Gratitude Friday 11 12 21 - Words on Gratitude Through Time

The thing about quotes is that they reveal how we are connected to all each other over time. The human condition has remained fundamentally unchanged through the millennia. We are all connected, past and future. Many before us have thrived through nearly incomprehensible adversity. We should be grateful for their examples and words.

“It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.” ― Anne Frank

“Be grateful even for hardship, setbacks, and bad people. Dealing with such obstacles is an essential part of training in the Art of Peace.” ― Morihei Ueshiba, The Art of Peace

“Gratitude is medicine for a heart devastated by tragedy. If you can only be thankful for the blue sky, then do so.”

― Richelle e. Goodrich, Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, and Grumblings for Every Day of the Year

“Without gratitude, the heart slowly becomes sour and the soul turns dark. And if we permit these to go their full course, we will reach a point where we will no longer know enough of gratitude to revive either of them.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Be mindful. Be grateful. Be positive. Be true. Be kind.” ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to

amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.” ― Seneca

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorns have roses.” ― Alphonse Karr

“What can be more certain than this, that no one should be so stupid and so arrogant as to believe that reason and intelligence are present in him but not in the heavens and in the world? Or that those things which are barely understood by the highest intellectual reasoning are kept in motion without any intelligence at all? As for the person who is not impelled to give thanks for the procession of the stars, the alternation of day and night, the regular succession of the seasons, and the fruits which are produced for our enjoyment—how can such a person be counted as human at all?” ― Cicero, The Republic and The Laws

“Sometimes life knocks you on your ass... get up, get up, get up!!! Happiness is not the absence of problems, it's the ability to deal with them.” ― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

“When you have a good friend that really cares for you and tries to stick in there with you, you treat them like nothing. Learn to be a good friend because one day you're gonna look up and say I lost a good friend. Learn how to be respectful to your friends, don't just start arguments with them and don't tell them the reason, always remember your friends will be there quicker than your family. Learn to remember you got great friends, don't forget that and they will always care for you no matter what. Always remember to smile and look up at what you got in life.” ― Marilyn Monroe

“All Dark Areas of My Life Will Brighten Up With The Light of My Gratitude.” ― Ujjwal Arora

“Resentment and gratitude cannot coexist, since resentment blocks the perception and experience of life as a gift. My resentment tells me that I don’t receive what I deserve. It always manifests itself in envy. 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. Gratitude as a discipline involves a conscious choice. I can choose to be grateful even when my emotions and feelings are still steeped in hurt and resentment. I can choose to be grateful when I am criticized, even when my heart still responds in bitterness. There is always the choice between resentment and gratitude.” ― Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming

“Don’t look at the person who has it all. Look to the person who doesn’t need it all.” ― Toyin Omofoye

“… instead of allowing the enormity of the world’s sufferings to make me unhappy, I have allowed it to increase the depth of my gratitude for the blessed life that I have been allowed to lead. You can look at the amount of suffering in the world and become bitter (this world stinks), cynical (nothing matters, it’s all just a roulette game), or hedonistic (with all this suffering, I’ll rack up all the fun I can) – or you can be grateful for your blessings.” ― Dennis Prager, Happiness Is a Serious Problem: A Human Nature Repair Manual

Do you have a favorite gratitude quote?

What are you grateful for today?