90 Heartfelt Thanksgiving Quotes to Share with Loved Ones

Thanksgiving is more than just a meal shared with family and friends; it’s a moment to pause, reflect, and celebrate gratitude. Whether it’s the comforting presence of loved ones, the joy of tradition, or the simple blessings we often overlook, Thanksgiving encourages us to focus on what truly matters.

Sometimes, a well-chosen quote captures the spirit of this holiday better than anything else, sparking feelings of appreciation, warmth, and joy. We’ve gathered a selection of Thanksgiving quotes perfect for sharing with friends, adding a heartfelt caption to a family photo, or simply reading as a reminder of all there is to be grateful for.

happy thanksgiving quotes

• “Gratitude turns what we have into enough.” – Aesop

• “Give thanks for a little, and you will find a lot.” – Hausa Proverb

• “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more.” – Oprah Winfrey

• “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” – G.K. Chesterton

• “The more you practice gratitude, the more you see how much there is to be grateful for.” – Oprah Winfrey

• “Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.” – Henry Ward Beecher

• “Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” – Voltaire

• “Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer.” – Maya Angelou

• “When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength.” – Tecumseh

• “Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” – William Arthur Ward

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

• “Wear gratitude like a cloak, and it will feed every corner of your life.” – Rumi

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

• “We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.” – John F. Kennedy

• “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

funny thanksgiving quotes

• “I suppose I will die never knowing what pumpkin pie tastes like when you have room for it.” – Robert Brault

• “Thanksgiving is a time to count your blessings, one by one, as each relative goes home.” – Melanie White

• “Coexistence: what the farmer does with the turkey—until Thanksgiving.” – Mike Connolly

• “You can tell you ate too much for Thanksgiving when you have to let your bathrobe out.” – Jay Leno

• “An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day.” – Irv Kupcinet

• “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

• “Thanksgiving is so called because we are all so thankful that it only comes once a year.” – P. J. O’Rourke

• “I come from a family where gravy is considered a beverage.” – Erma Bombeck

• “Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.” – Jim Davis

• “After a good dinner, one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations.” – Oscar Wilde

• “My cooking is so bad, my kids thought Thanksgiving was to commemorate Pearl Harbor.” – Phyllis Diller

• “Thanksgiving, man. Not a good day to be my pants.” – Kevin James

• “Overeating at Thanksgiving is a case in point. It’s a national tradition.” – Eric Samuel Timm

• “Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence.” – Erma Bombeck

• “You know that just before the first Thanksgiving, there was one wise Native American woman saying, ‘Don’t feed them. If you feed them, they’ll never leave.'” – Dylan Brody

family thanksgiving quotes

• “Family is not an important thing. It’s everything.” – Michael J. Fox

• “The family is one of nature’s masterpieces.” – George Santayana

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

• “Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life.” – Albert Einstein

• “The love of family and the admiration of friends is much more important than wealth and privilege.” – Charles Kuralt

• “What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.” – Mother Teresa

• “In family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

• “My family is my life, and everything else comes second as far as what’s important to me.” – Michael Imperioli

• “At the end of the day, a loving family should find everything forgivable.” – Mark V. Olsen and Will Sheffer

• “Nothing is better than going home to family and eating good food and relaxing.” – Irina Shayk

• “The family is the first essential cell of human society.” – Pope John XXIII

friends thanksgiving quotes

• “Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity.” – Khalil Gibran

• “A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.” – Walter Winchell

• “Friends are the siblings God never gave us.” – Mencius

• “In the sweetness of friendship, let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.” – Khalil Gibran

• “A friend is what the heart needs all the time.” – Henry Van Dyke

• “True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils.” – Baltasar Gracián

• “I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.” – Helen Keller

• “Friends are the family you choose.” – Jess C. Scott

• “A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails.” – Donna Roberts

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

• “Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.” – Woodrow Wilson

short thanksgiving quotes

• “Gratitude is the memory of the heart.” – Jean-Baptiste Massieu

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

• “Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.” – Karl Barth

• “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” – Cicero

• “For me, every hour is grace.” – Elie Wiesel

• “The thankful heart opens our eyes to a multitude of blessings.” – James E. Faust

• “Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” – Melody Beattie

• “If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share.” – W. Clement Stone

• “Give thanks for a little, and you will find a lot.” – Hausa Proverb

• “Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.” – Doris Day

• “He who thanks but with the lips, thanks but in part.” – Rumi

• “Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.” – Lionel Hampton

• “To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble.” – Maya Angelou

• “Wear gratitude like a cloak, and it will feed every corner of your life.” – Rumi

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

Inspirational Thanksgiving Quotes

• “When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.” – Maya Angelou

• “Gratitude is a powerful catalyst for happiness. It’s the spark that lights a fire of joy in your soul.” – Amy Collette

• “Be present in all things and thankful for all things.” – Maya Angelou

• “The soul that gives thanks can find comfort in everything; the soul that complains can find comfort in nothing.” – Hannah Whitall Smith

• “Let gratitude be not only the attitude of Thanksgiving Day but of every day.” – Charles Dickens

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

• “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

• “Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” – Eckhart Tolle

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

• “Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies.” – John Milton

• “Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little.” – Buddha

• “Thankfulness creates gratitude which generates contentment that causes peace.” – Todd Stocker

• “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.” – Meister Eckhart

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