50 Gratitude Brene Brown Quotes That Will Inspire You

The first time I read Brené Brown’s The Gifts of Imperfection, I was completely floored by just how much it seemed to speak directly to me. Throughout most of my life I have struggled with a low level of self-acceptance, and Brené Brown’s work has always been just what my heart needs to hear.

As a leading research professor on shame and vulnerability, there are plenty of gratitude Brené Brown quotes that you can use to inspire you to develop an attitude of gratitude!

Being thankful and accepting of the person that I am is a lesson that I would not have learned without the wise words of Brené Brown. I am excited to share my collection of 50 gratitude Brené Brown quotes to inspire you to be and love your true self – imperfections and all!

50 Gratitude Brene Brown Quotes

I have always found Brené Brown to be one of the most quotable authors. Her words are spoken from her whole heart and truly help each reader feel inspired to live the fullness of life. Because of this, The Gifts of Imperfection easily made our list of the 20 best books for finding your purpose.

Let’s dig into these 50 inspirational quotes from Brené Brown so that you can develop an attitude of gratitude and start loving yourself for who you truly are!

“There will be times when standing alone feels too hard, too scary, and we’ll doubt our ability to make our way through the uncertainty. Someone, somewhere, will say, ‘Don’t do it. You don’t have what it takes to survive the wilderness.’ This is when you reach deep into your wild heart and remind yourself, ‘I am the wilderness.’”
“Nothing has transformed my life more than realizing that it’s a waste of time to evaluate my worthiness by weighing the reaction of the people in the stands.”
“Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.”
“Let go of who you think you’re supposed to be; embrace who you are.”
“What separates privilege from entitlement is gratitude.”
“Imperfections are not inadequacies; they are reminders that we’re all in this together.”
“Social media has given us this idea that we should all have a posse of friends when in reality, if we have one or two really good friends, we are lucky.”
“Judging has become such a part of our thinking patterns that we are rarely even aware of why and how we do it. It takes a great deal of conscious thinking or mindfulness to even bring the habit of judging into our awareness.”
“A good life happens when you stop and are grateful for the ordinary moments that so many of us just steamroll over to try to find those extraordinary moments.”
“As unique as we all are, an awful lot of us want the same things. We want to shake up our current less-than-fulfilling lives. We want to be happier, more loving, forgiving and connected with the people around us.”
“We are complex beings who wake up every day and fight against being labeled and diminished with stereotypes and characterizations that don’t reflect our fullness. Yet when we don’t risk standing on our own and speaking out, when the options laid before us force us into the very categories we resist, we perpetuate our own disconnection and loneliness. When we are willing to risk venturing into the wilderness, and even becoming our own wilderness, we feel the deepest connection to our true self and to what matters the most.”
“The opposite of scarcity is not abundance; the opposite of scarcity is simply enough. Empathy is not finite, and compassion is not a pizza with eight slices. When you practice empathy and compassion with someone, there is not less of these qualities to go around. There’s more. Love is the last thing we need to ration in this world.”
“Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.”

“Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.” - Brené Brown

Brené Brown Quotes About Courage and Gratitude

Many of the best gratitude Brené Brown quotes about courage are quotes from Rising Strong. This book contains some of my favorite quotes about developing the courage to rise and tackle the challenges in whatever your current situation is, and to embrace the journey with a grateful heart.

You can read our Rising Strong summary to learn more about this inspiring book! In the meantime, let’s dig into these Brené Brown quotes about courage and gratitude!

“Faith is a place of mystery, where we find the courage to believe in what we cannot see and the strength to let go of our fear of uncertainty.”
“Courage is a heart word. The root of the word courage is cor—the Latin word for heart. In one of its earliest forms, the word courage meant ‘To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.’ Over time, this definition has changed, and today, we typically associate courage with heroic and brave deeds. But in my opinion, this definition fails to recognize the inner strength and level of commitment required for us to actually speak honestly and openly about who we are and about our experiences—good and bad. Speaking from our hearts is what I think of as ordinary courage.”
“Courage is contagious. A critical mass of brave leaders is the foundation of an intentionally courageous culture. Every time we are brave with our lives, we make the people around us a little braver and our organizations bolder and stronger.”
“The real questions for parents should be: “Are you engaged? Are you paying attention?” If so, plan to make lots of mistakes and bad decisions. Imperfect parenting moments turn into gifts as our children watch us try to figure out what went wrong and how we can do better next time. The mandate is not to be perfect and raise happy children. Perfection doesn’t exist, and I’ve found what makes children happy doesn’t always prepare them to be courageous, engaged adults.”
“I now see that owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do.”
“Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.”“Sometimes the bravest and most important thing you can do is just show up.”
“The only unique contribution that we will ever make in this world will be born of our creativity.”
“Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never weaknesses.”
“Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. Vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage.”
“True belonging is not something we negotiate or accomplish with others…It’s a personal commitment that we carry in our hearts.”

"True belonging is not something we negotiate or accomplish with others…It's a personal commitment that we carry in our hearts." - Brené Brown

Brené Brown Quotes About Joy and Gratitude

My absolute favorite Brené Brown book is the first one that I ever read – The Gifts of Imperfection. As a recovering perfectionist, the most powerful The Gifts of Imperfection quotes have completely transformed the way I see myself. If you struggle with perfection and a low level of self-acceptance, check out our Gifts of Imperfection summary!

