with millions of books sold.
He’s built a career in studying some of the most successful people in the world. He knows that an attitude for gratitude leads to wealth and success as well as the wealth of the soul.
This is because people who focus on the good in every situation tend to find the good and then benefit from it.
This includes business, and opening your mind up to the possibilities of “I can”, rather than cannot. If you are more solution-oriented and grateful, you are better equipped for personal and financial abundance.
“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
When we learn to give rather than receive in life, we are more at peace. Often we get too caught up in asking for things instead of giving thanks.
When we have a natural affinity towards giving and then just happen to receive a gift from somebody, it simply becomes an added perk.
If you have a natural affinity towards receiving, you expect it, and therefore don’t appreciate it as much. furthermore, it’s like you’re actively seeking disappointment. We need to learn to give thanks more than asking to receive.
“Having gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more.” – Melody Beattie
It seems way too common for the majority of people to think of happiness and fullness in life as something outside of themselves.
It’s as if happiness is this mysterious force locked in a giant safe armed with lasers and alarms with impenetrable 5 foot thick walls, whereas only people like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible hanging from a ceiling by a little rope a foot off the ground might have access to… Well, it is not.
By making simple changes within our psyche, we have the ability to transform everyday living with a gratitude makeover.
When you realize you already have things such as: Love, health, healthy eating, friends, a roof over your head, a car to go places, access to clean water, two legs to walk places, etc. You’ve already won the lottery of living!
“Gratitude is the state of mind of thankfulness. As it is cultivated, we experience an increase in our sympathetic joy, our happiness at another's happiness.” -Stephen Levine
As far as gratitude quotes go, this one is very unique. Sympathetic joy is something we need more in our world.
Too often we’re taught to compete against each other for everything. This starts in childhood and continues all through adulthood. Think about it: Business, sports, school, jobs, politics. It’s everywhere.
It becomes easy to live in lack because we see someone driving a red sports car or living in a bigger house and think, “why not me”, instead of “good for that guy”, or “good for that lady”?
When you feel gratitude, and you learn to be completely happy with who you are, and you don’t need to compete with anyone, you have achieved enlightenment.
“Gratitude can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.” – Melody Beattie
If you’ve ever seen a magic show and enjoyed it, it’s because it’s one of the most fascinating and mystifying experiences to see. They seem to be out of this world and defy logic and reason.
A magician pulls a large rabbit out of a tiny hat, or saws a woman in half, or picks just the right card out of a deck of 52. We know that it’s all a trick, but for a moment, you view the magician as if he’s larger than life and It’s like he has these secrets, with the keys to a whole new universe (gratitude & happiness), and we all want to know how to access it. Gratitude is like this.
Gratitude is not a trick or a magic show though. It’s real, and we all have access to it, which will create amazing results in your life. Be the gratitude magician of your own life.
“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” -William Arthur Ward
Out of all the gratitude quotes it's ones like this that show us that perspective is such an interesting force. Perspective can change lives. It can change hearts and minds. So, what is perspective? The easiest way to define it is that it’s a certain point of view.
It’s the ability to recognize, associate, disseminate, and imagine different ways of being and living.
If we think of the idea of hunger, how can we demonstrate perspective? Well, for example, a regular lunch for you on a Tuesday might be a Thanksgiving meal to a poor kid living in the hood, or how about work?
That soul-sucking job that you constantly complain about is like the equivalent of winning the lottery to a homeless man living on the street.
It’s all about perspective.
“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” – Melody Beattie
This is one of the gratitude quotes that teach us that experience is priceless. It is only through experience that we truly understand and appreciate present circumstances.
Gratitude is made up of experiences that shape us. Experience allows us to understand a past loss, and see how it was actually again. This creates the essence of what gratitude is.
If you were in a toxic and unhealthy relationship in the past, you will appreciate more the loving supportive relationship you’re currently in today.
We’re more grateful for the present because we know what the past has held for us. The same goes with so many different facets of life. Gratitude helps make sense of everything.
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” – William Arthur Ward
It was Buddha who taught that happiness is contagious and that it should be shared with the world as much as possible.
He also taught that happiness is never decreased by being shared, It is only increased because happiness lifts hearts and minds. Happiness is a gift of life and gratitude is the same way.
The more we practice and show gratitude, the more it’s learned and spread. Gratitude is one of the greatest gifts to give to someone.
It allows them to live a life full of greater humility, love, and appreciation. Share gratitude more. You can start this today by simply sharing your gratitude quotes.
“Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of going broke.” – Fred De Witt Van Amburgh
This is one of my gratitude quotes of all. Let’s imagine for a moment that the world actually traded on the currency of gratitude.
Would you be abundant, or would you be broke? The reason for this being such a great quote is because it’s a metaphor for the richness of life.
You may not have money, but you can still be rich in gratitude, happiness, and love. Or, you can be rich in money as well as poor in gratitude, happiness, and love.
With gratitude currency, you are the manufacturer, the bank, and the atm. And It’s available to you at all times. You never go broke with gratitude.
“Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist of just words but gratitude is shown in acts.” – Henri Frederic Amiel
Gratitude is not something you are born with – It is a state of being after a specific event or learned experience. It is a consequence of being thankful.
What separates thankfulness and gratitude is that being thankful is a bit of a social norm while gratitude is a manifestation.
A waiter may bring you the bill at the end of your meal (after you requested it) and you’ll reply “thanks” almost unconsciously.
To have real sincere gratitude is to tell the waiter how much you appreciate their service and how exquisite the meal was. You say it and show it in your actions, or lack thereof.
“Feeling grateful or appreciative of someone or something in your life actually attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value into your life.” – Northrup Christiane
Gratitude quotes like this one teach us that when we feel grateful for our own family, we develop a stronger sense of gratitude for the general idea of family. We know that we would be nothing without them, also even seeing other families will also fill you up with happiness.
When you have close friends that you value, you will attract more good vibes and empathy for people and their own friendly relationships.
Through our friends and family, we learn about our values and what actually makes us tick and through our interpersonal connections and gratitude, we receive even more love, togetherness, and community.
“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
To receive something is to appreciate it for a short amount of time and to give is to bring about lasting appreciation in your life, that's why giving transforms your life with feelings of contribution and when we’re gone in this life we don’t take anything with us.
Steve Jobs is also famous for his gratitude quotes such as when he said, “being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful, that’s what matters to me “ It’s about what we give and what we leave behind that matters the most.
“There is no such thing as gratitude unexpressed. If it is unexpressed, it is plain, old-fashioned ingratitude.” -Robert Brault
As you’ve seen with our gratitude quotes so far, it’s all about expression and feeling. Because there is a natural human inertia and energy attraction to being grateful.
Robert Brault expresses this perfectly with this quote. so for instance when someone is grateful (truly grateful), they can show it threw their attitude, expression, and general ora, which then you can feel radiating off of them.
There is an energy exchange and you yourself will be more inclined to show your own gratitude as a result. Anything else is simply less, and most definitely not gratitude, or ingratitude. Share your own attitude of gratitude daily.
“We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.” – Cynthia Ozick
Gratitude quotes are useless without understanding the things we should be grateful for most. Things like our family and friends. The community we live in. The air we breathe. The roads we drive on.
Yet, we still seem to take these things for granted somehow and It is usually the absence of something that makes the heart grow fonder of having it. It’s not until we don’t have it that we complain the most.
We should have an international holiday that celebrates gratitude and all that we have to be grateful for.
