Sermon Central
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15 Fresh, Powerful Thanksgiving Quotes
By SermonCentral on Nov 21, 2025
Thanksgiving has a centuries-old history. Here's what great minds (old and new) have said about giving thanks.
"The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest." ~ William Blake
"We ought to give thanks for all fortune: if it is good, because it is good; if bad, because it works in us patience, humility, contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country." ~ C. S. Lewis
"Be true to yourself, help others, make each day your masterpiece, make friendship a fine art, drink deeply from good books—especially the Bible, build a shelter against a rainy day, give thanks for your blessings and pray for guidance every day." ~ John Wooden
“You can't be grateful for something you feel entitled to." ~ Steven Furtick
"It must be an odd feeling to be thankful to nobody in particular. Christians in public institutions often see this odd thing happening on Thanksgiving Day. Everyone in the institution seems to be thankful 'in general.' It's very strange. It's a little like being married in general." ~ Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.
"Thou who hast given so much to me, give me one more thing—a grateful heart!" ~ George Herbert
"It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness." ~ Charles Spurgeon
"Gratitude is the least of the virtues, but ingratitude is the worst of vices." ~ Thomas Fuller
"If you remember the dignity of the Giver, no gift will seem small or mean, for nothing can be valueless that is given by the most high God." ~ Thomas à Kempis
"The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you." ~ Robert Louis Stevenson
"We have received too much from God to allow ourselves opportunities for unbelief. We have received too many gifts and privileges to allow a grumbling, murmuring heart to disqualify us of our destiny. In contrast, the thankful heart sees the best part of every situation. It sees problems and weaknesses as opportunities, struggles as refining tools, and sinners as saints in progress." ~ Francis Frangipane
"Gratitude ... goes beyond the 'mine' and 'thine' and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift. In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy." ~ Henri J. M. Nouwen
"God has two dwellings; one in heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart." ~ Izaak Walton
"It’s not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, that is the true measure of our thanksgiving." ~ W.T. Purkiser
"It is delightfully easy to thank God for the grace we ourselves have received, but it requires great grace to thank God always for the grace given to others." ~ James Smith
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