Mary Oliver Quotes

You've got to get out and pray to the sky to appreciate the sunshine; otherwise you're just a lizard standing there with the sun shining on you.

I turn to someone, I'm not sure, to God I think, but I never ask for anything. I would never pray to win a title; it makes no sense. I've never understood those who pray before a match. I simply give thanks for what I have received.

I don't want to sound like a Hallmark card, but to be able to wake up each day with food and shelter, that alone is good. Forget aging and the fact that my butt is becoming a little more familiar with my knees than my tailbone. If you are six feet above ground it's a good day. So, give me more!

Every day I wake up and I lay in bed counting my blessings and saying my prayers for how fortunate I am to have great fans and health and family.

A single grateful thought toward heaven is the most perfect prayer.

You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might also pray in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.

I pray every day. In the mornings and, before I go to bed. I think it's important to pray not just when things are going bad. When things are going bad, it's easy to pray and ask God to help you out, but it's also important to pray when things are going well and show your appreciation.

Contemplate the good things in your life and be grateful for them.

I have lived pain, and my life can tell: I only deepen the wound of the world when I neglect to give thanks the heavy perfume of wild roses in early July and the song of crickets on summer humid nights and the rivers that run and the stars that rise and the rain that falls and all the good things that a good God gives.

When I was a child, we never began a meal without prayer. We thanked God for the food, for each other.

When we were kids, we said the Pledge of Allegiance because we were proud of this country, and we said prayer. You know, we thanked the good Lord above.

Ein einziger dankbarer Gedanke gen Himmel ist das vollkommenste Gebet. One single grateful thought raised to heaven is the most perfect prayer.

Anything is a blessing which makes us pray.

Lift up your hearts to Him, sometimes even at your meals, and when you are in company; the least little remembrance will always be acceptable to Him. You need not cry very loud; He is nearer to us than we are aware.

I am constantly thankful. The world is so beautiful, I am thankful. I have endless energy, I am thankful. I am plugged into the source of Universal Supply, I am thankful. I am plugged into the source of Universal Truth, I am thankful. I have this constant feeling of thankfulness, which is a prayer.

You have need to pray to God, not only to help you in your troubles--but to help you in your blessings

Gratitude opens your heart, and opening your heart is a wonderful and easy way for God to slip in.

Gratitude opens the door to... the power, the wisdom, the creativity of the universe. You open the door through gratitude.

I pray to the birds. I pray to the birds because I believe they will carry the messages of my heart upward. I pray to them because I believe in their existence, the way their songs begin and end each day—the invocations and benedictions of Earth. I pray to the birds because they remind me of what I love rather than what I fear. And at the end of my prayers, they teach me how to listen.

Each year I become more mindful of being thankful for each life experience.

We all fail to appreciate each day just how much we already possess. Light, air, freedom, the companionship of friends.

When I go to bed, I ask God to give me one more day tomorrow. When I get it, I'm excited and grateful.

Would you sell both your eyes for a million dollars...or your two legs...or your hands...or your hearing? Add up what you do have, and you'll find you won't sell them for all the gold in the world. The best things in life are yours, if you can appreciate them.

Prayer is simply saying "thank you, bless you, praise you."

I am alone, I am all alone, I am completely alone. Grasping this reality, I let go of my bag, drop to my knees and press my forehead against the floor. There, I offer up to the universe a fervent prayer of thanks. First in English. Then in Italian. And then - just to get the point across - in Sanskrit.