Welcome to Take For Granted Quotes, a curated collection of insights and reflections on the phenomenon of taking things for granted. In our fast-paced lives, it’s easy to overlook the blessings, opportunities, and relationships that surround us daily. Whether it’s the roof over our heads, the support of loved ones, or the simple joys of existence, this tendency to overlook the value of what we have can lead to complacency and a lack of appreciation.
This page serves as a gentle reminder to pause, reflect, and acknowledge the abundance in our lives, both big and small. Through the words of philosophers, writers, and thinkers throughout history, we explore the profound impact of gratitude and mindfulness in combating the tendency to take things for granted. From ancient wisdom to modern insights, these quotes offer wisdom and inspiration to cultivate a mindset of gratitude and appreciation for the richness of our experiences. Remember, in the words of Marcel Proust, Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. Below, you’ll find a treasure trove of quotes on this very topic, ready to be embraced, shared, and cherished.
I’ve been talking to a lot of young people, especially here in America. I let them know that the people who they’re competing with for opportunities live all over the place. They’re probably not in your city, state, or country; they are hungry, and they are grinding! Some of the things that a lot of us take for granted, these people don’t. Chris Gardner
Everybody gets everything handed to them. The rich inherit it. I don’t mean just inheritance of money. I mean what people take for granted among the middle and upper classes, which is nepotism, the old-boy network. Toni Morrison
I think I’ve begun to take for granted how easily information can swirl around me. Sean Astin
The more often we see the things around us – even the beautiful and wonderful things – the more they become invisible to us. That is why we often take for granted the beauty of this world: the flowers, the trees, the birds, the clouds – even those we love. Because we see things so often, we see them less and less. Joseph B. Wirthlin
I have always had this view about the modern education system: we pay attention to brain development, but the development of warmheartedness we take for granted. Dalai Lama
We have to remind ourselves that what we take for granted now is hard-won. Morten Tyldum
I’m a lucky guy. I don’t take for granted, for one minute, what I do. Richie Sambora
It’s not a bad idea to occasionally spend a little time thinking about things you take for granted. Plain everyday things. Evan Davis
Often the magical elements in my books are standing in for elements of the real world, the small and magical-in-their-own-right sorts of things that we take for granted and no longer pay attention to, like the bonds of friendship that entwine our own lives with those of other people and places. Charles de Lint
I take pride in a lot of things people take for granted, so when opportunities come my way, I just cherish them and try to make the most of them. Eric Berry
The 20th century shows that the form of government that we take for granted, a constitutional democratic republic with checks and balances and a rule of law – that form of government is usually temporary. Timothy D. Snyder
As is the case with many Middle Eastern nations, women are nowhere near equal to men when it comes to basic freedoms and rights that we take for granted every day. Ginny Brown-Waite
The most interesting lessons often lie in the mundane – those aspects of everyday life that locals take for granted and tourists tend to overlook. Esther Dyson
Can you imagine being Leonardo Da Vinci in the 1400s trying to describe his ideas for machines that would allow humans to fly to the average person of his time? This is hundreds of years before the invention of electricity, the internal combustion engine, and many other things we take for granted today. Fabrizio Moreira
I think we really feel like Crowdrise could be something that, 20 years from now, people take for granted because that’s just how you do it, like if you’re going to raise money for something, that’s how you do it. Edward Norton
Standing center stage in the six foot circle of wood cut from the stage of the Ryman is something I never take for granted. The history and legacy of that circle is awe-inspiring. Blake Shelton
I don’t take for granted all the blessings that I have, and as soon as I heard about Computers for Youth, I really wanted to be involved. Anyone who knows me knows how much time I spend on computers. I’m a computer addict. Every young person deserves to have a computer in his or her home. Bow Wow
Every three seconds in the developing world, a child dies needlessly due to lack of basic health care and other things we all take for granted. Claire Danes
Nick Cardy’s work helped define some of the things we see in comics today and take for granted. He broke out of the mold in terms of covers and layout and created a truly interactive experience for the reader that directly points back to his time with the Eisner studio. Jim Lee
Life as an astronaut in space is a very interesting one. There are things we all take for granted here on earth, like gravity, that can make things a bit challenging. One of the fun things about getting here is the zero gravity and floating around. But it also makes things very difficult. Kevin A. Ford
That’s one thing you Americans take for granted, you know? That you can grow up, you know, not so good circumstances, and you can move. Just because you are born in rural Arkansas, whatever, that doesn’t define who you are. Ory Okolloh
