The essence of all beautiful art…

Posted on by ben Alexander

Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.

–Lionel Hampton (1908 – 2002)

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 (1917 – 1963)

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.

–Denis Waitley (b. 1933)

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.

–Melody Beattie (b. 1948)

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.

–Cicero (106 – 43 BCE)

For me, every hour is grace. And I feel gratitude in my heart each time I can meet someone and look at his or her smile.

–Elie Wiesel (1928 – 2016)

The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.

–Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 – 1900)

The debt of gratitude we owe our mother and father goes forward, not backward. What we owe our parents is the bill presented to us by our children.

–Nancy Friday (1933 – 2017)

At the age of 18, I made up my mind to never have another bad day in my life. I dove into a endless sea of gratitude from which I’ve never emerged.

–Patch Adams (b. 1945)

Let us swell with gratitude and allow it to overwhelm us. It isn’t as cliché as we make it; life is truly short. Let’s spend it all lavishly wallowing in gratitude.

–Grace Gealey (b.1984)

29 thoughts on “The essence of all beautiful art…”

  5. Today is one of gratitude. And many are able to achieve gratitude for this single day. I know that gratitude must become a habit but like any habit is able to be made or broken…

  9. Outside time
    Nabokov thrills in
    gratitude

    “I confess I do not believe in time. I like to fold my magic carpet, after use, in such a way as to superimpose one part of the pattern upon another. Let visitors trip. And the highest enjoyment of timelessness? in a landscape selected at random? is when I stand among rare butterflies and their food plants. This is ecstasy, and behind the ecstasy is something else, which is hard to explain. It is like a momentary vacuum into which rushes all that I love. A sense of oneness with sun and stone. A thrill of gratitude to whom it may concern? to the contrapuntal genius of human fate or to tender ghosts humoring a lucky mortal.” Vladimir Nabokov

      2. P.S. In the spirit of your Thanksgiving post, David, I culled my quotes archive and found some that I think are up there with your selected gems in the crown of gratitude:
        “Gratitude is the sign of noble souls”–Aesop
        “The loving parts of your personality have no trouble loving. That is all they do. You experience the loving parts as gratitude, appreciation, caring, patience, contentment and awe of life”–Gary Zukav
        “Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world”–John Milton
        “Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy”–Jacques Maritain
        The Nabokov quote tops my list.

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