Life can get pretty busy—how often do we stop and reflect on all of the goodness around us? Probably not often enough. Being thankful is scientifically proven to improve the quality of our lives, so it’s something we should definitely be encouraging in our classrooms all year round. To help you get started, we’ve put together this list of gratitude quotes that you’ll feel good about sharing with students.
Gratitude Quotes From Children’s Books
Many kids books have themes of gratitude and include famous gratitude quotes worth sharing. Here are some of our favorites.
1. I am happy. I am very happy. This morning when I woke up I felt good because the sun was shining. I felt good because I was a frog. And I felt good because I have you as a friend. I wanted to be alone. I wanted to think about how fine everything is. —Arnold Lobel
2. We appreciate the complicated and wonderful gifts you give us in each other. And we appreciate the task you put down before us, of loving each other the best we can, even as you love us. —Kate DiCamillo
3. I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new. —Ralph Waldo Emerson
4. Sometimes when you’re surrounded by dirt … you’re a better witness for what’s beautiful. —Matt de la Peña
5. And for all I know he is sitting there still, under his favorite cork tree, smelling the flowers just quietly. He is very happy. —Munro Leaf
6. 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—for the food on their tables and the babies in their arms. —Cynthia Rylant
7. On the night you were born, the moon smiled with such wonder that the stars peeked in to see you and the night wind whispered, “Life will never be the same.” —Nancy Tillman
8. “I don’t need very much now,” said the boy, “just a quiet place to sit and rest. I am very tired.” “Well,” said the tree, straightening herself up as much as she could, “well, an old stump is good for sitting and resting. Come, Boy, sit down. Sit down and rest.” And the boy did. And the tree was happy. —Shel Silverstein
9. You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing. — E.B. White
10. I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. —L.M. Montgomery
More Gratitude Quotes
Here are more of our favorite quotes about gratitude to share with your students.
11. When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed. —Maya Angelou
12. The attitude of gratitude is the highest way of living. —Yogi Bhajan
13. There are always flowers for those who want to see them. —Henri Matisse
14. Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. —Marcel Proust
15. Gratitude turns what we have into enough. —Anonymous
16. No one has ever become poor from giving. —Anne Frank
17. One can give without loving, but one cannot love without giving. —Amy Carmichael
18. Gratitude and attitude are not challenges, they are choices. —Robert Braathe
19. If the only prayer you say in your entire life is Thank You, that would suffice. —Meister Eckhart
20. Gratitude enhances your ability to see beauty. It’s like seeing beauty in HD. —Steve Maraboli
21. Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. —William Arthur Ward
22. There is no effect more disproportionate to its cause than the happiness bestowed by a small compliment. —Robert Brault
23. The way to develop the best that is in a person is by appreciation and encouragement. —Charles Schwab
24. When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around. —Willie Nelson
25. Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts. —David O. McKay
26. Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance. —Eckhart Tolle
27. He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has. —Epictetus
28. 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
29. Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some. —Charles Dickens
30. The grateful heart will always find opportunities to show its gratitude. —Aesop
31. Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have—life itself. —Walter Anderson
32. 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
33. Whatever our individual troubles and challenges may be, it’s important to pause every now and then to appreciate all that we have, on every level. We need to literally “count our blessings,” give thanks for them, allow ourselves to enjoy them, and relish the experience of prosperity we already have. —Shakti Gawain
34. We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. —Thornton Wilder
35. 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, a gift to be celebrated with joy. —Henri J.M. Nouwen
36. Mr. Duncan put the magic pebble in an iron safe. Some day they might want to use it, but really, for now, what more could they wish for? They all had all that they wanted. —William Steig
37. It isn’t what you have in your pocket that makes you thankful, but what you have in your heart. —Author unknown
38. Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is. —Ernest Hemingway
39. 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
40. Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues but the parent of all the others. —Cicero
41. Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other. —Randy Pausch
42. Does not the gratitude of the dog put to shame any man who is ungrateful to his benefactors? —Basil of Caesarea
43. Gratitude changes the pangs of memory into a tranquil joy. —Dietrich Bonhoeffer
44. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. —Melody Beattie
45. Gratitude is indeed a duty which we are bound to pay, but which benefactors cannot exact. —Jean-Jacques Rousseau
46. There is only one thing that can form a bond between men, and that is gratitude. —Montesquieu
47. Without strong affection, and humanity of heart, and gratitude to that Being whose code is mercy, and whose great attribute is benevolence to all things that breathe, true happiness can never be attained. —Charles Dickens
48. I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. —G.K. Chesterton
49. And as it is the most generous souls who have [the] most gratitude, it is those who have [the] most pride, and who are most base and infirm, who most allow themselves to be carried away by anger and hatred. —René Descartes
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50. ’Tis hard, I admit, yet virtue aims at what is hard, and gratitude for such a service will be all the greater. —Ovid
51. “We are never quits with those who oblige us,” was Dantes’ reply; “for when we do not owe them money, we owe them gratitude.” —Alexandre Dumas
52. He who receives a benefit with gratitude, repays the first installment of it. —Seneca the Younger
53. Gratitude looks to the past and love to the present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead. —C.S. Lewis
54. There is no better excess in the world than the excess of gratitude. —Jean de La Bruyère
55. No one is as capable of gratitude as one who has emerged from the kingdom of night. —Elie Wiesel