You never can take for granted that you have a job. Benjamin Walker
Looking at America’s history, ordinary people did something extraordinary. Leaders risked their lives for freedoms that we take for granted today. That’s what instills confidence. That’s us. We will move forward and prosper because that’s who we are as Americans. Scott Walker
At least in the West, politicians, corporations and media moguls can no longer take for granted their power to control the public discourse – and have it go unchallenged. David Puttnam
The modern labor movement that began around the mid-19th century has given us many of the basic working rights that we now take for granted. Mike Quigley
To be able to wake up every day and live out your dream is such a blessing that I will never take for granted. Kendra Scott
Today, as we look back on the history of our nation and take note of how far we have come as a people, we are reminded that we owe a great debt to those who fought valiantly for the freedoms that we easily take for granted. Sam Brownback
Awareness requires a rupture with the world we take for granted; then old categories of experience are called into question and revised. Shoshana Zuboff
The Sixties are most generously described as a time when people took part – when they stepped out of themselves and acted in public, as people who didn’t know what would happen next, but who were sure that acts of true risk and fear would produce something different from what they had been raised to take for granted. Greil Marcus
Whenever I get frustrated, I tell myself, you could be working at a 7-Eleven right now, so never take for granted what you do for a living. Shannen Doherty
Youth is something I never wanna take for granted. I just want to smile and live life. Tyler, The Creator
Having children made us look differently at all these things that we take for granted, like taking your child to get a vaccine against measles or polio. Melinda Gates
There are certain things that we take for granted that simply would not have existed without the great migration. Motown, for example, would not have existed – it simply would not, because Berry Gordy, the founder of it, his parents had migrated from Georgia to Detroit where he founded Motown, and where did he get his talent? Isabel Wilkerson
When God gives you a second chance, it’s not something you take for granted. Lane Kiffin
I do take for granted, probably, the fact that I grew up in New York City, one of the most liberal places on earth, with bleeding-heart, liberal parents who took me to see ‘Rent’ and Terrence McNally plays from a very young age. Billy Eichner
I think people take for granted the success of the original content at A&E Networks and in building brands. People have selective memory on how long that takes. Nancy Dubuc
Earth as an ecosystem stands out in the all of the universe. There’s no place that we know about that can support life as we know it, not even our sister planet, Mars, where we might set up housekeeping someday, but at great effort and trouble we have to recreate the things we take for granted here. Sylvia Earle
Life holds one great but quite commonplace mystery. Though shared by each of us and known to all, seldom rates a second thought. That mystery, which most of us take for granted and never think twice about, is time. Michael Ende
I’m blessed to be able to work at something that I’m good at, and that I love. It’s not something I take for granted. Emmylou Harris
Few states, they have the international borders, state borders; in India, there is so much diversity in system. Unity in diversity is our system, so therefore, you cannot take for granted, whatever you do. Mamata Banerjee
Because it’s free, easy to use, and high-quality, photography is now a fixture in our daily lives – something we take for granted. Peter Diamandis
Don’t take for granted that the worthiness of your cause will win you allies; bring it down to a scale that people can relate to. Samantha Power
The thing we often forget to talk about, or perhaps we take for granted, is our country’s dazzling beauty. Our natural environment is so much a part of Australia’s art, writing, music and culture, both indigenous and non indigenous. Quentin Bryce
What most experimenters take for granted before they begin their experiments is infinitely more interesting than any results to which their experiments lead. Norbert Wiener
I think we take for granted police officers and detectives that walk into some pretty heinous situations, and they really have to be very brave. So I love playing a character that’s very brave – someone that kind of dives in the fire to figure out what’s happened. George Eads
For example, for me, my brother helped me get a manager, which I don’t take for granted. It’s tough getting a manager, let alone one that actually cares about you and is smart. But from there, no one’s going to cast me just because I’m James Franco’s little brother. Dave Franco
Everything has been done. It’s not possible to create something completely new, something that has never been seen before. It’s only possible to make new combinations, establish new connections between things we usually take for granted. Marcel Wanders
I never take for granted how lucky I am to be an American and what a privilege it is to spend each day at a nonprofit dedicated to helping the next generation of girls achieve their dreams. My journey, as the daughter of refugees, shows what refugees and the children of refugees can create for all Americans. Reshma Saujani
