These Heartfelt Thanksgiving Quotes Will Make You Feel So Grateful

We know how tempting it can be to get right to the food when the Thanksgiving feast finally hits the table. After all, you've probably been patiently waiting all day to dig into some turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy. (Don't even get us started on Ree Drummond's homemade Thanksgiving desserts.) That said, it's important to remember that Thanksgiving is much more than just an opportunity to eat. At its heart, this beloved holiday is about gratitude and time spent with loved ones—and that's exactly what these heartfelt Thanksgiving quotes are all about, too. Whether you recite them alone or as part of a meaningful Thanksgiving dinner toast, these quotes are sure to inspire you and all of your loved ones. You could also use them to create a thoughtful segue into a Thanksgiving prayer. For example, we think Shakespeare's words would work perfectly: "O Lord that lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness."

You'll also find plenty of lighter quotes here. In fact, if you're looking for a funnier one-liner to throw in a Thanksgiving Instagram caption, you'll appreciate this quote from Jimmy Fallon: "A new survey found that 80 percent of men claim they help cook Thanksgiving dinner. Which makes sense, when you hear them consider saying ‘that smells good’ to be helping." Here's to counting your blessings out loud!

“Thanksgiving is a time of togetherness and gratitude.”

“A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues.”

“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.”

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

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

"If there's one thing I've learned over the eons, it's that you can't give up on your family, no matter how tempting they make it."

"I am happy because I'm grateful. I choose to be grateful. That gratitude allows me to be happy."

"Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse."

"Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind."

"Be thankful for everything that happens in your life; it's all an experience."

"Wear gratitude like a cloak, and it will feed every corner of your life."

"Good mashed potato is one of the great luxuries of life."

"True forgiveness is when you can say, 'Thank you for that experience.'"

"When asked if my cup is half-full or half-empty my only response is that I am thankful I have a cup."

"If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily."

"Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good."

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

"Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well."

"The heart that gives thanks is a happy one, for we cannot feel thankful and unhappy at the same time."

"When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself."

"No matter what the situation is...close your eyes and think of all the things in your life you could be grateful for right now."

"Be present in all things and thankful for all things."

"I’m thankful for each and every day. We never know when time is up."

"Thanksgiving dinners take 18 hours to prepare. They are consumed in 12 minutes. Half-times take 12 minutes. This is not a coincidence."

"Thanks for this day, for all birds safe in their nests, for whatever this is, for life."

"The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness."

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

"You ought to be thankful a whole heaping lot, for the places and people you’re lucky you’re not!"

"I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new."

"When you practice gratefulness, there is a sense of respect towards others."

"For me, every hour is grace. And I feel gratitude in my heart each time I can meet someone and look at his or her smile."

"I can’t cook a Thanksgiving dinner. All I can make is cold cereal and maybe toast."

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."

"Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: It must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all."

"Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance."

"It’s not too much food. This is what we’ve been training for our whole lives. This is our destiny, this is our finest hour."

"If you think about a Thanksgiving dinner, it’s really like making a large chicken."

"A new survey found that 80 percent of men claim they help cook Thanksgiving dinner. Which makes sense, when you hear them consider saying ‘that smells good’ to be helping."

"O Lord that lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness."

"I’m grateful for everything I have. I’m grateful for it all. I’m grateful for love most of all because I have a lot of it in my life."

"Always remember to smile and look at what you got in life."

"For my part, I am almost contented just now, and very thankful. Gratitude is a divine emotion: it fills the heart, but not to bursting; it warms it, but not to fever."

"There is something that happens when you are grateful: You continue to keep receiving blessings. So I will always be grateful."

"I pray to give thanks and to recognize all the good things that are in my life even during times of great change, confusion, and frustration."

"We must have a pie. Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie."

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever."

"I live in the space of thankfulness—and for that, I have been rewarded a million times over."

"I've got plenty to be thankful for. I haven't got a great big yacht to sail from shore to shore... Still, I've got plenty to be thankful for."

"Got no checkbooks, got no banks, still I'd like to express my thanks. I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night."

"Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life."

"I started out giving thanks for small things, and the more thankful I became, the more my bounty increased."

"We've come to the time in the season
When family and friends gather near
To offer a prayer of Thanksgiving
For blessings we've known through the year."

"I have a lot to be thankful for. I am healthy, happy and I am loved."

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord."

"I can no other answer make, but, thanks,
And thanks, and ever thanks."

"Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way."

"Be grateful in your own hearts. That suffices. Thanksgiving has wings, and flies to its right destination."

"Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is."

"Thanksgiving is the meal we aspire for other meals to resemble."

“What if today, we were just grateful for everything?”

“The turkey. The sweet potatoes. The stuffing. The pumpkin pie. Is there anything else we all can agree so vehemently about? I don’t think so.”

"I love Thanksgiving because it's a holiday that is centered around food and family."

"Gratitude can transform any situation. It alters your vibration moving you from negative energy to positive."

"An attitude of gratitude brings great things."

“To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.”

“If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share.”

"Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other."

"We must find the time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives."

“It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.”

"Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day."

"Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some."

"If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily."

“Thanksgiving is a joyous invitation to shower the world with love and gratitude.”

“Be thankful for what you have. Your life is someone else’s fairy tale.”

"He who thanks but with the lips thanks but in part; the full, the true Thanksgiving comes from the heart."

“Forever on Thanksgiving the heart will find the pathway home.”

"The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest."

"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."

"The more you practice the art of thankfulness, the more you have to be thankful for.”

“Thankfulness is measured by the number of words. Gratitude is measured by the nature of our actions.”

"No one has ever become poor by giving."

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

“Thanks are the highest form of thought, and gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”

"Give thanks not just on Thanksgiving Day, but every day of your life. Appreciate and never take for granted all that you have."

“The thankful heart opens our eyes to a multitude of blessings that continually surround us.”

"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more."

"Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year because it reminds us to give thanks and to count our blessings. Suddenly, so many things become so little when we realize how blessed and lucky we are."

“I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.”

“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”

"We’re getting ready to sit down at the table and have Thanksgiving, and there’s people that are not with their families. There are people that are in dangerous areas, putting their lives on the line to keep our country free, and I think that’s something we should all celebrate every day."