Neal A. Maxwell Quotes & Sayings

Alas, in our age, some arrogantly believe that if they cannot comprehend something, then God cannot comprehend it, either. — Neal A. Maxwell

When great individuals move so marvelously along the straight and narrow path, it is unseemly of us to call attention to the fact that one of their shoelaces is untied as they make the journey. — Neal A. Maxwell

The acceptance of the reality that we are in the Lord's loving hands is only a recognition that we have never really been anywhere else. — Neal A. Maxwell

Patience helps us to view imperfections in others more generously to the end that we may learn to be more wise than they have been. — Neal A. Maxwell

The harrowing of the soul can be like the harrowing of the soil; to increase the yield, things are turned upside down. — Neal A. Maxwell

We were never promised precision in this life ... With the gift of agency to mankind, life cannot possibly present a perfectly tidy picture. The ambiguities of circumstances are partly, if not largely, the cumulative result of our varied use of our moral agency, but also of the structure of life itself. — Neal A. Maxwell

In the economy of Heaven, God does not send thunder if a still, small voice is enough, or a prophet if a priest can do the job. — Neal A. Maxwell

Spent time-like a spent bullet-tells us much about its "processor." for we see not only the residual slug, but indicators of how spent time is grooved by a man's soul, a reliable indicator of what a man is like. — Neal A. Maxwell

There are also flat periods in life which may well be the periods during which-before new lessons come- the past lessons of life are allowed to seep, quietly and deeply, into the marrow of the soul. These outwardly flat periods, when enduring well may not seem very purposeful,, are probably the times when needed attitudinal alignments are quietly occurring. — Neal A. Maxwell

These really are our days, and we can prevail and overcome, even in the midst of trends that are very disturbing. If we are faithful the day will come when those deserving pioneers and ancestors, whom we rightly praise for having overcome the adversities in the wilderness trek, will praise today's faithful for having made their way successfully through a desert of despair and for having passed through a cultural wilderness, while still keeping the faith. — Neal A. Maxwell

Without gospel truths, man's efforts to reach his goals are like the northbound explorer who drove his dog sled feverishly northward on an ice pack that was flowing southward - only to find himself farther from his destination at the end of a hard day's journey than he had been at dawn! — Neal A. Maxwell

For the faithful, our finest hours are sometimes during or just
following our darkest hours. — Neal A. Maxwell

Each of us is an innkeeper who decides if there is room for Jesus! — Neal A. Maxwell

If we spent as much time lifting our children as we do criticizing them, how effectively we could help them to see themselves in a more positive light! — Neal A. Maxwell

When we don't like to face up to hard facts, we use soft words. We do not speak about killing a baby within the womb, but about "termination of potential life." Words are often multiplied to try to cover dark deeds. — Neal A. Maxwell

Clearly, when we baptize, our eyes should gaze beyond the baptismal font to the holy temple. The great garner into which the sheaves should be gathered is the holy temple. — Neal A. Maxwell

Beware not to get caught up in the thick of thin things. — Neal A. Maxwell

When at length we tire of putting people down, this self-inflicted fatigue can give way to the invigorating calisthenics of lifting people up. — Neal A. Maxwell

It's service, not status, that counts. — Neal A. Maxwell

Finally, we can accept this stunning, irrevocable truth: Our Lord can lift us from deep despair and cradle us midst any care. We cannot tell him anything about aloneness or nearness! ... He who cannot lie, will atteast to our adequacy with the warm words, Well Done. — Neal A. Maxwell

As societies trivialize traditional values, we witness a flow of immense suffering. We anguish, for instance, over what happens to the unborn, who cannot vote, and to children at risk. We weep over children having children and children shooting children. Often secular remedies to these challenges are not based on spiritual principles. To borrow a metaphor - secular remedies resemble an alarmed passenger traveling on the wrong train who tries to compensate by running up the aisle in the opposite direction! Only the acceptance of the revelations of God can bring both direction and correction and, in turn, bring a 'brightness of hope' (2 Ne. 31:20). Real hope does not automatically 'spring eternal' unless it is connected with eternal things! — Neal A. Maxwell

Never give up what you want most for what you want today. — Neal A. Maxwell

Anger should never be an overnight guest. — Neal A. Maxwell

So much depends, therefore, upon our maintaining gospel perspective in the midst of ordinariness, the pressures of temptation, tribulation, deprivation, and the cares of the world. — Neal A. Maxwell

