Gratitude

The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.
~ William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93). Proverbs of Hell

I proclaim that all ye Pilgrims do gather at ye meeting house, there to listen to ye Pastor and render Thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all his blessings.
~ Gov. William Bradford

Heap high the board with plentous cheer, and gather to the feast,
and toast the sturdy Pilgrim band, whose courage never ceased.
Give praise to that All-Gracious One by whom their steps were led
and thanks unto the harvest's Lord who sends our daily bread.
~ Alice Williams Brotherton, The First Thanksgiving Day

Lord, who ordainest for mankind
Benignant toils and tender cares!
We thank Thee for the ties that bind
The mother to the child she bears.
~ William Cullen Bryant, The Mother's Hymn. Stanza 1

Permit me to remind you that I am now speaking the language of sincere gratitude, and that is essentially a language of very few words.
~ (William) Wilkie Collins, Speech, New York City NY (27 September 1873). American Hospitality

I know that Thou art infinitely gracious, but what will become of me?
~ William Cowper

Be thankful that God's answers are wiser than your answers.
~ William Culbertson

Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all.
~ William Faulkner

Maybe the only thing worse than having to give gratitude constantly . . . is having to accept it.
~ William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun (1959). Act II, scene i

True prosperity is appreciating what you have.
~ Bill Ferguson

The harder the act, the less it seems to be appreciated. That's what every artist, be he juggler, musician, or painter, finds out. And that is why so many mediocrities flourish.
~ W.C. Fields, in Never Give a Sucker an Even Break: W.C. Fields on Business (January 2000).

Gratitude is one of the greatest Christian graces; ingratitude, one of the most vicious sins.
~ Billy Graham, Hope for Each Day (2002). The Grace of Gratitude

When one's expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything one does have.
~ Stephen William Hawking

We are thankful for good-will rather than for services, for the motive than the quantum of favour received.
~ William Hazlitt, from The Plain Speaker (1826). On the Spirit of Obligations

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
~ William Ernest (W.E.) Henley, Invictus: In Memoriam R.T. Hamilton Bruce (1888).

Lord, for the erring thought
Not into evil wrought:
Lord, for the wicked will
Betrayed and baffled still:
For the heart from itself kept,
Our thanksgiving accept.
~ William Dean Howells, in The Nation 1:708 (7 December 1865). Thanksgiving

The complete life, the perfect pattern, includes old age as well as youth and maturity. The beauty of the morning and the radiance of noon are good, but it would be a very silly person who drew the curtains and turned on the light in order to shut out the tranquillity of the evening. Old age has its pleasures, which, though different, are not less than the pleasures of youth.
~ W. Somerset Maugham, The Summing Up (1938).

Joe, yestiddy ya saved my life an' I swore I'd pay ya back. Here's my last pair of dry socks.
~ William H. (Bill) Mauldin, Up Front (1945).

There cannot be a sense of abundance or the experience of prosperity without appreciation. You cannot find beauty unless you appreciate beauty. You cannot find friendship unless you appreciate others. You cannot find love unless you appreciate loving and being loved. If you wish abundance, appreciate life.
~ William R. Miller

The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

The curse of modern life, the poison that turns honey to gall, the cause of the dull, stupid, despondent mood in which so many people live and move and have their being, is a lack of appreciation. Many go through life with their eyes, ears, and minds closed.
~ William Lyon ("Billy") Phelps, Appreciation (1932).

It is the one day that is purely American. Yes, a day of celebration, exclusively American.
~ William Sydney Porter (O. Henry), The Trimmed Lamp (1907). Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen

You can't appreciate home till you've left it, money till it's spent, your wife until she's joined a woman's club, nor Old Glory till you see it hanging on a broomstick on a shanty of a consul in a foreign town.
~ William Sydney Porter (O. Henry), Roads of Destiny (1909). The Fourth in Salvador

Beggar that I am, I am even poor in thanks.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act II, scene ii

Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man's ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen,
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act II, scene vii

Down on your knees,
And thank heaven, fasting, for a good man's love.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It

For this relief much thanks; 'tis bitter cold
And I am sick at heart.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act I, scene i

I am not a slut, though I thank the Gods I am foul.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It

I can no other answer make, but, thanks, and thanks.
~ William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night

I hate ingratitude more in a man
Than lying, vainness, babbling drunkenness,
Or any taint of vice whose strong corruption
Inhabits our frail blood.
~ William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night

I thank you for your voices: thank you:
Your most sweet voices.
~ William Shakespeare, Coriolanus

I thank ye; and be blest for your good comfort!
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act II, scene vii

Let never day nor night unhallowed pass,
But still remember what the Lord hath done.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Part II. Act II, scene i

Mud not the fountain that gave drink to thee.
~ William Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece

O Lord, that lends me life,
Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Part II. Act I, scene i

Thank me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds.
~ William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

I have an enormous debt to the system and to God, and I have a terrific faith in both of them. I'm just really, really happy. . . . My life was in their [the jurors] hands. I am so grateful.
~ William Kennedy Smith, The Washington Post (12 December 1991). Jury Finds Smith Not Guilty of Rape

It's gratifying to be recognized for all those films because when you have that many movies out, you're afraid some of them might not be noticed.
~ Billy Bob Thornton, The Associated Press (6 December 2001). "Moulin Rouge" Tops Film Board List

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.
~ William Arthur Ward

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "thank you?"
~ William Arthur Ward

We ought to make the moments notes
Of happy glad Thanksgiving;
The hours and days, a silent praise
Of music we are living.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Gratitude is not only the memory but the homage of the heart rendered to God for his goodness.
~ Nathaniel Parker Willis

Break forth into thanksgiving,
Ye banded instruments of wind and chords;
Unite, to magnify the Ever-living,
Your inarticulate notes with the voice of words!
~ William Wordsworth, On the Power of Sound (1828).

Rest and be thankful.
~ William Wordsworth, Title of poem in Yarrow Revisited, and Other Poems (1835).

What they undertook to do
They brought to pass;
All things hang like a drop of dew
Upon a blade of grass.
~ William Butler Yeats, from The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933). Gratitude to the Unknown Instructors