The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been
more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of
thanksgiving. ~H.U. Westermayer
If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you,"
that would suffice. ~Meister Eckhart
Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be
careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude. ~E.P. Powell
So once in every year we throng Upon a day apart, To praise the Lord with
feast and song In thankfulness of heart. ~Arthur Guiterman, The First
Thanksgiving
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest
appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~John Fitzgerald
Kennedy
Remember God's bounty in the year. String the pearls of His favor. Hide the
dark parts, except so far as they are breaking out in light! Give this one day
to thanks, to joy, to gratitude! ~Henry Ward Beecher
Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes
as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow. ~Edward Sandford Martin
Our rural ancestors, with little blest, Patient of labour when the end was
rest, Indulged the day that housed their annual grain, With feasts, and
off'rings, and a thankful strain. ~Alexander Pope
What we're really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth
Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it
Thanksgiving? ~Erma Bombeck, "No One Diets on Thanksgiving," 26
November 1981
Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action. ~W.J. Cameron
He who thanks but with the lips Thanks but in part; The full, the true
Thanksgiving Comes from the heart. ~J.A. Shedd
Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day. ~Robert Caspar
Lintner
For each new morning with its light, For rest and shelter of the night, For
health and food, for love and friends, For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in
twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence. ~Erma
Bombeck
For flowers that bloom about our feet; For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;
For song of bird, and hum of bee; For all things fair we hear or see, Father in
heaven, we thank Thee! ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day. ~Irv
Kupcinet
Thou hast given so much to me, Give one thing more, - a grateful heart; Not
thankful when it pleaseth me, As if Thy blessings had spare days, But such a
heart whose pulse may be Thy praise. ~George Herbert
The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart
sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in
every hour, some heavenly blessings! ~Henry Ward Beecher
Some hae meat and canna eat, -And some wad eat that want it; But we hae
meat, and we can eat, Sae let the Lord be thankit. ~Robert Burns
It has been an unchallengeable American doctrine that cranberry sauce, a
pink goo with overtones of sugared tomatoes, is a delectable necessity of the
Thanksgiving board and that turkey is uneatable without it. ~Alistair Cooke
Ah! on Thanksgiving day.... When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once
more, And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before. What moistens the
lips and what brightens the eye? What calls back the past, like the rich
pumpkin pie? ~John Greenleaf Whittier
Thanksgiving comes to us out of the prehistoric dimness, universal to all
ages and all faiths. At whatever straws we must grasp, there is always a time
for gratitude and new beginnings. ~J. Robert Moskin
There is one day that is ours. There is one day when all we Americans who
are not self-made go back to the old home to eat saleratus biscuits and marvel
how much nearer to the porch the old pump looks than it used to. Thanksgiving
Day is the one day that is purely American. ~O. Henry
Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from
us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and
shows itself in deeds. ~Theodore Roosevelt
We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are
conscious of our treasures. ~Thornton Wilder
Thanksgiving is the holiday of peace, the celebration of work and the simple
life... a true folk-festival that speaks the poetry of the turn of the seasons,
the beauty of seedtime and harvest, the ripe product of the year - and the
deep, deep connection of all these things with God. ~Ray Stannard Baker (David
Grayson)
Heap high the board with plenteous cheer and gather to the feast, And toast
the sturdy Pilgrim band whose courage never ceased. ~Alice W. Brotherton
On Thanksgiving Day, all over America, families sit down to dinner at the
same moment - halftime. ~Author Unknown
Dear Lord; we beg but one boon more: Peace in the hearts of all men living,
peace in the whole world this Thanksgiving. ~Joseph Auslander
On Thanksgiving Day we acknowledge our dependence. ~William Jennings Bryan
It is literally true, as the thankless say, that they have nothing to be
thankful for. He who sits by the fire, thankless for the fire, is just as if he
had no fire. Nothing is possessed save in appreciation, of which thankfulness
is the indispensable ingredient. But a thankful heart hath a continual feast.
~W.J. Cameron
Lord, 'tis Thy plenty-dropping hand That soils my land, And giv'st me for my
bushel sowne Twice ten for one. All this, and better, Thou dost send Me, to
this end, That I should render, for my part, A thankful heart. ~Robert Herrick
Thanksgiving is America's national chow-down feast, the one occasion each
year when gluttony becomes a patriotic duty. ~Michael Dresser
Forever on Thanksgiving Day The heart will find the pathway home. ~Wilbur D.
Nesbit
Grace isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It's a way to
live. ~Attributed to Jacqueline Winspear
Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way. ~Native American
Saying
To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous
and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven. ~Johannes A. Gaertner
A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the
other virtues. ~Cicero
But see, in our open clearings, how golden the melons lie; Enrich them with
sweets and spices, and give us the pumpkin-pie! ~Margaret Junkin Preston
Coexistence: what the farmer does with the turkey - until Thanksgiving.
