An aphorism is nothing else but the slightest
QUOTES AND APHORISMS ON APPRECIATION
Prosperity depends more on wanting what you have than having what you want.
Geoffrey F. Abert (American author, “After the Crash”)
A man should always consider... how much more unhappy he might be than he is.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719, British essayist, poet, statesman)
What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but, scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719, British essayist, poet, statesman)
Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow delightful conditions, all heavenly environment; of these if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built.
James Allen (1864-1912, British-born American essayist, author, "As A Man Thinketh")
The talent for being happy is appreciating and liking what you have, instead of what you don't have.
Woody Allen (1935-, American director, screenwriter, actor, comedian)
Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts.
Henri Frederic Amiel (1821-1881, Swiss philosopher, poet, critic)
Take full account of the excellencies which you possess, and in gratitude remember how you would hanker after them, if you had them not.
Marcus Aurelius (121-12180, Roman emperor, philosopher)
Long tresses down to the floor can be beautiful if you have that, but learn to love what you have.
Anita Baker (1958-, American singer, entertainer)
It is up to us to give ourselves recognition. If we wait for it to come from others, we feel resentful when it doesn't, and when it does, we may well reject it.
Bernard Berkowitz (American psychoanalyst, psychologist)
When you know you are doing your very best within the circumstances of your existence, applaud yourself!
Rusty Berkus
Whatever you do, make it an offering to me -- the food you eat, the sacrifices you make, the help you give, even your suffering.
Bhagavad Gita (c. BC 400-, Sanskrit poem incorporated into the Mahabharata)
To accept ourselves as we are means to value our imperfections as much as our perfections.
Sandra Bierig
What you really value is what you miss, not what you have.
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986, Argentinean author)
If you look at life one way, there is always cause for alarm.
Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973, Anglo-Irish novelist)
If there are two hundred people in a room and one of them doesn't like me, I've got to get out.
Marlon Brando (1924-, American actor, director)
There is a serious defect in the thinking of someone who wants -- more than anything else -- to become rich. As long as they don't have the money, it'll seem like a worthwhile goal. Once they do, they'll understand how important other things are -- and have always been.
Joseph Brooks
Cherish your human connections: your relationships with friends and family.
Barbara Bush (1925-, American First Lady, wife of George H. Bush)
I invented my life by taking for granted that everything I did not like would have an opposite, which I would like.
Coco Chanel (1883-1971, French couturier)
It matters very little whether a man is discontented in the name of pessimism or progress, if his discontent does in fact paralyze his power of appreciating what he has got.
Gilbert K. Chesterton (1874-1936, British author)
Being tall is an advantage, especially in business. People will always remember you. And if you're in a crowd, you'll always have some clean air to breathe.
Julia Child (1912-2004, American gourmet cook, author, and television personality)
No music is so pleasant to my ears as that word father.
Lydia M. Child (1802-1880, American abolitionist, writer, editor)
There are some people who leave impressions not so lasting as the imprint of an oar upon the water.
Kate Chopin (1851-1904, American author)
If human beings are perceived as potentials rather than problems, as possessing strengths instead of weaknesses, as unlimited rather that dull and unresponsive, then they thrive and grow to their capabilities.
Robert Conklin (American teacher, author, speaker)
A cheer, then, for the noblest breast That fears not danger's post; And like the lifeboat, proves a friend, When friends are wanted most.
Eliza Cook (1818-1889, British poet)
Appreciation can make a day -- even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.
Margaret Cousins
My importance to the world is relatively small. On the other hand, my importance to myself is tremendous. I am all I have to work with, to play with, to suffer and to enjoy. It is not the eyes of others that I am wary of, but of my own. I do not intend to let myself down more than I can possibly help, and I find that the fewer illusions I have about myself or the world around me, the better company I am for myself.
Noel Coward (1899-1973, British writer)
Thanksgiving is a sure index of spiritual health.
Maurice Dametz
Generally the man with a good wife, or the woman with a good husband, or the children with good parents discover too late the goodness they overlooked while it was in full bloom.
James Douglas
Can tear my heart in two -- moonlight on still pools -- you.
Dorothy Dow
I actually remember feeling delight, at two o'clock in the morning, when the baby woke for his feed, because I so longed to have another look at him.
Margaret Drabble (1939-, British novelist)
The human mind can bear plenty of reality, but not too much of intermittent gloom.
