On Gratitude
Food for thought from ancient and modern thinkers.
If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough. --Meister Eckhart
The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving. ~H.U. Westermayer
Gratitude is the memory of the heart. ~Jean Baptiste Massieu, translated from French
Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone. ~G.B. Stern
If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice. ~Meister Eckhart
If you have lived, take thankfully the past. ~John Dryden
When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs? ~G.K. Chesterton
As each day comes to us refreshed and anew, so does my gratitude renew itself daily. The breaking of the sun over the horizon is my grateful heart dawning upon a blessed world. ~Adabella Radici
I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. ~G.K. Chesterton
You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime (哑剧 / 舞剧/ 童话剧), and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink. ~G.K. Chesterton
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson