Spencer W. Kimball Quotes - 100 quotes

Spencer W. Kimball (1895-1985) was the twelfth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), serving from 1973 until his death in 1985. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and grew up in Thatcher, Arizona. Kimball worked in banking and insurance before being called as an... show more

 Any intelligent man may learn what he wants to learn. He may acquire knowledge in any field, though it requires much thought and effort. It takes more than a decade to get a high school diploma; it takes an additional four years for most people to get a college degree; it takes nearly a quarter-century to become a great physician. Why, oh, why do people think they can fathom the most complex spiritual depths without the necessary experimental and laboratory work accompanied by compliance with the laws that govern it? Absurd it is, but you will frequently find popular personalities, who seem never to have lived a single law of God, discoursing in interviews on religion. How ridiculous for such persons to attempt to outline for the world a way of life!

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 He said to authorized servants, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned.” And what did he mean by being damned? He didn’t mean to go to the physical, everlasting, burning fires. He meant they would be stopped in their progress. They would be held to the area where their work had been done, telestial or terrestrial. They will be saved in those kingdoms. They will be damned in those kingdoms. Doesn’t matter which way they use it. It means they will be relegated to the area wherein they have earned their reward.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 If we brush other people aside in order to see a task done more quickly and effectively, the task may get done all right, but without the growth and development in followers that is so important.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Now, this mortal life is the time to prepare to meet God, which is our first responsibility. Having already obtained our bodies, which become the permanent tabernacle for our spirits through the eternities, now we are to train our bodies, our minds, and our spirits. Preeminent, then, is our using this life to perfect ourselves, to subjugate the flesh, subject the body to the spirit, to overcome all weaknesses, to govern self so that one may give leadership to others, and to perform all necessary ordinances. Secondly comes the preparation for the subduing of the earth and the elements. In Genesis we read: “And God said, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion.”

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Can there never be another Michelangelo? Ah! Yes! His David in Florence and his Moses in Rome inspire to adulation.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 People tend to perform at a standard set by their leaders.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 It was never intended by the Lord that married women should compete with men in employment. They have a far greater and more important service to render.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Women are to take care of the family—the Lord has so stated—to be an assistant to the husband, to work with him, but not to earn the living, except in unusual circumstances. Men ought to be men indeed and earn the living under normal circumstances.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 The husband is expected to support his family and only in an emergency should a wife secure outside employment. Her place is in the home, to build the home into a heaven of delight.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 He is an effective leader because he has this ability to develop and cultivate the best in others.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 I beg of you, you who could and should be bearing and rearing a family: wives, come home from the typewriter, the laundry, the nursing, come home from the factory, the café. No career approaches in importance that of wife, homemaker, mother—cooking meals, washing dishes, making beds for one’s precious husband and children. Come home, wives, to your husbands. Make home a heaven for them. Come home, wives, to your children, born and unborn. Wrap the motherly cloak about you and, unembarrassed, help in a major role to create the bodies for the immortal souls who anxiously await.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 To have both the secular and spiritual is the ideal. To have only the secular is, as Jude said: “clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth” (Jude 12). The secular knowledge is to be desired; the spiritual knowledge is a necessity. We shall need all of the accumulated secular knowledge in order to create worlds and furnish them, but only through the mysteries of God and these hidden treasures of knowledge may we arrive at the place and condition where we may use that knowledge in creation and exaltation.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Jesus saw sin as wrong but also was able to see sin as springing from deep and unmet needs on the part of the sinner. This permitted him to condemn the sin without condemning the individual. We can show forth our love for others even when we are called upon to correct them. We need to be able to look deeply enough into the lives of others to see the basic causes for their failures and shortcomings.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Jesus’ leadership emphasized the importance of being discerning with regard to others, without seeking to control them. He cared about the freedom of his followers to choose. Even he, in those moments that mattered so much, had to choose voluntarily to go through Gethsemane and to hang on the cross at Calvary. He taught us that there can be no growth without real freedom. One of the problems with manipulative leadership is that it does not spring from a love of others but from a need to use them. Such leaders focus on their own needs and desires and not on the needs of others.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Jesus taught us that we are accountable not only for our actions but also for our very thoughts. This is so important for us to remember. We live in an age that stresses “no-fault insurance”—and “no fault” in other human behavior as well. Accountability is not possible, of course, without fixed principles. A good leader will remember he is accountable to God as well as to those he leads. By demanding accountability of himself, he is in a better position, therefore, to see that others are accountable for their behavior and their performance. People tend to perform at a standard set by their leaders.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 The Church and its members are commanded by the Lord to be self-reliant and independent.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Our sisters do not wish to be indulged or to be treated condescendingly; they desire to be respected and revered as our sisters and our equals. I mention [this], my brethren, not because the doctrines or teachings of the Church regarding women are in any doubt, but because in some situations our behavior is of doubtful quality.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 "There are depths in the sea which the storms that lash the surface into fury never reach. They who reach down into the depths of life where, in the stillness, the voice of God is heard, have the stabilizing power which carries them poised and serene through the hurricane of difficulties."

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 "Sometime we'll understand fully, and when we see back from the vantage point of the future, we shall be satisfied with many of the happenings of this life that are so difficult for us to comprehend."

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Those who cling to power at the expense of principle often end up doing almost anything to perpetuate their power.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 There are in our lives reservoirs of many kinds. Some reservoirs are to store water. Some are to store food, as we do in our our family welfare program and as Joseph did in the land of Egypt during the seven years of plenty. There should also be reservoirs of knowledge to meet the future needs; reservoirs of courage to overcome the floods of fear that put uncertainty in lives; reservoirs of physical strength to help us meet the frequent burdens of work and illness; reservoirs of goodness; reservoirs of stamina; reservoirs of faith. Yes, especially reservoirs of faith so that when the world presses in upon us, we stand firm and strong; when the temptations of the decaying world about us draw on our energies, sap our spiritual vitality, and seek to pull us down, we need a storage of faith that can carry youth and later adults over the dull, the difficult, the terrifying moments, disappointments, disillusionments, and years of adversity, want, confusion, and frustration.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 “Gandhi is reputed to have said that there are 999 who believe in honesty for every one who practices it”

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 The responsibility for each person's social, emotional, spiritual, physical, or economic well-being rests first upon himself, second upon his family, and third upon the Church if he is a faithful member thereof.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 “Prayers are not always answered as we wish them to be. Even the Redeemer’s prayer in Gethsemane was answered in the negative.”

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Jesus operated from a base of fixed principles or truths rather than making up the rules as he went along. Thus, his leadership style was not only correct, but also constant. So many secular leaders today are like chameleons; they change their hues and views to fit the situation—which only tends to confuse associates and followers who cannot be certain what course is being pursued. Those who cling to power at the expense of principle often end up doing almost anything to perpetuate their power.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 The prophets in this dispensation have taught us that special spirits were reserved to come forth at this time in this last dispensation. You are among those very special spirits!

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Because Jesus loved his followers, he was able to level with them, to be candid and forthright with them. He reproved Peter at times because he loved him, and Peter, being a great man, was able to grow from this reproof. There is a wonderful verse in the book of Proverbs all of us need to remember: “The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise. “He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.” (Prov. 15:31–32.) It is a wise leader or a wise follower who can cope with the “reproof of life.” Peter could do this because he knew that Jesus loved him, and thus Jesus was able to groom Peter for a very high place or responsibility in the kingdom.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Jesus operated from a base of fixed principles or truths rather than making up the rules as he went along. Thus, his leadership style was not only correct, but also constant.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 So many secular leaders today are like chameleons; they change their hues and views to fit the situation - which only tends to confuse associates and followers who cannot be certain what course is being pursued.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 So often, secular leaders rush in to solve problems by seeking to stop the present pain, and thereby create even greater difficulty and pain later on.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Accountability is not possible, of course, without fixed principles.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 “The responsibility for each person’s social, emotional, spiritual, physical, or economic well-being rests first upon himself, second upon his family, and third upon the Church if he is a faithful member thereof. No true Latter-day Saint, while physically or emotionally able, will voluntarily shift the burden of his own or his family’s well-being to someone else.”

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Greater laws can overcome lesser ones, but that does not change their undeniable truth.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 If men are really humble, they will realize that they discover, but do not create, truth.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 The Gods organized the earth of materials at hand, over which they had control and power.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 “Now,” said the Lord, “we shall take of the elements at hand and organize them into an earth, place thereon vegetation and animal life, and permit you to go down upon it. This will be your proving ground. We shall give you a rich earth, lavishly furnished for your benefit and enjoyment, and we shall see if you will prove true and do the things that are asked of you. I will enter into a contract with you. If you will agree to exercise control over your desires and continue to grow toward perfection and godhood by the plan which I shall provide, I will give to you a physical body of flesh and bones and a rich and productive earth, with sun, water, forests, metals, soils, and all other things necessary to feed and clothe and house you and give to you every enjoyment that is proper and for your good. In addition to this, I will make it possible for you to eventually return to me as you improve your life, overcoming obstacles and approaching perfection.” To the above most generous offer, we as sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father responded with gratitude. We took our turns and came to earth, as bodies were prepared by our earthly parents. We are now on trial—on the proving ground.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Adam and Eve transgressed a law and were responsible for a change that came to all their posterity, that of mortality. Could it have been the different food which made the change? Somehow blood, the life-giving element in our bodies, replaced the finer substance which coursed through their bodies before. They and we became mortal, subject to illness, pains, and even the physical dissolution called death.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 But the spirit, which is supreme in the dual man, transcends the body. It does not decompose but proceeds to the spirit world for further experience, with the assurance that after sufficient preparation there, a reunion will take place where the spirit will be housed eternally in a remodeled body of flesh and bones. This time the union will never be dissolved, since there will be no blood to disintegrate and cause trouble. A finer substance will give life to the body and will render it immortal.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 This restoration was preceded by a long period of preparation. The Pilgrims and other Europeans were inspired to find this American haven of refuge and thus people this land with honest and God-fearing citizens. Washington and his fellows were inspired to revolt from England and bring political liberty to this land, along with the more valuable treasure of religious liberty so that the soil might be prepared for the seed of the truth when it should again be sown.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Church organizations made by men, without claim to divinity or revelation, were everywhere in abundance. The corrupted doctrines of former centuries were all there. Religious confusion reigned and most of the world opposed the work bitterly and cried “false prophet” at the first mention of the restored truth. The tiny organization, begun in 1830 with six members, has had phenomenal growth to some four million in that short period. It is here to stay. This church of Jesus Christ (nicknamed Mormon) is the “only true and living church” that is fully recognized with the authority to perform for him, and the only one with a total and comprehensive and true program which will carry men to powers unbelievable and to realms incredible.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 The Church and its members are commanded by the Lord to be self-reliant and independent.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 The responsibility for each person's social, emotional, spiritual, physical, or economic well-being rests first upon himself, second upon his family, and third upon the Church if he is a faithful member thereof.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 [Home teachers and visiting teachers] when you go into the homes, there should be no vain babblings or swelling words. You are going to save souls, and who can tell but that many of the fine active people in the Church today are active because you were in their homes and gave them a new outlook, a new vision. You pulled back the curtain. You extended their horizons. You gave them something new.”

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 There is an urgency to engage more fully in the redeeming of our kindred dead through more frequent temple attendance. All those who possess temple recommends should use them as often as possible to engage in baptisms, endowments, and sealings for the dead. Other members of the Church should concern themselves seriously with preparations to qualify for temple recommends that they, too, might enjoy these eternal blessings and also act as saviors on Mount Zion. There is an ever-increasing burden of temple work to be done by the Saints, and we should rise to meet this challenge … One of the important phases of gospel living is to involve ourselves in temple and genealogical effort. We know full well that the spirit world is filled with the spirits of men and women who are waiting for you and me to get busy in their behalf. It is a grave responsibility that the Lord has placed upon our shoulders, one that we cannot avoid and for which we may stand in jeopardy if we fail to accomplish it.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 A phrase that occurs several times in modern revelation should certainly be an incentive to prompt, unreserved repentance. This term talks of sinners being delivered to the “buffetings of Satan” … Just what constitutes the “buffetings of Satan” no one knows except those who experience them, but I have seen many people who have been buffeted in life after they have come to themselves and realized to some degree the horror of their acts. If their sufferings were not the “buffetings of Satan,” they must be a near approach to them. Certainly they reflect great sorrow, anguish of soul, shame, remorse, and physical and mental suffering. Perhaps this condition approaches the sufferings of which the Lord spoke when he said: “But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I: Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit.” (D&C 19:17-18).

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 The gospel is a program, a way of life, the plan of personal salvation, and is based upon personal responsibility. It is developed for man, the offspring of God. Man is a god in embryo and has in him the seeds of godhood, and he can, if he will, rise to great heights. He can lift himself by his own bootstraps as no other creature can do. He was created not to fail and degenerate but to rise to perfection like his Lord Jesus Christ.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 From time immemorial the Lord has counseled us to be a record-keeping people. Abraham had a book of remembrance, and Adam had one. You may think of them as not being as highly educated as we are, but they were well-trained people. Adam spent much effort being the school teacher for his children. He and Eve taught their sons and daughters. He taught them the gospel in their home evenings, and he taught them reading and writing and arithmetic. And they kept their books of remembrance. How else do you think Moses, many hundreds of years later, got the information he compiled in the book of Genesis? These records had been kept, and he referred to them and got the history of the world, which wasn't in any library other than that. Can you see your responsibility?

