16 Thanksgiving Quotes to Read Before the Big Dinner

We're all about celebrating gratitude this season.

Updated on September 26, 2022

As you prepare this year's Thanksgiving dinner, take a few minutes to stop and reflect on all you have to be thankful for this season. To help you get into the holiday spirit, we've rounded up some of our favorite Thanksgiving quotes. These phrases from authors, celebrities, and fictional characters will help remind you to practice gratitude as the day of the big holiday meal draws closer.

Use these Thanksgiving quotes to inspire this year's holiday traditions or for this year's holiday Instagram caption. However you use them, we hope these phrases will bring a smile to your face this holiday season.

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Grateful for Everything

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"What if today, we were just grateful for everything?"

—Charlie Brown

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Grateful for the Long Term

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"I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual."

—Henry David Thoreau

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Grateful for the Moment

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"Be present in all things and thankful for all."

—Maya Angelou

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Grateful for Abundance

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"It's not too much food. This is what we've been training for our whole lives. This is our destiny, this is our finest hour."

—Lorelai Gilmore

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Grateful for the Lessons

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"Even in the trials of life, if we have eyes to see them, we can find good things everywhere we look."

—Joanna Gaines

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Grateful for the Meal

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"The turkey. The sweet potatoes. The stuffing. The pumpkin pie. Is there anything else we all can agree so vehemently about? I don't think so."

—Nora Ephron

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Grateful for Good Fortune

"Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some."

—Charles Dickens

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Grateful for Gratitude

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"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more."

—Oprah Winfrey

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Grateful for Each Day

"Give thanks not just on Thanksgiving Day, but every day of your life. Appreciate and never take for granted all that you have."

—Catherine Pulsifer

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Grateful for People

"We must find the time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives."

—John F. Kennedy

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Grateful for Joy

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"Thankfulness is the quickest path to joy."

—Jefferson Bethke

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Grateful for Little Things

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"Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year because it reminds us to give thanks and to count our blessings. Suddenly, so many things become so little when we realize how blessed and lucky we are."

—Joyce Giraud

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