Every language in the world has a way of saying thank you. This is because gratitude is universal–it crosses all boundaries, genders, ages, and nations. Gratitude is the glue that bonds societies and relationships.
Gratitude in leadership can make an employee feel recognized, a co-worker feel appreciated, a manager feel acknowledged.
Gratitude in business can make customers feel heard, clients feel important, people feel valued.
Gratitude in life can bring joy to chaos, meaning to misery, clarity to complexity.
Gratitude has the power to change everyone and everything.
I am hoping that the following thoughts about gratitude will inspire you–and make you grateful for your life.
1. If you haven’t all the things you want, be grateful for the things you don’t have that you wouldn’t want. –Unknown
2. A grateful mind is a great mind, which eventually attracts to itself great things. —Plato
3. Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is. —Ernest Hemingway
4. 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
5. 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. —Northrup Christiane
6. Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants. —Epictetus
7. Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not. —Ann Brashares
8. To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch heaven. —Johannes Gaertner
9. It is necessary to cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude. —Wallace D. Wattles
10. You will never have enough, do enough or be enough, until you see yourself today as enough. —Cindy Keating
11. The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude. —Friedrich Nietzsche
12. At some point, you gotta let go, and sit still, and allow contentment to come to you. —Elizabeth Gilbert
13. To live a life fulfilled, reflect on the things you have with gratitude. —Jaren Davis
14. He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have. —Socrates
15. What you truly acknowledge truly is yours. Invite your heart to be grateful and your thank-yous will be heard even when you don’t use words. —Pavithra Mehta
16. In all affairs, it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted. —Bertrand Russell
17. They are not poor that have little, but they that desire much. The richest man, whatever his lot, is the one who’s content with his lot. —Dutch proverb
18. If you can’t reward, then you should thank. —Arabic proverb
19. Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty. —Unknown
20. Stop thinking of gratitude as a byproduct of your circumstances and start thinking of it as a worldview. —Bryan Robles
21. Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving. —W.T. Purkiser
22. The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated. —William James
23. Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out. —John Wooden
24. It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful. —David Steindl-Rast
25. Be grateful, not only for others, but for yourself. —Unknown
26. It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it. —Dale Carnegie
27. The greatest wealth is to live content with little. —Plato
28. If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough. —Meister Eckhart
29. In our daily lives, we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but the gratefulness that makes us happy. —Albert Clarke
30. You won’t be happy with more until you’re happy with what you’ve got. —Viki King
If there’s one essential element in leadership and life, it’s gratitude. Do what you can to show appreciation, be grateful, and say thank you.
N A T I O N A L B E S T S E L L E R
THE LEADERSHIP GAP
What Gets Between You and Your Greatness
After decades of coaching powerful executives around the world, Lolly Daskal has observed that leaders rise to their positions relying on a specific set of values and traits. But in time, every executive reaches a point when their performance suffers and failure persists. Very few understand why or how to prevent it.
Additional Reading you might enjoy:
- 12 Successful Leadership Principles That Never Grow Old
- A Leadership Manifesto: A Guide To Greatness
- How to Succeed as A New Leader
- 12 of The Most Common Lies Leaders Tell Themselves
- 4 Proven Reasons Why Intuitive Leaders Make Great Leaders
- The One Quality Every Leader Needs To Succeed
- The Deception Trap of Leadership
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Of Lolly’s many awards and accolades, Lolly was designated a Top-50 Leadership and Management Expert by Inc. magazine. Huffington Post honored Lolly with the title of The Most Inspiring Woman in the World. Her writing has appeared in HBR, Inc.com, Fast Company (Ask The Expert), Huffington Post, and Psychology Today, and others. Her newest book, The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your Greatness has become a national bestseller.