Thanksgiving Quotes
This page is not a collection of Thanksgiving writing. It is made from three others, gratitude, family and happiness, and sorted by quality. A handful of entries mention the holiday itself, from writers as different as Harriet Beecher Stowe, the poet John Keble, Will Carleton, Patton Oswalt and Ted Nugent.
Most of what you will see is general, and it makes good table talk, with more sentiment than usual and less irony. Glance at the flag and the source before you print one on a place card.
Most quoted on thanksgiving:
Alluring pleasure is said to have softened the savage dispositions (of early mankind).
Before he is dead and buried no one ought to be called happy.
The loss of wealth is loss of dirt,
As sages in all times assert;
The happy man's without a shirt.
We all need joy, and we can all receive joy in only one way, by adding to the joy of others.
The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance;
The wise grows it under his feet.
All happy families resemble one another; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
The gratitude of most men is but a secret desire of receiving greater benefits.
Happiness lies in the fulfillment of the spirit through the body.
The rays of happiness, like those of light, are colorless when unbroken.
Happiness is a battle to be waged and not a feeling to be awaited.
But, O, how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes!
Happiness is a wine of the rarest vintage, and seems insipid to vulgar taste.