Food, festivity, and football may be at the center of Thanksgiving, but there's more to the holiday than eating, celebrating, and watching sports. It's also a time to share heartfelt words of appreciation with family and friends. Reading aloud Thanksgiving messages and quotes about gratitude while seated around the dinner table — or while digesting your portion of the glorious feast you've just consumed — is a tradition that allows you to reflect on the true meaning of this cherished holiday.
In honor of this gathering of gratitude, we've compiled a list of 130 quotes about thankfulness and gratitude. These are fitting for Thanksgiving speeches, handwritten greetings, text messages, or sharing with someone who could use some inspiration.
Thanksgiving quotes
“Forever on Thanksgiving the heart will find the pathway home." – Wilbur D. Nesbit
"Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year because it reminds us to give thanks and to count our blessings. Suddenly, so many things become so little when we realize how blessed and lucky we are." – Joyce Giraud
"On Thanksgiving Day we acknowledge our dependence." – Williams Jennings Bryan
“I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual." – Henry David Thoreau
"Thanksgiving isn't just a day. It's a way we can live our lives every day." – Katrina Mayer
“Gratitude can transform common days into Thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings." – William Arthur Ward
“Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse." – Henry Van Dyke
“I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new." – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Thanksgiving is a joyous invitation to shower the world with love and gratitude." – Amy Leigh Mercree
"The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest." – William Blake
"We would worry less if we praised more. Thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction." – Harry A. Ironside
"Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving." – W. T. Purkiser
"Thanksgiving reminds us that no matter what befalls us in life, we can take the charred remnants and we can reconstruct a life unimaginably richer than that from which the shards and pieces fell." – Craig D. Lounsbrough
“Drink and be thankful to the host! What seems insignificant when you have it is important when you need it." – Franz Grillparzer
"What I love about Thanksgiving is that it's purely about getting together with friends or family and enjoying food. It's really for everybody, and it doesn't matter where you're from." – Daniel Humm
“Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day." – Robert Caspar Lintner
"Give thanks not just on Thanksgiving Day but every day of your life. Appreciate and never take for granted all that you have." – Catherine Pulsifer
"Family gathers to share good noise and good food. Gratitude abounds." – Richelle E. Goodrich
“Thanksgiving Day is a good day to recommit our energies to giving thanks and just giving." – Amy Grant
"Be grateful in your own hearts. That suffices. Thanksgiving has wings, and flies to its right destination." – Victor Hugo
“I love Thanksgiving because it's a holiday that is centered around food and family, two things that are of utmost importance to me." – Marcus Milton
“Although Thanksgiving comes but once a year, every day should be a day of thanks." – Monique Hammond
"In November, people are good to each other. They carry pies to each other's homes and talk by crackling woodstoves, sipping mellow cider. They travel very far on a special November day just to share a meal with one another and to give thanks for their many blessings." – Cynthia Rylant
"Thanksgiving is the meal we aspire for other meals to resemble." – Jonathan Safran Foer
"He who thanks but with the lips thanks but in part; the full, the true Thanksgiving comes from the heart." – J.A. Shedd
“If you think about a Thanksgiving dinner, it's really like making a large chicken" – Ina Garten
“But see, in our open clearings, how golden the melons lie; enrich them with sweets and spices, and give us the pumpkin-pie!" – Margaret Junkin Preston
Funny Thanksgiving quotes
“The turkey. The sweet potatoes. The stuffing. The pumpkin pie. Is there anything else we all can agree so vehemently about?" – Nora Ephron
“Good mashed potato is one of the great luxuries in life." – Lindsey Bareham
“I feel a very unusual sensation — if it is not indigestion, I think it must be gratitude." – Benjamin Disraeli
"Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie." – Jim Davis
“Thanksgiving is an emotional holiday. People travel thousands of miles to be with people they only see once a year. And then discover once a year is way too often." – Johnny Carson
"I come from a family where gravy is considered a beverage." – Erma Bombeck
"I can't cook a Thanksgiving dinner. All I can make is cold cereal and maybe toast." – Charlie Brown
"Thanksgiving is so called because we are all so thankful that it only comes once a year." – P.J. O'Rourke
