I’ve been writing, recently, about the theme of gratitude as a key to happiness. Not only research but personal experience attest to its value and transforming power. And best of all, it is available to all of us in abundance. All we need to do is train our minds to see the goodness of life.

Here are some quotes on gratitude. Which one speaks most poignantly to you? Why? Let’s enrich each other by leaving a comment explaining why this quote speaks to you, telling us the personal meaning it has for you. Then I want to invite you to memorize it and make it part of your life during the next few weeks. Recall it often. Live its message.

Or, add to the list. Do you have another favorite quote on the topic of gratitude? Or could you make up your own personal quote, something that originates in your heart. What would you say, in 200 characters or less, about gratitude? Could you share it with the rest of us?

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” -Epictetus

“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

“Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along the spiritual road.” -John Henry Jowett

“When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.” – Tony Robbins

“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” -Albert Schweitzer

“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

“Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone.” -G.B. Stern

“Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic” – John Henry Jowett

“If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily.” – Gerald Good

“Everything originates in a will for the good, which is directed at you. Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude.” -Albert Schweitzer

“Feeling grateful or appreciative of someone or something in your life actually attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value into your life.” -Christiane Northrup

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

“Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.” -Brian Tracy

“Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.” -Buddha

“Let’s be grateful for those who give us happiness; they are the charming gardeners who make our soul bloom.” – Marcel Proust

“Saying thank you is more than good manners. It is good spirituality.” – Alfred Painter

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” -The Bible Phil 4:6 NKJV

“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these.” Matthew 6:28-29