LDS Quotes on Thanksgiving & Gratitude
“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”
| The Discourses of Epictetus; with the Encheiridion and Fragments, trans. George Long (1888), 429.
“We sometimes think that being grateful is what we do after our problems are solved, but how terribly shortsighted that is. How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain? Being grateful in times of distress does not mean that we are pleased with our circumstances. It does mean that through the eyes of faith we look beyond our present-day challenges…This is not a gratitude of the lips but of the soul. It is a gratitude that heals the heart and expands the mind.”
| "Grateful in Any Circumstances"
“Gratitude is of the very essence of worship. … When you walk with gratitude, you do not walk with arrogance and conceit and egotism, you walk with a spirit of thanksgiving that is becoming to you and will bless your lives.”
| "Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley" (1997), 250
“How much better it would be if all could be more aware of God’s providence and love and express that gratitude to him. Ammon taught, ‘Let us give thanks to (God), for he doth work righteousness forever.’ Our degree of gratitude is a measure of our love for him.”
| "Thanks Be to God"
“Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.”
| Aldous Huxley, Themes and Variations (1954), 66.
“Thanking is the true inward knowing.”
“The Prophet Joseph said at one time that one of the greatest sins of which the Latter-day Saints would be guilty is the sin of ingratitude. I presume most of us have not thought of that as a great sin. There is a great tendency for us in our prayers and in our pleadings with the Lord to ask for additional blessings. But sometimes I feel we need to devote more of our prayers to expressions of gratitude and thanksgiving for blessings already received. We enjoy so much.”
| “Remembrance and Gratitude,” Ensign, November 1989, pp. 12-13
“The most meaningful and spiritual prayers I have experienced contained many expressions of thanks and few, if any, requests.”
| "Pray Always"
“An old Chinese proverb reads, ‘When you drink the water, don’t forget the well from whence it sprung.’ “
| "The True Path to Happiness"
“The self-effacing person is soothing and gracious, while the self-promoting person is fragile and jarring. Humility is freedom from the need to prove you are superior all the time, but egotism is a ravenous hunger in a small space—self-concerned, competitive, and distinction-hungry. Humility is infused with lovely emotions like admiration, companionship, and gratitude.”
| The Road to Character