56. Gratitude is a fruit of great cultivation; you do not find it among gross people. —Samuel Johnson
57. You have never by a word or a deed given me one moment’s uneasiness; on the contrary I have felt perpetual gratitude to heaven for having given me, in you, a source of so much pure and unmixed happiness. —Thomas Jefferson
58. You stand for what is right, Lina, without the expectation of gratitude or reward. —Ruta Sepetys
59. As life becomes harder and more threatening, it also becomes richer, because the fewer expectations we have, the more good things of life become unexpected gifts that we accept with gratitude. —Etty Hillesum
60. In whatever sense this year is a new year for you, may the moment find you eager and unafraid, ready to take it by the hand with joy and gratitude. —Howard Thurman
61. When you focus on gratitude, positive things flow in more readily, making you even more grateful. —Lissa Rankin
62. In life, as in love, graceful leave-taking is the epitome of gratitude. —Yahia Lababidi
63. Since I’m not sure of the address to which to send my gratitude, I put it out there in everything I do. —Michael J. Fox
64. 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
65. Gratitude is a very pleasant sensation, both for those who feel and to those who excite it. No one who confers a favor can say with truth that they want no thanks. They always do. —Eliza Leslie
66. Of all the “attitudes” we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important and by far the most life-changing. —Zig Ziglar
67. When gratitude replaces judgment, peace spreads throughout your body, gentleness embraces your soul, and wisdom fills your mind. —Neale Donald Walsch
68. The law of gratitude is universal. It is a natural function of the soul. All things upon this earth or in the universe operate and respond to love and praise. —Robert Scheid
69. Gratitude is a powerful process for shifting your energy and bringing more of what you want into your life. Be grateful for what you already have, and you will attract more good things. —Rhonda Byrne
70. If you can just appreciate each thing, one by one, then you will have pure gratitude. Even though you observe just one flower, that one flower includes everything. —Shunryu Suzuki
71. The sense of gratitude produces true spiritual alchemy, makes us magnanimous—large souled. —Sam Keen
72. We are not content to pass away entirely from the scenes of our delight; we would leave, if but in gratitude, a pillar and a legend. —Robert Louis Stevenson
73. Our gratitude liberates an energy within us that immediately expands into the formless substance, where it is instantly returned to us in kind. —Wallace Wattles
74. 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
75. I trust that no loving thought goes unnoticed, even when I do not see immediate gratitude or behavior changes in the other person. —Lee L. Jampolsky
76. Gratitude helps us love well by keeping us focused on the beauty in our relationship and the person we love. —M.J. Ryan
77. My day begins with gratitude and joy. I look forward with enthusiasm to the adventures of the day, knowing that in my life, All is good. —Louise Hay
78. Gratitude is one of those things that cannot be bought. It must be born with men, or else all the obligations in the world will not create it. —Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax
79. Develop an “attitude of gratitude.” Say thank you to everyone you meet for everything they do for you. —Brian Tracy
80. Once in a while I experience an emotion onstage that is so gut-wrenching, so heart-stopping, that I could weep with gratitude and joy. The feeling catches and magnifies so rapidly that it threatens to engulf me. —Julie Andrews
81. But it seemed to me that this was the way we all lived: full to the brim with gratitude and joy one day, wrecked on the rocks the next. Finding the balance between the two was the art and the salvation. —Elizabeth Berg
82. Let gratitude be awakened; let humility be deepened; let love be quickened. —Charles Spurgeon
83. Accept periods of suffering with gratitude, knowing that suffering can teach you very important lessons. —Barbara Ann Kipfer
84. Gratitude changes your perspective about life. You see the future, experience the present, and remember the past in a dramatically different way. —Erwin McManus
85. When you are in doubt, wait. Fall back on the contemplation of your vision, and increase your faith and purpose. And by all means, in times of doubt and indecision, cultivate gratitude. —Wallace Wattles
86. Before you eat food or drink water, look at what you’re about to eat or drink and feel love and gratitude. Make sure your conversations are positive when you are sitting down to a meal. —Rhonda Byrne
87. The understanding you gain from practicing gratitude frees you from being lost or identified with either the negative or the positive aspects of life, letting you simply meet life in each moment as it rises. —Phillip Moffitt
88. When we live in the spirit of gratitude, there will be much happiness in our life. —Nhat Hanh
89. Gratitude is a sacred space where you allow and know that a force greater than your ego is always at work and always available. —Wayne Dyer
90. Expressing gratitude seems like a cosmic invitation for all kinds of thankfulness and appreciation to pour in. —Mary Anne Radmacher
91. No better words than “thank you” have yet been discovered to express the sincere gratitude of one’s heart; when the two words are sincerely spoken. —Alfred Armand Montapert
92. If you find yourself ruminating over a hurt and are not ready to forgive, shift to gratitude. Think about all that is good in your life and all that you appreciate. —Stephen G. Post
93. One of the most powerful energies you can ever experience is gratitude. —Joe Vitale
94. “Love and gratitude” are the words that must serve as the guide for the world. —Masaru Emoto
95. When you learn to love your physical body, every activity can become a ritual of gratitude where you fully express the joy to be alive! —Miguel Ángel Ruiz
96. When you live with constant gratitude, your life will become a living prayer. —Barbara De Angelis
97. If it is a new thought to you that gratitude brings your whole mind into closer harmony with the creative energies of the universe, consider it well, and you will see that it is true. —Wallace Wattles
98. The real gift of gratitude is that the more grateful you are, the more present you become. —Robert Holden
99. Ingratitude calls forth reproaches as gratitude brings renewed kindnesses. —Marie de Rabutin-Chantal
100. Gratitude is a feeling of fullness, a recognition of the heart of what we are receiving in this moment. —M.J. Ryan
Like these gratitude quotes? Check out these motivational quotes for students.
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