That’s an interesting question. I would say that in general Americans know very little about the law. It’s one of those things that most of us take for granted. Christopher Darden
You take for granted that you can walk. You do it every day, and then suddenly you can’t walk, and you have to remember, ‘How did I get out of this chair and start walking in the first place?’ Bradley Wiggins
Sometimes we spend more efforts with people that are strangers in terms of making an impression than the person that’s closest to us. And you just gotta remember not to take for granted that person that’s closest to you. Michael Douglas
I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters – two beautiful, intelligent black young women – playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters, and all our sons and daughters, now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States. Michelle Obama
The absence of state capacity – that is, of the services and protections that people in rich countries take for granted – is one of the major causes of poverty and deprivation around the world. Angus Deaton
When it comes to fighting for citizenship that many people take for granted, there isn’t anyone I would not talk to. When it comes to immigration, there isn’t any question I will not answer. Jose Antonio Vargas
There’s so much rich interaction with drivers that we take for granted. It seems like a mundane thing, but it turns out to be a really big deal. Karl Iagnemma
Clean water and access to food are some of the simplest things that we can take for granted each and every day. In places like Africa, these can be some of the hardest resources to attain if you live in a rural area. Marcus Samuelsson
Animals in general have always been my passion, project, crusade – whatever you want to call it! The ocean is such a huge, beautiful thing that I feel like we all take for granted. Aimee Teegarden
Just think in terms of green energy and how much time, money, brain power and policy action has started to pour into green energy, and I think that’s wonderful. We’re going to need that same kind of effort towards global gridlock if we’re going to keep the individual mobility that we all take for granted today. William Clay Ford, Jr.
Americans, like many citizens of rich countries, take for granted the legal and regulatory system, the public schools, health care and social security for the elderly, roads, defense and diplomacy, and heavy investments by the state in research, particularly in medicine. Angus Deaton
We take for granted how our mind puts everything together. Robert Lanza
I would not take for granted that my personal life – because I knew better than anybody – that it was just a life. It was surprisingly an ordinary life. Jane Pauley
You can take for granted that people know more or less what a street, a shop, a beach, a sky, an oak tree look like. Tell them what makes this one different. Neil Gaiman
I was working in email in the early days in the late ’80s, and people weren’t using electronic communications at all in the way we take for granted today. Suzan DelBene
Being polite, being respectful, having manners, and being a socialite – they’re key life skills that people take for granted. Being able to communicate with all people on all levels is what’s got me so far. Ant Middleton
There are too many countries where the values we take for granted in our civil servants simply do not exist. Seeing these values in action, applied with dedication by hardworking individuals, makes me proud to lead a service that is making life better for millions across Britain. Gus O’Donnell
Freedom does not come without a price. We may sometimes take for granted the many liberties we enjoy in America, but they have all been earned through the ultimate sacrifice paid by so many of the members of our armed forces. Charlie Dent
Being a mom is something that I never take for granted. Kyle Richards
The Indians, they don’t fully understand that a lot of the things that they currently take for granted on those lands, they won’t be able to do if it’s made clearly into a monument or a wilderness. Once you put a monument there, you do restrict a lot of things that could be done, and that includes use of the land… Just take my word for it. Orrin Hatch
And I highly recommend for all the women in the world, even if they’re 71, you can never take for granted that he loves you. It’s always good to flirt with him. It’s a great sport. Salma Hayek
Life is a precious gift – a gift we often take for granted until it is threatened. Lecrae
My black hero is and always will be Martin Luther King, not just because of the strength of his oratory but because his vision was very much the reality that I’d come to take for granted. David Harewood
Including women in climate policy and solutions can enhance the results, leading to more economic growth and sustainable outcomes. However, we cannot take for granted that gender equality and women’s empowerment in the field of climate change and sustainable development will happen automatically. Patricia Espinosa
We all think there’s greener things on the other side. We all take for granted what we have. I don’t care who we are. Tom Izzo
Let us not forget that the European Community started as a project for peace after the terrible Second World War. And today people take for granted the freedom to travel, to study, to work abroad. And the citizens of one country have almost exactly the same rights as another country. Jose Manuel Barroso