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Exaltation in the celestial kingdom will be granted to those only who enter and faithfully observe the covenant of celestial marriage. Christ says in unmistakable terms: In the celestial glory there are three heavens, or degrees; And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]; And if he does not, he cannot obtain it. He may enter into the other but that is the end of his kingdom; he cannot have an increase (D&C 131:1-4. Italics added.) He cannot have an increase! He cannot have exaltation! That means worlds without end. After a person has been assigned to his place in the kingdom, either in the telestial, the terrestrial or the celestial, or to his exaltation, he will never advance from his assigned glory to another glory. That is eternal! That is why we must make our decisions early in life and why it is imperative that such decisions be right.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 I have had many people ask me through the years, 'When do you think we will get the balance of the Book of Mormon records?' And I have said, 'How many in the congregation would like to read the sealed portion of the plates?' And almost always there is a 100-percent response. And then I ask the same congregation, 'How many of you have read the part that is open to us?' And there are many who have not read the Book of Mormon, the unsealed portion. We are quite often looking for the spectacular, the unobtainable. I have found many people who want to live the higher laws when they do not live the lower laws.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 We are quite often looking for the spectacular, the unobtainable. I have found many people who want to live the higher laws when they do not live the lower laws.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Jesus knew how to involve his disciples in the process of life. He gave them important and specific things to do for their development. Other leaders have sought to be so omnicompetent that they have tried to do everything themselves, which produces little growth in others. Jesus trusts his followers enough to share his work with them so that they can grow. That is one of the greatest lessons of his leadership. If we brush other people aside in order to see a task done more quickly and effectively, the task may get done all right, but without the growth and development in followers that is so important. Because Jesus knows that this life is purposeful and that we have been placed on this planet in order to perform and grow, growth then becomes one of the great ends of life as well as a means. We can give corrective feedback to others in a loving and helpful way when mistakes are made.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Jesus gave people truths and tasks that were matched to their capacity. He did not overwhelm them with more than they could manage, but gave them enough to stretch their souls. Jesus was concerned with basics in human nature and in bringing about lasting changes, not simply cosmetic changes.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Jesus also taught us how important it is to use our time wisely. This does not mean there can never be any leisure, for there must be time for contemplation and for renewal, but there must be no waste of time. How we manage time matters so very much, and we can be good managers of time without being frantic or officious. Time cannot be recycled. When a moment has gone, it is really gone. The tyranny of trivia consists of its driving out the people and moments that really matter. Minutia holds momentous things hostage, and we let the tyranny continue all too often. Wise time management is really the wise management of ourselves.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Conversely, those leaders in history who have been most tragic in their impact on mankind were tragic precisely because they lacked to almost any degree the qualities of the Man of Galilee. Where Jesus was selfless, they were selfish. Where Jesus was concerned with freedom, they were concerned with control. Where Jesus was concerned with service, they were concerned with status. Where Jesus met the genuine needs of others, they were concerned only with their own needs and wants. Where Jesus was concerned with the development of his disciples, they sought to manipulate mortals. Where Jesus was filled with compassion balanced by justice, they have so often been filled with harshness and injustice.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Jesus said several times, “Come, follow me.” His was a program of “do what I do,” rather than “do what I say.” His innate brilliance would have permitted him to put on a dazzling display, but that would have left his followers far behind. He walked and worked with those he was to serve. His was not a long-distance leadership. He was not afraid of close friendships; he was not afraid that proximity to him would disappoint his followers. The leaven of true leadership cannot lift others unless we are with and serve those to be led.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom. “Salvation” is not “exaltation.” Everything we do is with one goal, and that is to make ourselves perfect so that we may be like the Lord and able to have eternal life. The world doesn't know what eternal life is. They talk about being “saved.” There is a great difference between exaltation and merely being saved. All will be saved from the grave. No question about it, if they are good and righteous people, they will be saved in some glory. Whether they are Catholics or Protestants or Jews or Gentiles, they will be saved from spiritual death. But to be “saved” is not good enough. One needs to be exalted to attain the great blessings.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 The kind of oil that is needed to illuminate the way and light up the darkness is not shareable. How can one share obedience to the principle of tithing; a mind at peace from righteous living; an accumulation of knowledge? How can one share faith or testimony? How can one share attitudes or chastity, or the experience of a mission? How can one share temple privileges? Each must obtain that kind of oil for himself...

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 God made man in his own image and certainly he made woman in the image of his wife-partner. You [women] are daughters of God. You are precious. You are made in the image of our heavenly Mother.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 In the parable, oil can be purchased at the market. In our lives the oil of preparedness is accumulated drop by drop in righteous living. Attendance at sacrament meetings adds oil to our lamps, drop by drop over the years. Fasting, family prayer, home teaching, control of bodily appetites, preaching the gospel, studying the scriptures — each act of dedication and obedience is a drop added to our store. Deeds of kindness, payment of offerings and tithes, chaste thoughts and actions, marriage in the covenant for eternity—these, too, contribute importantly to the oil with which we can at midnight refuel our exhausted lamps.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 The gospel teaches us that there is no tragedy in death, but only in sin.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 “It takes faith--unseing faith--for young people to proceed immediately with their family responsibilities in the face of financial uncertainties. It takes faith for the young woman to bear her family instead of accepting employment, especially when schooling for the young husband is to be finished. It takes faith to observe the Sabbath when “time and a half” can be had working, when profit can be made, when merchandise can be sold. It takes a great faith to pay tithes when funds are scarce and demands are great. It takes faith to fast and have family prayers and observe the Word of Wisdom. It takes faith to do home teaching, missionary work, and other service, when sacrifice is required. It takes faith to fill full-time missions. But know this--that all these are of the planting, while faithful, devout families, spiritual security, peace, and eternal life are the harvest.”

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Some years ago we visited a country where strange ideologies were taught and “pernicious doctrines” were promulgated every day in the schools and in the captive press. Every day the children listened to the doctrines, philosophies, and ideals their teachers related. Someone said that “constant dripping, dripping will wear away the hardest stone.” This I knew, so I asked about the children: “Do they retain their faith? Are they not overcome by the constant pressure of their teachers? How can you be sure they will not leave the simple faith in God?” The answer amounted to saying “We mend the damaged reservoir each night. We teach our children positive righteousness so that the false philosophies do not take hold. Our children are growing up in faith and righteousness in spite of the almost overwhelming pressures from outside.” Even cracked dams can be mended and saved, and sandbags can hold back the flood. And reiterated truth, renewed prayer, gospel teachings, expressions of love, and parental interest can save the child and keep him on the right path.”

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Stake presidents, bishops, and branch presidents, please take a particular interest in improving the quality of teaching in the Church. I fear that all too often many of our members come to church, sit through a class or meeting, and they return home having been largely uninformed.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 “We pray for our enemies. This will soften our hearts, and perhaps theirs, and we may better seek good in them. And this prayer should not be confined to national enemies but should extend to neighbors, members of the family, and all with whom we have differences. This is also required of us by the Savior,.... “We pray for the Church leaders. If the children all their days in their turn at family prayers and in their secret prayers remember before the Lord the leaders of the Church, they are quite unlikely to ever fall into apostasy and into the class that Peter mentioned: ”...Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.” (2 Peter 2:10) The children who pray for the brethren will grow up loving them. Those who daily hear the leaders of the Church spoken of in prayer in deep affection will more likely believe the sermons and admonitions they will hear.”

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 “A woman is most beautiful when her body is clothes and her sweet face is adorned with her lovely hair. She needs no more attractions. Then she is at her best, and men will love her for it. And men will not love her more because her neck or back is bare. Young women, if he is decent and worthy of you he will love you more when you are properly dressed! Of course, if he is a corrupt man, an immodestly dressed woman will please him."

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 No true Latter-Day Saint, while physically or emotionally able will voluntarily shift the burden of his own or his family's well-being to someone else. So long as he can, under the inspiration of the Lord and with his own labors, he will supply himself and his family with the spiritual and temporal necessities of life.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 “This is demonstrated in the story of the lark. Sitting in the high branches of a tree safe from harm, he saw a traveler walking through the forest carrying a mysterious little black box. The lark flew down and perched on the traveler’s shoulder. ‘What do you have in the little black box?’ he asked. ‘Worms,’ the traveler replied. ‘Are they for sale?’ ‘Yes, and very cheaply, too. The price is only one feather for a worm.’ The lark thought for a moment. ‘I must have a million feathers. Surely, I’ll never miss one of them. Here is an opportunity to get a good dinner for no work at all.’ So he told the man he would buy one. He searched carefully under his wing for a tiny feather. He winced a bit as he pulled it out, but the size and quality of the worm made him quickly forget the pain. High up in the tree again he began to sing as beautifully as before. The next day he saw the same man and once again he exchanged a feather for a worm. What a wonderful, effortless way to get dinner! Each day thereafter the lark surrendered a feather, and each loss seemed to hurt less and less. In the beginning he had many feathers, but as the days passed he found it more difficult to fly. Finally, after the loss of one of his primary feathers, he could no longer reach the top of the tree, let alone fly up into the sky. In fact he could do no more than flutter a few feet in the air, and was forced to seek his food with the quarrelsome, bickering sparrows. The man with the worms came no more, for there were no feathers to pay for the meals. The lark no longer sang because he was so ashamed of his fallen state. This is how unworthy habits possess us—first painfully, then more easily, until at last we find ourselves stripped of all that lets us sing and soar. This is how freedom is lost. This is how we become enmeshed in sin.”

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 The words none else eliminate everyone and everything. The spouse then becomes preeminent in the life of the husband or wife, and neither social life nor occupational life nor political life nor any other interest nor person nor thing shall ever take precedence over the companion spouse.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 "In faith we plant the seed, and soon we see the miracle of the blossoming. Men have often misunderstood and have reversed the process. They would have the harvest before the planting, the reward before the service, the miracle before the faith. Even the most demanding labor unions would hardly ask the wages before the labor. But many of us would have the vigor without the observance of health laws, prosperity through the opened windows of heaven without the payment of tithes. We would have the close communion with our Father without fasting and praying; we would have rain in due season and peace in the land without observing the Sabbath and keeping the other commandments of the Lord. We would pluck the rose before planting the roots; we would harvest the grain before sowing and cultivating.”

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 “No true Latter-Day Saint, while physically or emotionally able will voluntarily shift the burden of his own or his family's well-being to someone else. So long as he can, under the inspiration of the Lord and with his own labors, he will supply himself and his family with the spiritual and temporal necessities of life.”

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 The principal personalities in this great drama [war in heaven] were a Father Elohim, perfect in wisdom, judgment, and person, and two sons, Lucifer and Jehovah.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 God’s Law of Chastity—God requires chastity. We stand for a life of cleanliness. From childhood through youth and to the grave, we proclaim the wickedness of sexual life of any kind before marriage, and we proclaim that everyone in marriage should hold himself or herself to the covenants that were made. In other words, as we have frequently said, there should be total chastity of men and women before marriage and total fidelity in marriage. The fact that so-called sex revolutionists would change the order and change the status is repugnant to us. We abhor, with all our power, pornography, permissiveness, and the so-called freedom of the sexes, and we fear that those who have supported, taught, and encouraged the permissiveness that brings about this immoral behavior will someday come to a sad reckoning with him who has established the standards.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Jesus was not afraid to make demands of those he led. His leadership was not condescending or soft. He had the courage to call Peter and others to leave their fishing nets and to follow him, not after the fishing season or after the next catch, but now! today! Jesus let people know that he believed in them and in their possibilities, and thus he was free to help them stretch their souls in fresh achievement. So much secular leadership is condescending and, in many ways, contemptuous of mankind because it treats people as if they were to be coddled and cocooned forever. Jesus believed in his followers, not alone for what they were, but for what they had the possibilities to become. While others would have seen Peter as a fisherman, Jesus could see him as a powerful religious leader—courageous, strong—who would leave his mark upon much of mankind. In loving others, we can help them to grow by making reasonable but real demands of them.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 I make no apology for giving something of the accomplishments of Jesus Christ to those who seek success as leaders. If we would be eminently successful, here is our pattern. All the ennobling, perfect, and beautiful qualities of maturity, of strength, and of courage are found in this one person. As a large, surly mob, armed to the teeth, came to take him prisoner, he faced them resolutely and said, “Whom seek ye?” The mob, startled, mumbled his name, “Jesus of Nazareth.” “I am he,” answered Jesus of Nazareth with pride and courage—and with power: the soldiers “went backward, and fell to the ground.” A second time he said, “Whom seek ye?” and when they named him, he said, “I have told you that I am he: if therefore ye seek me, let these [his disciples] go their way.” (John 18:4–8).

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Perhaps the most important thing I can say about Jesus Christ, more important than all else I have said, is that he lives. He really does embody all those virtues and attributes the scriptures tell us of. If we can come to know that, we then know the central reality about man and the universe. If we don’t accept that truth and that reality, then we will not have the fixed principles or the transcendent truths by which to live out our lives in happiness and in service. In other words, we will find it very difficult to be significant leaders unless we recognize the reality of the perfect leader, Jesus Christ, and let him be the light by which we see the way!

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 We have paused on some plateaus long enough...We have been diverted, at times, from fundamentals on which we must now focus in order to move forward as a person or as a people...

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Sons of Perdition. Those who followed Lucifer in his rebellion in the premortal life and those who in mortality sin against the Holy Ghost are sons of perdition. The ex-mortal sons of perdition will be resurrected, as will everyone else; but they will finally suffer the second death, the spiritual death, for “the are cut off again as to things pertaining to righteousness.” (Hel. 14:18).

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 One of the most fallacious doctrines originated by Satan and propounded by man is that man is saved alone by the grace of God; that belief in Jesus Christ alone is all that is needed for salvation.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Partners stay in business together for years. They may be as different as fish and fowl, but because there is a compelling and compensating reason for their understanding of each other, they overlook weaknesses, strengthen themselves, and work together. They seldom break up a partnership where they would both lose seriously and financially by doing so. A celestial marriage is far more to fight for and to live for, and to adjust for, than any financial or other gain or beneficial arrangements that two partners might have between them. Now, my beloved friends ... the matter is in your hands-you may do as you please, but I warn you that the trouble is deeper than you realize, and not easily resolved by divorce. And I warn you also that, either separated or living together, you will be damaged and cankered and poisoned and dwarfed by bitterness and hatreds and loathings. The first need is to master yourselves.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 I am a deacon. I am always proud that I am a deacon. When I see the Apostles march up to the stand in a solemn assembly to bless the sacrament, and others of the General Authorities step up to the sacrament tables to get the bread and the water and humbly pass it to all the people in the assembly and then return their emptied receptacles, I am very proud that I am a deacon, and a teacher, and a priest.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 "When you look in the dictionary for the most important word, do you know what it is? It could be remember. Because all of you have made covenants - you know what to do and you know how to do it - our greatest need is to remember. That is why everyone goes to sacrament meeting every Sabbath day - to take the sacrament and listen to the priests pray that 'they may always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them. Remember is the word. Remember is the program."

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 One must change the conditions that led to sin. In abandoning sin one cannot merely wish for better conditions. He must make them. He may need to come to hate the spotted garments and loathe the sin. He must be certain not only that he has abandoned the sin but that he has changed the situations surrounding the sin. He should avoid the places and conditions and circumstances where the sin occurred, for these could most readily breed it again. He must abandon the people with whom the sin was committed. He may not hate the persons involved but he must avoid them and everything associated with sin. He must dispose of all letters, trinkets, and things which will remind him of the "old days" and the "old times". He must forget addresses, telephone numbers, people, places, and situations from the sinful past, and build a new life. He must eliminate anything which would stir the old memories. (On forsaking sin)

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 ...Repentance can never come until one has bared his soul and admitted his actions without excuses or rationalizations.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 I believe that the Lord is anxious to put into our hands inventions of which we laymen have hardly had a glimpse. (D&C 58:64) I am confident that the only way we can reach most of these millions of our Father’s children is through the spoken word over the airwaves...

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Motherhood is a holy calling, a sacred dedication for carrying out the Lord's work, a consecration and devotion to the rearing and fostering, the nurturing of body, mind, and spirit of those who kept their first estate and who came to this earth for their second estate to learn and be tested and to work toward godhood … Mothers have a sacred role. They are partners with God, as well as with their own husbands, first in giving birth to the Lord’s spirit children, and then in rearing those children so they will serve the Lord and keep his commandments.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Those without eternal marriage may be angels—Now, the angels will be the people who did not go to the temple, who did not have their work done in the temple. And if there are some of us who make no effort to cement these ties, we may be angels for the rest of eternity. But if we do all in our power and seal our wives or husbands to us ... then we may become gods and pass by the angels in heaven … Some might say, “Well, I’d be satisfied to just become an angel,” but you would not. One never would be satisfied just to be a ministering angel to wait upon other people when he could be the king himself.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 A Time of Reckoning. Of two very important things we may be absolutely certain—that it is not vain to serve the Lord, and that the day of judgment will come to all, the righteous and the unrighteous. The time of reckoning is as sure as is the passage of time and the coming of eternity. All who live shall eventually stand before the bar of God to be judged according to their works. Their final assignments will constitute rewards and punishments according to the kinds of lives they lived on earth …That man must face the day of reckoning and stand before the bar of judgment to receive the rewards of righteousness or the penalties of sinfulness is amply attested in the scriptures. It will be a day when man cannot hide from his wickedness.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 When we were spiritual beings, fully organized and able to think and study and understand with him, our Heavenly Father said to us, in effect: “Now, my beloved children, in your spirit state you have progressed about as far as you can. To continue your development, you need physical bodies. I intend to provide a plan whereby you may continue your growth. As you know, one can grow only by overcoming.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 The Savior’s leadership was selfless. He put himself and his own needs second and ministered to others beyond the call of duty, tirelessly, lovingly, effectively. So many of the problems in the world today spring from selfishness and self-centeredness in which too many make harsh demands of life and others in order to meet their demands. This is a direct reversal of the principles and practices pursued so perfectly by that perfect example of leadership, Jesus of Nazareth.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 We must remember that those mortals we meet in parking lots, offices, elevators, and elsewhere are that portion of mankind God has given us to love and to serve. It will do us little good to speak of the general brotherhood of mankind if we cannot regard those who are all around us as our brothers and sisters. If our sample of humanity seems unglamorous or so very small, we need to remember the parable Jesus gave us in which he reminded us that greatness is not always a matter of size or scale, but of the quality of one’s life. If we do well with our talents and with the opportunities around us, this will not go unnoticed by God. And to those who do well with the opportunities given them, even more will be given!

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 We are impressed that the mission of the Church is threefold: (1) To proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people; (2) To perfect the Saints by preparing them to receive the ordinances of the gospel and by instruction and discipline to gain exaltation; (3) To redeem the dead by performing vicarious ordinances of the gospel for those who have lived on the earth. All three are part of one work-to assist our Father in Heaven and his Son, Jesus Christ, in their grand and glorious mission “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” (Moses 1:39).

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 The Church and its members are commanded by the Lord to be self-reliant and independent.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 Those who cling to power at the expense of principle often end up doing almost anything to perpetuate their power.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 The basic decisions needed for us to move forward, as a people, must be made by the individual members of the Church. The major strides which must be made by the Church will follow upon the major strides to be made by us as individuals. ... Our individual spiritual growth is the key to major numerical growth in the kingdom.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Share

 The love of which the Lord speaks is not only physical attraction, but also faith, confidence, understanding, and partnership. It is devotion and companionship, parenthood, common ideals and standards. It is cleanliness of life and sacrifice and unselfishness. This kind of love never tires nor wanes. It lives on through sickness and sorrow, through prosperity and privation, through accomplishment and disappointment, through time and eternity. . . . For your love to ripen so gloriously, there must be an increase of confidence and understanding, a frequent and sincere expression of appreciation of each other. There must be a forgetting of self and a constant concern for the other. There must be a focusing of interests and hopes and objectives into a single channel.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Missing Reference

Share

 Only when you lift a burden, God will lift your burden. Divine paradox this! The man who staggers and falls because his burden is too great can lighten that burden by taking on the weight of another's burden. You get by giving, but your part of giving must be given first.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Missing Reference

Share

 Education is the continuing process of learning which carries on long after the classrooms close behind you.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Missing Reference

Share

 “Soul mates” are fiction and an illusion; and while every young man and woman will seek with all diligence and prayerfulness to find a mate with whom life can be most compatible and beautiful, yet it is certain that almost any good man and any good woman can have happiness and a successful marriage if both are willing to pay the price.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Missing Reference

Share

 My life is like my shoes--to be worn out in service.

- Spencer W. Kimball

Missing Reference

Share

 I am grateful that with my priesthood I do not have unlimited power. I realize the power of the priesthood is limitless but God has wisely placed upon each of us certain limitations. I am grateful that I cannot heal all the sick or that even through the priesthood I cannot raise them from their beds of affliction always. I am afraid that I might heal people who should die. I might relieve people of suffering who should agonize. I fear I would frustrate the purposes of God and the plan of eternal life. Had I the free and limitless command of power of the priesthood, and with my limited vision and understanding of the overall program of God for each individual, I might have saved Abinadi from the flames of fire when he was burned at the stake. In so doing I might have irreparably damaged Aminadi and limited him to a lower kingdom. He died a martyr and went to a martyr’s reward, exaltation. I would likely have protected Paul against his woes if my power were boundless. I fear that had I been in Carthage in the jail on June 27, 1844, and I had limitless power, but limited vision, I might have deflected the bullets which pierced the body of the Prophet and the martyr’s witness might not have been borne. The program of the Lord might have failed or been frustrated. I am glad I did not have to make that decision

- Spencer W. Kimball

Missing Reference

Share