The divine reproach Jesus felt so exquisitely, because of His meekly standing in
for us, fulfilled yet another prophecy: 'Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full
of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for
comforters, but I found none' (Ps. 69:20). His heart was broken, as He did 'suffer
both body and spirit' (D&C 19:18). He trembled because of pain, and yet He,
amidst profound aloneness, finished His preparations, bringing to pass the
unconditional immortality of all mankind and 'eternal life for all those who would
keep His commandments (Moses 1:39). — Neal A. Maxwell

We, more than others, should carry jumper and tow cables not only in our cars, but also in our hearts, by which means we can send the needed boost or charge of encouragement or the added momentum to mortal neighbors. — Neal A. Maxwell

It is one of the ironies of religious history that many mortals err in their understanding of the nature of God and end up rejecting not the real God but their own erroneous and stereotypical image of God. Frequently this is because they have thought of God solely in terms of thunderings at Sinai without pondering substance ... — Neal A. Maxwell

God's anger is kindled not because we have harmed him but because we have harmed ourselves. — Neal A. Maxwell

I know sanctification comes not with any particular calling, but with genuine acts of service, often for which there is no specific calling. — Neal A. Maxwell

Ironically, brothers and sisters, the natural man who is so very selfish in so many ordinary ways is strangely unselfish in that he reaches for too few of the things that bring real joy. He settles for a mess of pottage instead of eternal joy. — Neal A. Maxwell

These transcending truths restructure our understanding of ourselves and of the universe and bring within our view resplendent reality. To be seen only by those who have eyes to see, these flakes of fire are embedded in the holy scriptures. There these tr. — Neal A. Maxwell

Progress is measured by milestones. What many good people lack are markers that might tell them how they are actually doing. Goals can become a ritual or a fetish, but in the right measure they can give us some much needed reference points. No wonder some seem discouraged! Minus such milestones, we often feel minus in our lives — Neal A. Maxwell

The good life is the best preparation for bad times. — Neal A. Maxwell

For some Church members the Book of Mormon remains unread. Others use it occasionally as if it were merely a handy book of quotations. Still others accept and read it but do not really explore and ponder it. The book is to be feasted upon, not nibbled (see 2 Nephi 31:20). — Neal A. Maxwell

Walking and overcoming by faith is not easy. For one thing, the dimension of time constantly constrains our perspective. Likewise, the world steadily tempts us. No wonder we are given instructive words from Jesus about the narrowness and the straightness of the only path available to return home: "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). And then he said, "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Jesus laid down strict conditions. — Neal A. Maxwell

All of us must walk the same strait and narrow path, know the same kind of experiences as those we would seek to lead and to serve. There is not one strait and narrow path for the officers-the chosen-and another for the enlisted men. We are all to experience life "according to the flesh"; there is no other way, for it is the way to immortality and eternal life. Given the resplendent riches of the promised kingdom, why would anyone wish to walk another path than the one that leads us back to our gracious and merciful Father in Heaven? — Neal A. Maxwell

I thank the Savior personally; for bearing all which I added to His hemorrhaging at every pore for all humanity in Gethsemane. I thank Him for bearing what I added to the decibels of His piercing soul cry atop Calvary. — Neal A. Maxwell

Patient endurance permits us to cling to our faith in the Lord and our faith in His timing when we are being tossed about by the surf of circumstance. Even when a seeming undertow grasps us, somehow, in the tumbling, we are being carried forward, though battered and bruised. — Neal A. Maxwell

We could not learn love in the abstract any more than we could learn patience and the other cardinal virtues. Just as we cannot know the "fellowship of his sufferings" without suffering, we also come to know real fellowship with our fellowmen only by serving them. — Neal A. Maxwell

Ultimate hope and daily grumpiness are not reconcilable. — Neal A. Maxwell

Even if work were not an economic necessity, it is a spiritual necessity. — Neal A. Maxwell

Ultimate hope constitutes the anchor of the soul. — Neal A. Maxwell

Sometimes we are so busy being the hammer or the anvil, that we forget who really needs the shaping. — Neal A. Maxwell

The imperfections of others never release us from the need to work on our own shortcomings. — Neal A. Maxwell

Giving up on God and on oneself constitutes simultaneous surrender to the natural man. — Neal A. Maxwell