It was the labor movement that helped secure so much of what we take for granted today. The 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, family leave, health insurance, Social Security, Medicare, retirement plans. The cornerstones of the middle-class security all bear the union label. Barack Obama
The 1890s was a decade when life began to change in urban America. Modern conveniences that we now take for granted came into use; women’s roles became less restrictive; and San Francisco, a port city with influences from all over the world, was a lively place in which to reside. Marcia Muller
Labor should not be about creating monuments on hills or statues in parks. Labor’s monuments and statues are when a young person can find a job, when a person with disability can get access to the ordinary life that others take for granted. Bill Shorten
Creativity is an energy. It’s a precious energy, and it’s something to be protected. A lot of people take for granted that they’re a creative person, but I know from experience, feeling it in myself, it is a magic; it is an energy. And it can’t be taken for granted. Ava DuVernay
I feel really privileged that I’ve been able to be an activist and a musician for over 20 years now, and I’ve always been able to say whatever I want. I think that’s something we Americans really take for granted, but it’s a big deal, and it’s not something most people in the world are able to do. Corin Tucker
Communication is something we all take for granted. Miriam Margolyes
Today, many people take for granted the notion that people whose lives are going to be very heavily affected by public policies should have a say in how they are formulated and carried out. Barney Frank
We take for granted electricity, water, even concerts. Count your blessings. Damian Marley
I never had a huge circle of friends, so I really just tried to cherish and not take for granted the close friends I did have, who were really supportive and understanding. Lili Reinhart
In 2004, the iPod was a novelty, and tablet computers were a dream. Now we take for granted that we can see whatever we want whenever and wherever we want to see it, be it ‘Grand Illusion’ or ‘Duck Dynasty.’ Terry Teachout
The freedom to express yourself without fear – that perhaps is something we in the U.S. take for granted. It’s almost inconceivable to think we would be afraid to express our opinions or thoughts, but that’s not true for all parts of the world now, and certainly not before World War II. Friedrich St. Florian
How quickly we forget God’s great deliverances in our lives. How easily we take for granted the miracles he performed in our past. David Wilkerson
If you go back a few hundred years, what we take for granted today would seem like magic – being able to talk to people over long distances, to transmit images, flying, accessing vast amounts of data like an oracle. These are all things that would have been considered magic a few hundred years ago. Elon Musk
Clean water is such a treasure that we take for granted in America. Hannah Teter
I think one of the things that people take for granted when they watch a film is the actors have to exhibit an extraordinary amount of force to block out the stuff that isn’t a part of their reality. And when the audience sees it, they’re seeing everything the actor isn’t seeing. Billy Crudup
If you just casually look at a baby, it doesn’t look like there’s very much going on there, but they know more and learn more than we would ever have thought. Every single minute is incredibly full of thought and novelty. It’s easy as adults to take for granted everything it took to arrive at the state where we are. Alison Gopnik
Through space-based climate studies, my colleagues and I have learned that a stable and comfortable climate is not something to take for granted. David Grinspoon
I had been raised in the mountains of Idaho by a father who distrusted many of the institutions that people take for granted – public education, doctors and hospitals, and the government. Tara Westover
As hitters, I think we take for granted at times how good our hands are and just how much the value of truly getting the barrel to the ball is. We don’t have to do as much as we think we have to. Vernon Wells
I think we have gotten to a point as Americans, unfortunately, where we take for granted the magic that life brings and that life is really special and every life matters. We tend to go through life but not take the moment to step back and remember you are here, right now, for a very finite amount of time. Irvin Mayfield
I think being a writer is being heavily attuned to the absolute absurdity of things you take for granted, and I think that having actual parents who lived through the Cultural Revolution who are also interested in literature, they’re also very attuned to those moments. Jenny Zhang
As a modern woman, there are things I take for granted, and that shows up in the way I sit, the way I walk, the way I think, and what I know to be possible. Lorraine Toussaint
My job is to not take for granted when somebody says, ‘Oh, this is all just a made-up, phony scandal,’ or, ‘What this person did put the U.S. government at risk.’ Jake Tapper
We often take for granted that our lights will come on when we flip the light switch, but the reality is that our reliability standards and the current state of the transmission grid leave us all vulnerable to blackouts. Richard Burr
Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted… but to weigh and consider. Francis Bacon
‘Reality’ is a notion that journalists take for granted. Andrew O’Hagan
