Most directed duties have a close connection with the standing to demand: generally, if I owe it to you to φ, you have the standing to demand that I φ. Duties of gratitude, however, do not accord with this general rule. Benefactors do not have the standing to demand that beneficiaries express gratitude, even when gratitude is owed. In this paper, I argue that previous attempts to explain this fact about duties of gratitude fail, and provide a novel explanation for why benefactors lack the standing to demand gratitude from beneficiaries. In particular, I argue that beneficiaries cannot comply with demands for gratitude, since an action’s being partially motivated by a demand precludes it from counting as expressing gratitude.