Margaret Drabble (1939-, British novelist)
He is a man of sense who does not grieve for what he has not, but rejoices in what he has.
Epictetus (50-138, Phrygian philosopher)
Better a little fire to warm us than a great one to burn us.
Thomas Fuller (1608-1661, British clergyman, author)
We are told that people stay in love because of chemistry, or because they remain intrigued with each other, because of many kindnesses, because of luck.... But part of it has got to be forgiveness and gratefulness.
Ellen Goodman
I thank Thee first because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse they did not take my life; third, because although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth because it was I who was robbed, and not I who robbed.
Matthew Henry
The summit of pleasure is the elimination of all that gives pain.
Epicurus (c.341-270 BC, Greek philosopher)
May we never let the things we can't have, or don't have, spoil our enjoyment of the things we do have and can have.
Richard L. Evans
Mankind, by the perverse depravity of their nature, esteem that which they have most desired as of no value the moment it is possessed, and torment themselves with fruitless wishes for that which is beyond their reach.
Francois de Salignac Fenelon (1651-1715, French writer)
Sometimes I found that in my happy moments I could not believe that I had ever been miserable.
Joanna Field
When I'm not thanked at all, I'm thanked enough, I've done my duty, and I've done no more.
Henry Fielding (1707-1754, British novelist, dramatist)
Teenagers travel in droves, packs, swarms.... To the librarian, they're a gaggle of geese. To the cook, they're a scourge of locusts. To department stores, they're a big beautiful exaltation of larks ... all lovely and loose and jingly.
Bernice Fitz-Gibbon
Most of us, swimming against the tides of trouble the world knows nothing about, need only a bit of praise or encouragement -- and we will make the goal.
Jerome P. Fleishman
A word of appreciation often can accomplish what nothing else could accomplish.
B.C. Forbes
It is not customary to love what one has.
Anatole France (1844-1924, French writer)
Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.
Anne Frank (1929-1945, German Jewish refugee, diarist)
There is no banquet but some dislike something in it.
Thomas Fuller (1608-1661, British clergyman, author)
Long only for what you have.
Andre Gide (1869-1951, French author)
Welcome everything that comes to you, but do not long for anything else.
Andre Gide (1869-1951, French author)
Life, I fancy, would very often be insupportable, but for the luxury of self-compassion.
George Robert Gissing (1857-1903, British novelist, critic, essayist)
Cruelty is the only sin.
Ellen Glasgow (1874-1945, American novelist)
He who seeks for applause only from without has all his happiness in another's keeping.
Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774, Anglo-Irish author, poet, playwright)
A prudent man will think more important what fate has conceded to him, than what it has denied.
Baltasar Gracian (1601-1658, Spanish philosopher, writer)
Once we discover how to appreciate the timeless values in our daily experiences, we can enjoy the best things in life.
Harry Hepner
The half is greater than the whole.
Hesiod (8th century BC Greek poet)
Men always think that something they are going to get is better than what they have got.
John Oliver Hobbes
Is there some principal of nature which states that we never know the quality of what we have until it is gone?
Elbert Hofstadter
Parents, however old they and we may grow to be, serve among other things to shield us from a sense of our doom. As long as they are around, we can avoid the fact of our mortality; we can still be innocent children.
Jane Howard
I would rather be able to appreciate things I can not have than to have things I am not able to appreciate.
Elbert Hubbard (1859-1915, American author, publisher)
Luckily, I never feel at one time more than half my pains.
Joseph Joubert (1754-1824, French moralist)
Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so.
Mary Jean Iron
If you give appreciation to people, you win their goodwill. But more important than that, practicing this philosophy has made a different person of me.
William James (1842-1910, American psychologist, professor, author)
Think of the ills from which you are exempt.
Joseph Joubert (1754-1824, French moralist)
Happiness is composed of misfortunes avoided.
Alphonse Karr
Life isn't a matter of milestones, but of moments.
Rose F. Kennedy
Better to suffer than to die.
Jean De La Fontaine (1621-1695, French poet)
To love one that is great is almost to be great one's self.
Madame Neckar
I am somebody. I am me. I like being me. And I need nobody to make me somebody.
Louis L'Amour (1908-1988, American Western author)
The greatest saint in the world is not he who prays most or fasts most; it is not he who gives alms, or is most eminent for temperance, chastity or justice. It is he who is most thankful to God.
William Law (American merchant)
The end of pain we take as happiness.
Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837, Italian poet, scholar)
You can be happy indeed if you have breathing space from pain.
Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837, Italian poet, scholar)
The loneliness you get by the sea is personal and alive. It doesn't subdue you and make you feel abject. It's stimulating loneliness.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906-2001, American author)
If we get everything that we want, we will soon want nothing that we get.
Vernon Luchies
Count your blessings. Once you realize how valuable you are and how much you have going for you, the smiles will return, the sun will break out, the music will play, and you will finally be able to move forward with the life that God intended for you with
Og Mandino (1923-1996, American motivational author, speaker) Author's website: www.ogmandino.com
I will smile at friend and foe alike and make every effort to find, in him or her, a quality to praise, now that I realize that the deepest yearning of human nature is the craving to be appreciated.
Og Mandino (1923-1996, American motivational author, speaker) Author's website: www.ogmandino.com
Is there no end to this escalation of desire?
Marya Mannes (1904-1990, American writer)
While you fear missing a meal, you aren't fully aware of the meals you do eat.
Dan Millman
Not what we have, but what we use, not what we see, but what we choose -- these are the things that mar or bless human happiness.
Joseph Fort Newton
Either you reach a higher point today, or you exercise your strength in order to be able to climb higher tomorrow.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, German philosopher)
To be of value, expressions of appreciation must be continually renewed.
Sberee Parris Nudd
Add not fire to fire.
Greek Proverb (Sayings of Greek origin)
Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.
W.T. Purkiser
We inhabit ourselves without valuing ourselves, unable to see that here, now, this very moment is sacred; but once it's gone -- its value is incontestable.
Joyce Carol Oates (1938-, American author)
An easygoing husband is the one indispensable comfort of life.
Ouida (1838-1908, British writer)
Few love what they may have.
Ovid (BC 43-18 AD, Roman poet)
Happy the man who can count his sufferings.
Ovid (BC 43-18 AD, Roman poet)
That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly.
Thomas Paine (1737-1809, Anglo-American political theorist, writer)
One appreciates that daily life is really good when one wakes from a horrible dream, or when one takes the first outing after a sickness. Why not realize it now?
William Lyon Phelps
I seek the utmost pleasure and the least pain.
Titus Maccius Plautus (BC 254-184, Roman comic poet)
If you are going to think black, think positive about it. Don't think down on it, or think it is something in your way. And this way, when you really do want to stretch out and express how beautiful black is, everybody will hear you.
Leontyne Price (1927, American opera singer)
Who I am is the best I can be.
Leontyne Price (1927, American opera singer)
A mother's arms are more comforting than anyone else's.
Princess Diana (1961-1997, British Princess)
Only with a new ruler do you realize the value of the old.
Burmese Proverb
You never miss the water till the well runs dry.
English Proverb (Sayings of British origin)
Lo does not thank for little will thank for much.
Estonian Proverb
The tulip is, among flowers, what the peacock is among birds. A tulip lacks scent, a peacock has an unpleasant voice. The one takes pride in its garb, the other in its tail.
French Proverb (Sayings of French origin)
Hay is more acceptable to an ass than gold.
Latin Proverb (Sayings of Latin origin)
We are content to forgo joy when pain is also lost.
Latin Proverb (Sayings of Latin origin)
If there's no bread, cakes are very good.
Spanish Proverb (Sayings of Spanish origin)
Take hold of a good minute.
Spanish Proverb (Sayings of Spanish origin)
There's a basic human weakness inherent in all people which tempts them to want what they can't have and not want what is readily available to them.
Robert J. Ringer (American writer)
Considering the fortune you might have lost, you'll have to admit you're rich already.
John Rothchild
The happiest is he who suffers the least pain; the most miserable, he who enjoys the least pleasure.
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778, Swiss political philosopher, educationist, essayist)
The happiness which is lacking makes one think even the happiness one has unbearable.
Joseph Roux (1834-1905, French priest, writer)
One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life comes from being happy over the good fortune of others.
Archibald Rutledge
The superiority of the distant over the present is only due to the mass and variety of the pleasures that can be suggested, compared with the poverty of those that can at any time be felt.
George Santayana (1863-1952, American philosopher, poet)
Be grateful for yourself... be thankful.
William Saroyan (1908-1981, American writer, novelist, playwright)
Ignorant men don't know what good they hold in their hands until they've flung it away.
