Statistics

The only science that enables different experts using the same figures to draw different conclusions.
- Evan Esar

Solution for Contention - Scriptures

I learned something from S. Dilworth Young that I should have known before. I reported that in a stake I found contention. I really didn't known how to handle it. Brother Young said, "The way you handle that is to read the scriptures." Then he said, "If in a Sunday School class there is a problem and they are debating over an issue, have them read the scriptures."

I said, "What scriptures?"

He said, "It doesn't matter. It really doesn't. Just have them read the scriptures."

There is great, consoling medication in the scriptures.

NEW MISSION PRESIDENTS' SEMINAR—1999

Missionaries and Doctrine
President Boyd K. Packer
Tuesday, 22 June 1999

Doctrine, Principles, Applications

"As you teach appropriate doctrine and help explain how the Lord communicates through the Spirit, your students will experience being led by the Spirit. They will learn principles upon which such communication is based. As they apply these principles, they will make correct choices." (Richard G. Scott)

Education

What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books.
- Thomas Carlyle

Who Won the Battle of Waterloo? What famous person led the attack?

"It would not have done for me to not have been there."

The Duke of Wellington (the General who led the attack to beat Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo)

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852)

This quote was shared by Christine Olsen to the missionaries in the New England Mission at the beginning of their missions...and it has become a favorite of missionaries in the West Indies.

Success

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which one has overcome while trying to succeed.
-- Booker T. Washington

Real Study

"Are you and I daily reading, studying, and searching the scriptures in a way that enables us to hold fast to the rod of iron—or are you and I merely clinging? Are you and I pressing forward toward the fountain of living waters—relying upon the word of God? These are important questions for each of us to ponder prayerfully."
--Elder David A. Bednar, "CES Fireside for Young Adults • February 4, 2007", Brigham Young University

Life's Trials - Enduring

"Rather than simply passing through trials, we must allow trials to pass through us in ways that sanctify us."
--Elder Neil A Maxwell, "Enduring Well", April 1997 Ensign

My Ways Are Not Your Ways

"The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature."
--Ezra Taft Benson, "Born of God", Ensign, July 1989, 2

Becoming Great

"True greatness...always requires regular, consistent, small, and sometimes ordinary and mundane steps over a long period of time."
--Howard W. Hunter, "True Greatness", Ensign, May 1982, 19

Agency

"As you submit your will to God, you are giving Him the only thing you can actually give Him that is really yours to give. Don't wait too long to find the altar or to begin to place the gift of your wills upon it! No need to wait for a receipt; the Lord has His own special ways of acknowledging."
--Neal A. Maxwell, "Remember How Merciful the Lord Hath Been", Ensign, May 2004, pg 46

Obedience

"The greatest single lesson we can learn in mortality is that when God speaks and a man obeys, that man will always be right."
--President Thomas S. Monson, Ensign, May 2005, 22

Doctrine, Principles, Applications

"Well-taught doctrines and principles have a more powerful influence on behavior than rules."
--Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Ensign, Nov. 1999, 79

The Design of our Existence

"Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God"
--Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 255-56

Pondering

"The things of God are of deep import; and time, and experience, and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out."
--Joseph Smith, Liberty, MO, March 25, 1839, History of the Church, 3:295

Obedience

"... Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire. If we seek first the kingdom of God, all good things will be added"
--Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 255-56

Doctrine, Principles, Applications

"True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior."
--Boyd K. Packer, Ensign, May 2004, 79

Rough Stone

"I am like a huge, rough stone rolling down from a high mountain; and the only polishing I get is when some corner gets rubbed off by coming in contact with something else, striking with accelerated force against religious bigotry, priestcraft, lawyer-craft, doctor-craft, lying editors, suborned judges and jurors, and the authority of perjured executives, backed by mobs, blasphemers, licentious and corrupt men and women--all hell knocking off a corner here and a corner there. Thus I will become a smooth and polished shaft in the quiver of the Almighty, who will give me dominion over all and every one of them, when their refuge of lies shall fail, and their hiding place shall be destroyed, while these smooth-polished stones with which I come in contact become marred."
--Joseph Smith, Nauvoo, Illinois, May 21, 1843, History of the Church, 5:401

