Duc de la Rochefoucauld - William Shakespeare - Aesop - Henry Ward Beecher - Joseph Stalin - John Milton - G K Chesterton - Friedrich Nietzsche - Ralph Waldo Emerson - Seneca - Fydor Dostoyevsky - Robert Tressell - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
In most of mankind gratitude is merely a secret hope for greater favours. Duc de la Rochefoucauld, Maximes, 1678
Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted fiend,
More hideous when thou show’st thee in a child
Than the sea-monster. William Shakespeare, The History of King Lear I iv 254-256, Lear
Ingratitude is monstrous. William Shakespeare, Coriolanus II iii 9, Third Citizen
Gratitude is the sign of noble souls. Aesop
Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul. Henry Ward Beecher
Gratitude is a sickness suffered by dogs. Joseph Stalin
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
When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude. Gilbert K Chesterton
There are slavish souls who carry their appreciation for favours done them so far that they strangle themselves with the rope of gratitude. Friedrich Nietzsche
Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others. Cicero
Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. Marcel Proust
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. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Nothing is more honourable than a grateful heart. Seneca
Gentlemen, let us suppose that man is not stupid. (Indeed one cannot refuse to suppose that, if only from the one consideration, that, if man is stupid, then who is wise?) But if he is not stupid, he is monstrously ungrateful! Phenomenally ungrateful. In fact, I believe that the best definition of man is the ungrateful biped. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground
The majority work hard and live in poverty in order that the minority may live in luxury without working at all, and as the majority are mostly fools, they not only agree to pass their lives in incessant slavery and want, in order to pay this rent to those who own the country, but they say it is quite right that they should have to do so, and are very grateful to the little minority for allowing them to remain in the country at all. Robert Tressell, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist
Ah! vainest of all things
Is the gratitude of kings. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Belisarius