“I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness – it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.”
“Healthy striving is self-focused: ‘How can I improve?’ Perfectionism is other-focused: ‘What will they think?’”
“Perfectionism is a self destructive and addictive belief system that fuels this primary thought: If I look perfect, and do everything perfectly, I can avoid or minimize the painful feelings of shame, judgment, and blame.
“The new cultural belief that everything should be fun, fast, and easy is inconsistent with hopeful thinking. It also sets us up for hopelessness. When we experience something that is difficult and requires significant time and effort, we are quick to think, This is supposed to be easy; it’s not worth the effort, or, This should be easier: it’s only hard and slow because I’m not good at it. Hopeful self-talk sounds more like, This is tough, but I can do it.”
“The dark does not destroy the light; it defines it. It’s our fear of the dark that casts our joy into the shadows.”
“When I let go of trying to be everything to everyone, I had much more time, attention, love, and connection for the important people in my life.”
“When we numb [hard feelings], we numb joy, we numb gratitude, we numb happiness.”
“Joy is not a constant. It comes to us in moments – often ordinary moments. Sometimes we miss out on the bursts of joy because we’re too busy chasing down the extraordinary moments. Other times we’re so afraid of the dark we don’t dare let ourselves enjoy the light. A joyful life is not a floodlight of joy. That would eventually become unbearable. I believe a joyful life is made up of joyful moments gracefully strung together by trust, gratitude and inspiration.”
“We’re a nation hungry for more joy: Because we’re starving from a lack of gratitude.”
“Never talk about gratitude and joy separately, for this reason. In 12 years, I’ve never interviewed a single person who would describe their lives as joyful, who would describe themselves as joyous, who was not actively practicing gratitude.”
“Mindfully practicing authenticity during our most soul-searching struggles is how we invite grace, joy and gratitude into our lives.”
“There is no joy without gratitude.”
“The only universal language I know of that wraps up joy and gratitude and love is laughter.”
“We hold the key to lasting happiness in our own hands. For it is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.”
“Understanding the difference between healthy striving and perfectionism is critical to laying down the shield and picking up your life. Research shows that perfectionism hampers success. In fact, it’s often the path to depression, anxiety, addiction, and life paralysis.”

Brené Brown Quotes About Vulnerability and Gratitude

Have you ever had the feeling of pure embarrassment after being vulnerable and stepping outside your comfort zone? Brené Brown calls this feeling a ‘vulnerability hangover’ when she explains how she felt after she delivered her viral TED talk The Power of Vulnerability to millions of viewers.

The quotes from Daring Greatly will all inspire you to lean into the discomfort of vulnerability and embrace it with a grateful heart. You can check out our Daring Greatly summary to learn more about this inspiring book!

my personal collection of Brené Brown books

“To love someone fiercely, to believe in something with your whole heart, to celebrate a fleeting moment in time, to fully engage in a life that doesn’t come with guarantees – these are risks that involve vulnerability and often pain. But, I’m learning that recognizing and leaning into the discomfort of vulnerability teaches us how to live with joy, gratitude and grace.”
“Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are.”
“Joy is vulnerable – that’s why we’re afraid to let ourselves feel it. Don’t squander joyful moments by waiting for the other shoe to drop. Lean in and practice gratitude.”
“What’s the greater risk? Letting go of what people think – or letting go of how I feel, what I believe, and who I am?”
“The truth is: Belonging starts with self-acceptance. Your level of belonging, in fact, can never be greater than your level of self-acceptance, because believing that you’re enough is what gives you the courage to be authentic, vulnerable and imperfect.”
“A lot of cheap seats in the arena are filled with people who never venture onto the floor. They just hurl mean-spirited criticisms and put-downs from a safe distance. The problem is, when we stop caring what people think and stop feeling hurt by cruelty, we lose our ability to connect. But when we’re defined by what people think, we lose the courage to be vulnerable. Therefore, we need to be selective about the feedback we let into our lives. For me, if you’re not in the arena also getting your ass kicked, I’m not interested in your feedback.”
“The difficult thing is that vulnerability is the first thing I look for in you and the last thing I’m willing to show you. In you, it’s courage and daring. In me, it’s weakness.”
“If we have a friend, or small group of friends, or family who embraces our imperfections, vulnerabilities, and power, and fills us with a sense of belonging, we are incredibly lucky.”
“Let ourselves be seen, deeply seen, vulnerably seen, to love with our whole hearts, even though there’s no guarantee… to practice gratitude and joy in those moments of terror, to be this vulnerable means that we’re alive.”
“Somehow we’ve come to equate success with not needing anyone. Many of us are willing to extend a helping hand, but we’re very reluctant to reach out for help when we need it ourselves. It’s as if we’ve divided the world into ‘those who offer help’ and ‘those who need help.’ The truth is that we are both.”
“We don’t have to do all of it alone. We were never meant to.”
“Vulnerability is not knowing victory or defeat, it’s understanding the necessity of both; it’s engaging. It’s being all in.”

“Vulnerability is not knowing victory or defeat, it’s understanding the necessity of both; it’s engaging. It’s being all in.” - Brené Brown

Using Gratitude Brené Brown Quotes

One of the most powerful things humans can do is express gratitude. The best quotes about gratitude can help us make sense of our past with the highest appreciation for its role in helping us become who we are meant to be today.

One of the best ways to use quotes is to choose your favorite gratitude Brené Brown quotes from this list and start using gratitude journals. This will help you maintain a sense of gratitude in all that you do. And if you need more inspiration, you might find the simple and little things on our list of gratitude ideas helpful!

It’s time to stop walking to the beat of everyone else’s drum! Embrace yourself for your imperfections and enjoy the feeling of expressing gratitude for all that you are and all that you get to be in this life.

Don’t forget to share this post with your friends and family on social media! If you know someone who could use this collection of gratitude Brené Brown quotes in their life, this post could be just what they need!