~Mike Connolly
Thanksgiving is possible only for those who take time to remember; no one
can give thanks who has a short memory. ~Author Unknown
God has two dwellings; one in heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful
heart. ~Izaak Walton
I have strong doubts that the first Thanksgiving even remotely resembled the
"history" I was told in second grade. But considering that (when it
comes to holidays) mainstream America's traditions tend to be over-eating,
shopping, or getting drunk, I suppose it's a miracle that the concept of giving
thanks even surfaces at all. ~Ellen Orleans
Thanksgiving, man. Not a good day to be my pants. ~Kevin James
Perhaps it takes a purer faith to praise God for unrealized blessings than
for those we once enjoyed or those we enjoy now. ~A.W. Tozer
Stand up, on this Thanksgiving Day, stand upon your feet. Believe in man.
Soberly and with clear eyes, believe in your own time and place. There is not,
and there never has been a better time, or a better place to live in. ~Phillips
Brooks
Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart. ~Seneca
All that we behold is full of blessings. ~William Wordsworth
For what I give, not what I take, For battle, not for victory, My prayer of
thanks I make. ~Odell Shepard
Happy We-Stole-Your-Land-and-Killed-Your-People Day! ~Thanksgiving
toast, from the movie Sweet November
If I have enjoyed the hospitality of the Host of this universe, Who daily
spreads a table in my sight, surely I cannot do less than acknowledge my
dependence. ~G.A. Johnston Ross
O Lord that lends me life, Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness.
~William Shakespeare
None is more impoverished than the one who has no gratitude. Gratitude is a
currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of bankruptcy.
~Fred De Witt Van Amburgh
Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel. ~Author Unknown
The funny thing about Thanksgiving, or any huge meal, is that you spend 12
hours shopping for it and then chopping and cooking and braising and blanching.
Then it takes 20 minutes to eat it and everybody sort of sits around in a food
coma, and then it takes four hours to clean it up. ~Ted Allen
And though I ebb in worth, I'll flow in thanks. ~John Taylor
The thing I'm most thankful for right now is elastic waistbands. ~Author
Unknown
For, after all, put it as we may to ourselves, we are all of us from birth
to death guests at a table which we did not spread. The sun, the earth, love,
friends, our very breath are parts of the banquet.... Shall we think of the day
as a chance to come nearer to our Host, and to find out something of Him who
has fed us so long? ~Rebecca Harding Davis
Gratitude is the sign of noble souls. ~Aesop
Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not
giving it. ~William Arthur Ward
May your stuffing be tasty May your turkey plump, May your potatoes and
gravy Have nary a lump. May your yams be delicious And your pies take the
prize, And may your Thanksgiving dinner Stay off your thighs! ~Grandpa Jones
I suppose I will die never knowing what pumpkin pie tastes like when you
have room for it. ~Robert Brault
Gluttony and surfeiting are no proper occasions for thanksgiving. ~Charles
Lamb, 1821
But whether we have less or more, Always thank we God therefor. ~Author
Unknown
Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast. ~William Shakespeare
God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say
"thank you?" ~William A. Ward
Turkey: A large bird whose flesh, when eaten on certain religious
anniversaries has the peculiar property of attesting piety and gratitude. ~Ambrose
Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough,
and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to
clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into
a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates
a vision for tomorrow. ~Melody Beattie
Thanksgiving-day, I fear, If one the solemn truth must touch, Is celebrated,
not so much To thank the Lord for blessing o'er, As for the sake of getting
more! ~Will Carleton
For hearts that are kindly, with virtue and peace, and not seeking blindly a
hoard to increase; for those who are grieving o'er life's sordid plan; for
souls still believing in heaven and man; for homes that are lowly with love at
the board; for things that are holy, I thank thee, O Lord! ~Walt Mason
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
When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep? ~George Canning
Thanksgiving is an emotional holiday. People travel thousands of miles to be
with people they only see once a year. And then discover once a year is way too
often. ~Johnny Carson
Thanksgiving is so called because we are all so thankful that it only comes
once a year. ~P. J. O'Rourke
Thanksgiving Day, a function which originated in New England two or three
centuries ago when those people recognized that they really had something to be
thankful for - annually, not oftener - if they had succeeded in exterminating
their neighbors, the Indians, during the previous twelve months instead of
getting exterminated by their neighbors, the Indians. Thanksgiving Day became a
habit, for the reason that in the course of time, as the years drifted on, it
was perceived that the exterminating had ceased to be mutual and was all on the
white man's side, consequently on the Lord's side; hence it was proper to thank
the Lord for it and extend the usual annual compliments. ~Mark Twain
We can always find something to be thankful for, and there may be reasons
why we ought to be thankful for even those dispensations which appear dark and
frowning. ~Albert Barnes
Thanksgiving is nothing if not a glad and reverent lifting of the heart to
God in honor and praise for His goodness. ~Robert Casper Lintner
Got no check books, got no banks. Still I'd like to express my thanks - I
got the sun in the morning and the moon at night. ~Irving Berlin
If you count all your assets, you always show a profit. ~Robert Quillen
Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true
measure of our thanksgiving. ~W.T.