Sophocles (495-406 BC, Greek tragic poet)
The happiness of any given life is to be measured not by its joys and pleasures, but by the extent to which it has been free from suffering, from positive evil.
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860, German philosopher)
Let us learn to appreciate there will be times when the trees will be bare, and look forward to the time when we may pick the fruit.
Peter Seller (1939-, British actor)
A man can refrain from wanting what he has not, and cheerfully make the best of a bird in the hand.
Marcus Annaeus Seneca (BC 3-65 AD, Roman philosopher, dramatist, statesman)
It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.
Marcus Annaeus Seneca (BC 3-65 AD, Roman philosopher, dramatist, statesman)
Happy thou art not; for what thou hast not, still thou striv'est to get; and what thou hast, forget'est.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616, British poet, playwright, actor)
Let never day nor night unhallowed pass, but still remember what the Lord hath done.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616, British poet, playwright, actor)
Life has, indeed, many ills, but the mind that views every object in its most cheering aspect, and every doubtful dispensation as replete with latent good, bears within itself a powerful and perpetual antidote.
Lydia H. Sigourney
Like when I'm in the bathroom looking at my toilet paper, I'm like 'Wow! That's toilet paper?' I don't know if we appreciate how much we have.
Alicia Silverstone (1976-, American actress, producer)
The best things in life are appreciated most after they have been lost.
Roy L. Smith (American clergyman)
I have gout, asthma, and seven other maladies, but am otherwise very well.
Sydney Smith (1771-1845, British writer, clergyman)
Some folks never exaggerate -- they just remember big.
Audrey Snead
Greediness of getting more, deprives... the enjoyment of what it had got.
Thomas Sprat
No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.
St. Ambrose (340-397, Bishop of Milan)
We are so often caught up in our destination that we forget to appreciate the journey, especially the goodness of the people we meet on the way. Appreciation is a wonderful feeling, don't overlook it.
Author Unknown
Believing in our hearts that who we are is enough is the key to a more satisfying and balanced life.
Ellen Sue Stern
Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone.
Gladys Browyn Stern
I expect some new phases of life this summer, and shall try to get the honey from each moment.
Lucy Stone
No man can be satisfied with his attainment, although he may be satisfied with his circumstances.
Frank Swinnerton
So long as we can lose any happiness, we possess some.
Booth Tarkington (1869-1946, American writer)
Appreciate life instead of resisting it.
Judy Tatelbaum
I remember those happy days and often wish I could speak into the ears of the dead the gratitude which was due to them in life and so ill-returned.
Gwynn Thomas
A wise man cares not for what he cannot have.
Author Unknown
If you can't appreciate what you have got then get what you appreciate.
Author Unknown
It should not discourage us if our kindness is unacknowledged; it has its influence still.
Author Unknown
No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.
Author Unknown
Spirituality is... the awareness that survival is the savage fight between you and yourself.
Author Unknown
The greatest need of every human being is the need for appreciation.
Author Unknown
Appreciation is a wonderful thing; it makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.
Francois-Marie Arouet de Voltaire (1694-1778, French historian, writer)
By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property.
Francois-Marie Arouet de Voltaire (1694-1778, French historian, writer)
There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.
Author Unknown
There's no doubt about it, appreciation in any form at any time brightens anyone's existence. And, like a beam of sunlight striking a mirror, the brightness is reflected back at you.
Author Unknown
Appreciation of life itself, becoming suddenly aware of the miracle of being alive, on this planet, can turn what we call ordinary life into a miracle. We come awake to such a realization when we recognize our connection to a spiritual dimension.
Dan Wakefield
God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "thank you"?
William A. Ward
No matter how lonely you get or how many birth announcements you receive, the trick is not to get frightened. There's nothing wrong with being alone.
Wendy Wasserstein
I was always willing to take a great deal of the burden of getting along in life on my own shoulders, but I wasn't willing to give myself a pat on the back. I was always looking to somebody else to give me that.... That was all wrong.
Raquel Welch (1940-, American actress)
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
My father got me strong and straight and slim And I give thanks to him. My mother bore me glad and sound and sweet, I kiss her feet.
Marguerite Wilkinson
The saddest day hath gleams of light; The darkest wave hath bright foam beneath it; The twinkles o'er the cloudiest night; Some solitary star to cheer it.
Sarah Winnemucca
You can enjoy encouragement coming from outside, but you cannot need for it to come from outside.
Vladimir Zworykin
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