Book of Mormon Most Correct Book

"And Joseph Smith, the Prophet, the instrument whom God used to translate this record, testified that 'the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.' (History of the Church, 4:461.)"
--President Ezra Taft Benson, May 1988

Importance of Your Testimony

"Keep the fire of your testimony of the restored gospel and your witness of our Redeemer burning so brightly that our children can warm their hands by the fire of your faith."
--President Boyd K. Packer Ensign, May 2003, 84

Personal Revelation

"No man can receive the Holy Ghost without receiving revelations. The Holy Ghost is a revelator."
--Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 6:58

Neil's Quote

"With the influences of evil that surround our children, can we even imagine sending them out in the morning without kneeling and humbly asking together for the Lord's protection? Or closing the day without kneeling together and acknowledging our accountability before Him and our thankfulness for His blessings? Brothers and sisters, we need to have family prayer."
--Neil L. Andersen, "Prophets and Spiritual Mole Crickets," Ensign, Nov. 1999, 17

What American Has Had Most Powerful Influence

"In 1844 Josiah Quincy (a non-member), a respected mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, traveled to Nauvoo, Illinois. He toured the city, visited with the Saints, and interviewed the Prophet Joseph Smith. Mr. Quincy later wrote a book titled Figures of the Past and included a chapter on the Prophet with this prediction: "It is by no means improbable that some future text-book for the use of generations yet unborn will contain a question something like this: 'What historical American of the nineteenth century has exerted the most powerful influence upon the destinies of his countrymen?' And it is by no means impossible that the answer to the interrogatory may be thus written: 'Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet.'"
--John Henry Evans, Joseph Smith: An American Prophet (1946), 3-4. Quoted by Tad R. Callister, "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration," Ensign, June 2002, 62

Remember Indiana Jones?

When we walk to the edge of all the light we have and take the step into the darkness of the unknown, we must believe that one of two things will happen. There will be something solid for us to stand on or we will be taught to fly.--Patrick Overton

Light your Candle

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.--Buddha

Holds Us By the Hand

And I said to the one who stood at the gate of the year, "Give me a light that I may tread safely into the Unknown." And he replied, "Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way."--Minnie Haskins

Light

Aristotle Onassis - "It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light."

Goals not quotas

Now somebody also got mixed up and they thought goal was spelled, 'q-u-o-t-a,' and it isn't; that's another word. Now there's a tremendous difference between a goal and a quota. (Spencer W. Kimball, Regional Representatives’ Seminar, 3 April 1974.).

Open Your Mouths

If we do not do our duty in regard to missionary service, then I am convinced that God will hold us responsible for the people we might have saved had we done our duty. (Spencer W. Kimball, Ensign, [October 1977]: 5).

Greatest Miracle

I have seen miracles in my time, my brothers and sisters. The greatest miracle of all, I believe, is the transformation that comes into the life of a man or a woman who accepts the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and tries to live it in his or her life. (Gordon B. Hinckley, Vacaville/Santa Rosa California Regional Conference, 21 May 1995).

Most Important Duty

After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the gospel. (Joseph Smith, Jr., History of the Church, 2:478).

Greatest Work - Missionary Work

The missionary work of the Latter-day Saints is the greatest of all the great works in all the world. (Heber J. Grant, Conference Report, October 1921, p. 5).

Voice of the True Messenger

There is no more welcome voice to the honest in heart than the voice of the true messenger preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. (Harold B. Lee, Conference Report, April 1961, p. 34).

Worth of a Soul

A single soul saved is of more value than the wealth or intelligence of the world, because without salvation our wealth or intelligence will be of no particular value to us. (Heber J. Grant, Liahona, the Elders' Journal, 21:180).

Someone said that "books are among life's most precious possesions.

They are the most remarkable creation of man. Nothing else that man builds ever lasts. Monuments fall, civilizations perish, but books continue. The perusal of a great book is, as it were, an interview with the noblest men of past ages who have written it."

