We're excited to bring you our top 34 Thanksgiving quotes! These words of wisdom are perfect for the Thanksgiving holiday or any time you want to cultivate a heart full of gratitude. With all the hustle and bustle of food, family, and football, it’s easy to lose sight of what the day is really about. Begin your Thanksgiving by taking a moment to reflect on the blessings and challenges that have shaped you. Let these quotes inspire you to embrace gratitude in all circumstances. Share them with loved ones or keep them close as a reminder to give thanks in every situation!
Thanksgiving Day Quotes
1. "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
2. "Our rural ancestors, with little blest,
Patient of labor when the end was rest,
Indulged the day that housed their annual grain,
With feasts, and off'rings, and a thankful strain." - Alexander Pope
3. "Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action." - W.J. Cameron
4. "So once in every year we throng
Upon a day apart,
To praise the Lord with feast and song
In thankfulness of heart." - Arthur Guiterman
5. "The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added... No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.
I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union." - President Abraham Lincoln: Proclamation of Thanksgiving
To help you in thanking God, we created a 30 Days of Gratitude Prayer Guide HERE. Download and print this guide to keep with you as a reminder of God's love and promises.
Quotes About Gratitude
6. "As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." - John Fitzgerald Kennedy
7. "I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual." - Henry David Thoreau
8. "We would worry less if we praised more. Thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction." - Harry Ironside
9. "There should be a parallel between our supplications and our thanksgivings. We ought not to leap in prayer, and limp in praise." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
10. "Perhaps it takes a purer faith to praise God for unrealized blessings than for those we once enjoyed or those we enjoy now." - A.W. Tozer
11. "I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." - G.K. Chesterton
12. "The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but the thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings." - Henry Ward Beecher
13. "The Christian who walks with the Lord and keeps constant communion with Him will see many reason for rejoicing and thanksgiving all day long." - Warren W. Wiersbe
14. "Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." - Melody Beattie
15. "Careful for nothing, prayerful for everything, thankful for anything." - Dwight L. Moody
16. "Each day is a gift from God. What you do with it is your gift to Him." - T.D. Jakes
17. "God wants to see prayers that are filled with genuine praise and thanksgiving for what He has done in the past. He wants our hearts to be filled with awe and gratitude for His blessings. He wants us to set up memorials in our hearts testifying to the provisions He has given us." - Michael Youssef
18. "We can always find something to be thankful for, and there may be reasons why we ought to be thankful for even those dispensations which appear dark and frowning." - Albert Barnes
19. "The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!" - Henry Ward Beecher
20. "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
21. "As you keep your mind and heart focused in the right direction, approaching each day with faith and gratitude, I believe you will be empowered to live life to the fullest and enjoy the abundant life He has promised you!" - Victoria Osteen
22. "Of all the characteristics needed for both a happy and morally decent life, none surpasses gratitude. Grateful people are happier, and grateful people are more morally decent." - Dennis Prager
Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Quotes
23. "Thanksgiving is a very important holiday. Ours was the first country in the world to make a national holiday to give thanks." - Linus
24. "Isn't it peculiar, Charlie Brown, how some traditions just slowly fade away?" - Lucy
25. "But Thanksgiving is more than eating, Chuck. You heard what Linus was saying out there. Those pilgrims were thankful for what had happened to them, and we should be thankful, too. We should just be thankful for being together. I think that's what they mean by Thanksgiving, Charlie Brown." - Marcy
26. "In the year 1621, the Pilgrims held their first Thanksgiving feast. They invited the great Indian chief Massasoit, who brought ninety of his brave Indians and a great abundance of food. Governor William Bradford and Captain Miles Standish were honored guests. Elder William Brewster, who was a minister, said a prayer that went something like this: 'We thank God for our homes and our food and our safety in a new land. We thank God for the opportunity to create a new world for freedom and justice." - Linus' Thanksgiving prayer
Biblical Thanksgiving Quotes
Scripture is filled with reminders of how much we have to be thankful for. Here are just a few of our favorite Bible verses on giving thanks. You can read more Thanksgiving Bible verses at BibleStudyTools.com.
27. "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
28. "The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad." - Psalm 118:24
29. "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever." Psalm 136:1
30. "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17
31. "Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me, and to the blameless I will show my salvation. Psalm 50:23
32. "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever, his faithfulness continues through all generations." - Psalm 100
33. "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful." - Colossians 3:15
34. "I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds." - Psalm 9:1
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This article is part of our larger Inspiring Quotes resource meant to encourage and strengthen your faith. Visit our most popular quotes by well known Christians and theologians to find more inspiration. Remember, the Holy Spirit can work through us when we have faith and share it with others! Please pass along any quotes that touch your heart because you never know light you’ll shine on someone else’s dark day!