65 Best Thanksgiving Quotes to Express Gratitude and Thanks

Thanksgiving quotes that capture the meaning of the season

Thanksgiving is a time of year to gather with loved ones and enjoy a lovely meal together. It’s also a time to reflect on the things you’re most grateful for and convey gratitude. If you’re not sure how to express yourself, don’t worry; these meaningful Thanksgiving quotes will do the trick.

These uplifting quotes and quotes about gratitude capture the true meaning of the holiday, a time of giving thanks, feeling grateful and enjoying time spent with friends and family. Share them (along with some funny Thanksgiving quotes) around the table to show how much this holiday means to you. Then share these Thanksgiving blessings, poems and wishes to keep the festivities going.

“I’m thankful for every moment.” —Al Green. This quote would also make a great Thanksgiving Instagram caption.

“I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson. Love these Thanksgiving quotes? Expressing gratitude for your friends can be a new Thanksgiving tradition! 

“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. How many of these Thanksgiving riddles can you solve?

“If you think Independence Day is America’s defining holiday, think again. Thanksgiving deserves that title, hands down.” —Tony Snow

“If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share.” —W. Clement Stone. Here are some key reasons to be grateful this Thanksgiving.

“Thanksgiving Day is a good day to recommit our energies to giving thanks and just giving.” —Amy Grant. Learn more about the history of Thanksgiving and why we celebrate it.

“Drink and be thankful to the host! What seems insignificant when you have it is important when you need it.” —Franz Grillparzer. Check out these Thanksgiving jokes if you want to serve a side of humor at dinner.

“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. Don’t forget to break out these pieces of Thanksgiving trivia to really impress your dinner guests.

“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.” —Friedrich Koenig

“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

“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” —Willie Nelson

“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

“Reflect upon your present blessings.” —Charles Dickens. Doing some last-minute holiday shopping? These are the stores open on Thanksgiving.

“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 Samuelsson. What a sweet family quote!

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” —Marcel Proust

“Thanksgiving creates abundance.” —Ann Voskamp

“God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say ‘thank you‘?” —William Arthur Ward

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.” —Melody Beattie. Another thing to be grateful for this year? The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

“We would worry less if we praised more. Thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction.” —Harry A. Ironside

“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

“Thanks are the highest form of thought.” —Gilbert K. Chesterton

“Thanksgiving is a time of togetherness and gratitude.” —Nigel Hamilton

“No one has ever become poor by giving.” —Anne Frank

“Over and over I marvel at the blessings of my life: Each year has grown better than the last.” —Lawrence Welk

“There is one day that is ours. Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American.” —O. Henry. Here’s the best Thanksgiving dish for you, according to your zodiac sign.

“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our Thanksgiving.” —W.T. Purkiser

“To give thanks in solitude is enough. Thanksgiving has wings and goes where it must go. Your prayer knows much more about it than you do.” —Victor Hugo

“Thanksgiving just gets me all warm and tingly and all kinds of wonderful inside.” —Willard Scott

“Gratitude can turn a meal into a feast.” —Melody Beattie. Get the whole dinner table laughing by sharing these Thanksgiving memes.

“The thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings.” —Henry Ward Beecher

“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

“No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.” —James Allen

“The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness.” —Dalai Lama. We love a good uplifting quote for Thanksgiving.

“Stand up, on this Thanksgiving Day, stand upon your feet. Believe in man. Soberly and with clear eyes, believe in your own time and place. There is not, and there never has been, a better time or a better place to live in.” —Phillips Brooks

“If a fellow isn’t thankful for what he’s got, he isn’t likely to be thankful for what he’s going to get.” —Frank A. Clark. Check out these life-changing quotes you won’t forget.

“Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action.” —W.J. Cameron

“Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.” —Aesop

“Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.” —Seneca the Younger. Need some inspiration? These hope quotes will lift you up.

“Dear Lord, I’m so grateful I’m still loved.” —Vivien Leigh. Impress your guests with these Thanksgiving decorations.

“Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.” —Margaret Cousins

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues but the parent of all the others.” —Marcus Tullius Cicero

“There’s no happier person than a truly thankful, content person.” —Joyce Meyer

“Be present in all things and thankful for all things.” —Maya Angelou. Get in the holiday spirit with these Thanksgiving songs.

“I’m thankful to be breathing, on this side of the grass. Whatever comes, comes.” —Ron Perlman

“I do think that Thanksgiving is a very nice holiday because it’s all about saying thank you; it’s being thankful.” —Jacob Tremblay

“Thanksgiving Day is a jewel to set in the hearts of honest men; but be careful that you do not take the day and leave out the gratitude.” —E.P. Powell

“Thanksgiving is America’s favourite holiday, and a brilliant piece of personal as well as patriotic calendrical invention.” —Linda Colley

“I’m just thankful I’m surrounded by good people.” —Jon Pardi. If you’re skipping the cooking this year, check out the restaurants open on Thanksgiving.

“I have a lot to be thankful for. I am healthy, happy, and I am loved.” —Reba McEntire

“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

“Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with that there is.” —Ernest Hemingway

“A basic law: The more you practice the art of thankfulness, the more you have to be thankful for.” —Norman Vincent Peale

“We should certainly count our blessings, but we should also make our blessings count.” —Neal A. Maxwell. Keep the little ones busy (and out of the kitchen) by setting up these Thanksgiving crafts for kids.

“We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.” —Cynthia Ozick

“There is no sincerer love than the love of food.” —George Bernard Shaw

“Best of all is it to preserve everything in a pure, still heart, and let there be for every pulse a thanksgiving, and for every breath a song.” —Conrad Gessner

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” —Thornton Wilder

“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

“Strive to find things to be thankful for, and just look for the good in who you are!” —Bethany Hamilton. Impress your guests with your knowledge of why the president pardons a turkey on Thanksgiving.

“He who thanks but with the lips, thanks but in part; the full, the true Thanksgiving comes from the heart.” —John G. Shedd

“Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday—it’s a day that’s American to the core, and it’s a day that’s all about what and how we eat.” —Marcus Samuelsson. And what we eat is savory turkey followed by smooth, sweet pumpkin pie.

“Thanksgiving is America’s favorite holiday because it’s a time when we put aside our cares, much as the struggling Pilgrims did nearly four centuries ago, and eat a gut-busting meal without worrying about the ‘out years.'” —David Ignatius

“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.” —Melody Beattie. These Thanksgiving quotes really put things into perspective—and so do these life quotes.

“And though I ebb in worth, I’ll flow in thanks.” —John Taylor 

“Forever on Thanksgiving Day the heart will find the pathway home.” —Wilbur D. Nesbit