Faith Without Works is Dead

The kind of faith that moves one to get on his knees and plead with teh Lord and then get on his feet and go to work. (President Hinckley)

Growing in love, more and more, daily

"A thousand discoveries that daily glow from all her deeds and actions." (John Milton, Paradise Lost) - Thinking on how grateful we are for the woman we married

Preparing for Valentines Day

Love is what you go through together. (James Thurber)

Courage to Live

"Courage becomes a living and an attractive virtue when it is regarded not only as a willingness to die manfully, but also as a determination to live decently."

President Thomas S. Monson
Ensign, May 2004, 55-56

Revelation most often comes when we are on the move!

When we have a sincere desire to share the gospel with others, and when we have sought divine assistance in our efforts, what should we do? How do we proceed? We begin by beginning. We should not wait for a further invitation from heaven. Revelation comes most often when we are on the move.
- Dallin H. Oaks, Gen Conf 10/2002

More LDS Top One-liners

1. No success can compensate for failure in the home. (Harold B. Lee)

2. Every member a missionary. (David O. McKay)

3. Lengthen your stride! and Do it! (Spencer W. Kimball)

4. Families are forever.

5. The kingdom of God or nothing. (John Taylor)

6. That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not because the nature of the thing has changed, but our ability to do has increased. - (Heber J. Grant quoting Emerson)

7. A single man over 25 is a menace to society

8. Make it a habit to go to bed the same day that you got up.” (Richard L. Evans)

9. "The Holy Ghost goes to bed at midnight” (what I always told my children)

10. Obedience is the first law of heaven.” (And Auschwitz.)

11. When the prophet speaks the debate is over.

12. Forget yourself and go to work. (President Hinckley's father)

Top Latter-day Saint One-Liners - A top 5 list

What LDS one-liner would make your top five list?

1. The glory of God is intelligence.

2. A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge.

3. Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy.

4. Wickedness never was happiness.

5. I teach men correct principles and they govern themselves.

One-liners from the Lord

"Why not, therefor, take full advantage of the answers contained in the tutoring questions and their emerging and instructive one-liners from the Lord?" (Neal A. Maxwell, Men & Women of Christ, Chapter 9)

Why Does the Church Face Opposition?

You don't throw rocks at an empty mango tree. (A well-known Trini saying)

Study the Doctrine

"True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior." (Boyd K. Packer)

Room for Jesus

"We are all Innkeepers who decide if there is room for Jesus." (Submitted by Lisa Gardner Robison)

Contention

"It has been our study to avoid contention, and we have never interfered with others until they have thrown down the gauntlet; and as we have not been up to the present the aggressors so we are determined for the future not to be the aggressors. (Joseph Smith, HC 5:381)

Commandments

"Be virtuous and pure; be men of integrity and truth; keep the commandments of God; and then you will be able more perfectly to understand the difference between right and wrong--between the things of God and the things of men; and your path will be like that of the just, which shineth brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. (Joseph Smith, TPJS, 254)

Religion in vain?

"It comes to show that all men's religion is vain without charity." (Joseph Smith, HC 1:275)

Kind Heart

"My heart is large enough for all men." (Joseph Smith, HC 6:459)

Book of Mormon

"Take away the Book of Mormon and the revelations, and where is our religion? We have none." (Joseph Smith, HC 2:52

Baptizing a bag of sand

"You might as well baptize a bag of sand as a man, if not done in view of the remission of sins and getting of the Holy Ghost. Baptism by water is but half a baptism, and is good for nothing without the other half--that is, the baptism of the Holy Ghost." (Joseph Smith, HC 5:499)

Fundamental Principles of the Gospel

"The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it." (Joseph Smith, HC 3:30)

Don't find fault with the Church

"The man who rises up to condemn others, finding fault with the Church, saying that they are out of the way, while he himself is righteous, then know assuredly, that that man is in the high road to apostasy; and if he does not repent, will apostatize, as God lives." (Joseph Smith, TPJS, 159)

They Govern Themselves

"I told the brethren, I do not govern them: I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves." (Joseph Smith, the Prophet-Teacher, 65)

Redeeming our Kindred Dead

"The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead."(Joseph Smith, Jr.)

Truth is Mormonism

"Truth is Mormonism. God is the author of it."
(Joseph Smith, Jr.)