"The Thanksgiving tradition is, we overeat. 'Hey, how about at Thanksgiving we just eat a lot?' 'But we do that every day!' 'Oh. What if we eat a lot with people that annoy the hell out of us.'" – Jim Gaffigan
"For those of you who cannot be with family this Thanksgiving, please resist the urge to brag." – Andy Borowitz
"If you stand in the meat section at the grocery store long enough, you start to get mad at turkeys. There's turkey ham, turkey bologna, turkey pastrami. Someone needs to tell the turkey, 'Man, just be yourself.'" – Mitch Hedberg
"The Thankstini: A fun and delicious new novelty drink I invented. Cranberry juice, potato vodka, and a bouillon cube. Tastes just like a turkey dinner." – Barney Stinson, “How I Met Your Mother”
"It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without a little emotional scarring." – Timothy Burke, “Friends”
"It's not too much food. This is what we've been training for our whole lives. This is our destiny; this is our finest hour." – Lorelai Gilmore, “Gilmore Girls”
"I suppose I will die never knowing what pumpkin pie tastes like when you have room for it." – Robert Brault
"An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day." – Irv Kupcinet
"I'm looking forward to seeing pie this Thanksgiving more than members of my own family." – Damien Fahey
“I like football. I find it's an exciting strategic game. It's a great way to avoid conversation with your family at Thanksgiving." – Craig Ferguson
“It has been an unchallengeable American doctrine that cranberry sauce, a pink goo with overtones of sugared tomatoes, is a delectable necessity of the Thanksgiving board and that turkey is uneatable without it." – Alistair Cooke
"Cooking tip: Wrap turkey leftovers in aluminum foil and throw them out." – Nicole Hollander
“Thanksgiving Day, man — not a good day to be my pants." – Kevin James
“I celebrated Thanksgiving the old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land." – Jon Stewart
“I approximated the Black Friday experience at home by hurling myself into a wall a number of times and then ordering online." – Kumail Nanjiani
“It took me three weeks to stuff the turkey. I stuffed it through the beak." – Phyllis Diller
“Most turkeys taste better the day after; my mother's tasted better the day before."– Rita Rudner
“We're having something different this year for Thanksgiving. Instead of a turkey, we're having a swan. You get more stuffing." – George Carlin
“You can tell you ate too much for Thanksgiving when you have to let your bathrobe out."– Jay Leno
“You can't have Thanksgiving without turkey. That's like Fourth of July without apple pie, or Friday with no two pizzas." – Joey Tribbiani, “Friends”
“Pie makes everybody happy." – Laurie Halse Anderson
“Thanksgiving...humbug. What good is it if you're on a diet?" – Garfield
Quotes about gratitude and thankfulness
"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." – Marcel Proust
"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. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." – Melody Beattie
“Thanks are the highest form of thought, and gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." – G.K. Chesterton
“Gratitude, help us to see what is there instead of what isn't." – Annette Bridges
"Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is." – Ernest Hemingway
"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
"When asked if my cup is half full or half empty, my only response is that I am thankful I have a cup." – Sam Lefkowitz
"The more we express thanks, the more gratitude we feel. The more gratitude we feel, the more we express thanks. It's circular, and it leads to a happier life." – Steve Goodier
"We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have." – Frederick Koenig
“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures." – Thornton Wilder
"Always have an attitude of gratitude." – Sterling K. Brown
“Be thankful for what you have. Your life is someone else's fairy tale." – Wale Ayeni
“When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself." – Tecumseh
“A moment of gratitude makes a difference in your attitude." – Bruce Wilkinson
- “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
"I would rather be able to appreciate things I cannot have than to have things I am not able to appreciate." – Elbert Hubbard
“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
"Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart." – Seneca
“If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share." – W. Clement Stone
“We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives." – John F. Kennedy
“Gratitude opens the door, the power, the wisdom, the creativity of the universe. You open the door through gratitude." – Deepak Chopra
"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it." – William Arthur Ward
“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well." – Voltaire
"The real gift of gratitude is that the more grateful you are, the more present you become." – Robert Holden
"When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around." – Willie Nelson
"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life." – Melody Beattie
“Even in the trials of life, if we have eyes to see them, we can find good things everywhere we look." – Joanna Gaines
"When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out and the tide of love rushes in." – Kristin Armstrong
“It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful." – David Steindl-Rast
“The heart that gives thanks is a happy one, for we cannot feel thankful and unhappy at the same time." – Douglas Wood
"Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast." – William Shakespeare
“Wear gratitude like a cloak, and it will feed every corner of your life." – Rumi
“The more you practice the art of thankfulness, the more you have to be thankful for." – Norman Vince Peale
"Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds." – Theodore Roosevelt
"Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: It must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all." – William Faulkner
"Kindness is always fashionable, and always welcome." – Amelia Barr
“When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears." – Anthony Robbins
"Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance." – Eckhart Tolle
"The struggle ends when gratitude begins." – Neale Donald Walsh
“Appreciation can change a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary." – Margaret Cousins
“Thankfulness is the quickest path to joy." – Jefferson Bethke
"A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue but the parent of all the other virtues." – Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Gratitude bestows reverence...changing forever how we experience life and the world." – John Milton
"Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses." – Alphonse Karr
"Let me encourage you to get up every day and focus on what you do have in life. Be thankful for the blessings of the little things, even when you don't get what you expect." – Victoria Osteen
"Gratitude is a divine emotion: It fills the heart, but not to bursting; it warms it, but not to fever." – Charlotte Brontë
“For me, every hour is grace. And I feel gratitude in my heart each time I can meet someone and look at his or her smile." – Elie Wiesel
“Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts." – Henri Frédéric Amiel
"I think gratitude is a big thing. It puts you in a place where you're humble." – Andra Day
"No duty is more urgent than giving thanks." – James Allen
"Gratitude is a powerful catalyst for happiness. It's the spark that lights a fire of joy in your soul." – Amy Collette
"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." – Robert Brault
“I am happy because I am grateful. I choose to be grateful. That gratitude allows me to be happy." – Will Arnett
“Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind." – Lionel Hampton
"Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other." – Randy Pausch
"There is always, always something to be thankful for." – Rhonda Bryne
"Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some." – Charles Dickens
“What if, today, we were just grateful for everything?" – Charlie Brown
"We should certainly count our blessings, but we should also make our blessings count." – Neal A. Maxwell
"If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough." – Meister Eckhart
“The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness" – Dalai Lama
“In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it's wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices." – Elizabeth Gilbert
“The thankful heart opens our eyes to a multitude of blessings that continually surround us." – James E. Faust
“An attitude of gratitude goes a long way when it comes to physical and emotional healing." – Jill Bolte Taylor
“Gratitude is the closest thing to beauty manifested in an emotion." – Mindy Kaling
“Gratitude is the ability to experience life as a gift. It liberates us from the prison of self-preoccupation." – John Ortberg
“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has." – Epictetus
“We are all more blind to what we have than to what we have not." – Audre Lorde
“Make it a habit to tell people thank you. To express your appreciation, sincerely and without the expectation of anything in return." – Ralph Marston
“At whatever straws we must grasp, there is always a time for gratitude and new beginnings." – J. Robert Moskin
"When it comes to life, the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude." – Gilbert K. Chesterton
"'Thank you' is the best prayer that anyone could say." – Alice Walker
"Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life." – Omar Khayyam
AUTHOR
Nicole DiGiose is a lifestyle writer who serves as an editor and writer for 1-800-Flowers. Previously, she's been published in Electronic Products, EE Times, Chilled Magazine, and local newspapers based in her hometown.