Eternal Reward in the Resurrection

"All your losses will be made up to you in the resurrection, provided you continue faithful. By the vision of the Almighty I have seen it."(Joseph Smith, Jr.)

The Book of Mormon is the Keystone of our Religion

"I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book."(Joseph Smith, Jr.)

Last Days

"Noah came before the flood. I have come before the fire."
Joseph Smith, Jr.

Be Honest

"No one can ever enter the celestial kingdom unless he is strictly honest." (Joseph Smith)

Overcoming Discouragement

"Never be discouraged. If I were sunk in the deepest pit in Nova Scotia and the Rocky Mountains were piled on top of me, I'd hold on, exercise good courage and faith, and come out on top." (Joseph Smith)

Joseph Smith Prophecy About Growth of Church

"Brethren I have been very much edified and instructed in your testimonies here tonight, but I want to say to you before the Lord, that you know no more concerning the destinies of this Church and kingdom than a babe upon its mother's lap. You don't comprehend it . . . It is only a little handful of Priesthood you see here tonight, but this Church will fill North and South America - it will fill the world . . . This people will go into the Rocky Mountains; they will there build temples to the Most High. They will raise up a posterity there, and the Latter-day Saints who dwell in these mountains will stand in the flesh until the coming of the Son of Man." (Reported by Wilford Woodruff in Conference Report, April 1898, 57) Shared at the little school house behind the Morley Farm in Kirtland, Ohio as the entire Priesthood of the Church gathered together.

Persistance

"That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Being a friend to everyone

"He drew a circle that shut me out Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout But love and I had the wit to win; We drew a circle that took him in."
(Edwin Markham)

Member Missionaries

"Every member a missionary!" (David O. McKay)

Work

"Forget yourself and get to work." (Bryant S. Hinckley, to his son Gordon who was serving a mission in England)

Family Life

"No success can compensate for failure in the home." (David O. McKay)

Power of One-liners

"There will also be several one-liners whose durability reflects their brevity." (Elder Neal A. Maxwell)

Quest for Purity

"The condition of our heart determines how much evidence of divinity we see in the world and qualifies us for the eventual revelation of the promise that the pure shall see God." (Elder Whitney Clayton)

Rule first, then the exception

"We'd like to not take care of the exception first; we'll take care of the rule first and then we'll see to the exception." (District Relief Society President when President Packer was Mission President in Boston)

Influence of friends

"Choose your friends wisely for some will carry you, but they won't carry you back." (Brother Gopaul Sr., Chaguanas Branch, Trinidad)

Missionary Work

"I have never met anyone who did anything better than he did in his missionary work." (Henry D. Moyle, who said he would carry this quote to his grave)

Achieving Goals

"If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it." (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Winners

"Champions are made when no one is watching." (Elder Breinig's football coach)

Elder Ballard Tells Us to Blog About the Church

"You can't control the message, so you must join the conversation." (Michael Deaver, former staff member of Ronald Reagan)

Righteousness

"No blessing will be denied the righteous who strive to do that which is good." (President Boyd K. Packer)

Teacher's Role

"Prepare the way so students will have a spiritual experience with the Lord." (Elder Gene R. Cook)

Our Quest

"The kingdom of God or nothing." (John Taylor)

Principle of teaching

"Things that can not be taught, must be learned." (President Boyd K. Packer)

One of the keys to inspiration

"He will tell you what to do, but I am not sure he will tell you in much detail how to do it." (President Boyd K. Packer)

Write it on a card!

"I will seek to learn throughout my life by what I hear, see, and feel. I will write down the important things I learn and I will do them." (Elder Richard G. Scott)

Proximity Principle

"You are more likely to receive inspiration when you are in the place related to the need for inspiration." (President Boyd K. Packer)

Speak Kind Words

"Think before you speak instead of saying what you think." (Reid E. Robison)

Your Personal Contribution in Life's Experience

"It would not have done for me to not have been there." (Duke of Wellington, the winner in the Battle of Waterloo where Napolean met his defeat)

Obedience is Right

"It is better to be obedient than right." (Elder Merrill Oaks)

Obedience is Our Quest

"When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that very moment, God will endow us with power. (Ezra Taft Benson)