Occasionally some individuals let the seeming ordinariness of life dampen their spirits. Though actually coping and growning, others lack the quiet, inner-soul satisfaction that can steady them, and are experiencing instead, a lingering sense that there is something more important they should be doing ... as if what is quietly achieved in righteous individual living or in parenthood are not sufficiently spectacular. — Neal A. Maxwell

I fear that, as conditions worsen, many will react to the failures of too much government by calling for even more government. Then there will be more and more lifeboats launched because fewer and fewer citizens know how to swim. Unlike some pendulums, political pendulums to not swing back automatically; they must be pushed. History is full of instances when people have waited in vain for pendulums to swing back. — Neal A. Maxwell

Pray for me to learn quickly what I need to learn. — Neal A. Maxwell

Long ago when a child lay in a manger, a special star appeared. It didn't just show up that evening. It had to have been placed in its orbit centuries before in a trajectory that would make it appear at that special moment of time to announce the birth of a special child. Just as there is divine design in the universe, so each of us has been placed in our own orbits in this life to love, to serve, to help light the world. — Neal A. Maxwell

We ... live in a world that is too prone to the tasteless, and we need to provide an opportunity to cultivate a taste for the finest music. And, likewise, we're in a world that's so attuned to the now that we need to permit people to be more attuned to the best music of all ages. — Neal A. Maxwell

Time is clearly not our natural dimension. Thus it is that we are never really at home in time. Alternately, we find ourselves wishing to hasten the passage of time or to hold back the dawn. We can do neither, of course, but whereas the fish is at home in water, we are clearly not at home in time
because we belong to eternity. — Neal A. Maxwell

Why is it that for many persons changing others is so exciting and so relevant, while changing oneself is so boring and irrelevant? — Neal A. Maxwell

If the kingdom of God is not first, it doesn't matter what's second. — Neal A. Maxwell

At times God's best pupils experience the most rigorous and continuous courses. Eventually those who prove to be men of Christ will thereby become distinguished alumni of life's school of affliction, graduating with honors. — Neal A. Maxwell

Be careful, fathers, when you inordinately desire things to be better for your children than they were for you. Do not, however unintentionally, make things worse by removing the requirement for reasonable work as part of their experience, thereby insulating your children from the very things that helped make you what you are. — Neal A. Maxwell

The overwhelming joy of conversion or a new calling is often followed by feelings of being overwhelmed with duties and doctrines. The first joyous feelings are real and give one much-needed initial momentum. But the genuine exhilaration is soon followed by the need to perspire and to pedal. — Neal A. Maxwell

The prompting that goes unresponded to may not be repeated. Writing down what we have been prompted with is vital. A special thought can be lost later in the day through the rough and tumble of life. God should not, and may not, choose to repeat the prompting if we assign what is given such a low priority as to put it aside. — Neal A. Maxwell

Truly we work and live on a streetful of splendid people, whom we are to love and serve even if they are uninterested in us! — Neal A. Maxwell

True discipleship is for volunteers only. Only volunteers will trust the Guide sufficiently to follow Him in the dangerous ascent which only He can lead. — Neal A. Maxwell

Frequently, we busily search for group service projects, which are surely needed and commendable, when quiet, personal service is also urgently needed. Sometimes the completing of an occasional group service project ironically salves our consciences when, in fact, we are constantly surrounded by a multitude of opportunities for individual service. In serving, as in true worship, we need to do some things together and some things personally. Our spiritual symmetry is our own responsibility, and balance is so important. — Neal A. Maxwell

Personal, spiritual symmetry emerges only from the shaping of prolonged obedience. Twigs are bent, not snapped into shape. — Neal A. Maxwell

It is only by yielding to God that we can begin to realize His will for us. And if we truly trust God, why not yield to His loving omniscience? After all, He knows us and our possibilities much better than do we. — Neal A. Maxwell

No love is ever wasted. Its worth does not lie in reciprocity. — Neal A. Maxwell

Our journey is demanding enough that the need for reassurance as well as reminders is constant. — Neal A. Maxwell

Though events set up the defining moments which can evoke profiles in righteousness, outward commotions cannot excuse any failure of inward resolve, even if some seem to unravel so easily. — Neal A. Maxwell

God does not begin by asking us about our ability, but only about our availability, and if we then prove our dependability, he will increase our capability. — Neal A. Maxwell

Patience is a willingness, in a sense, to watch the unfolding purposes of God with a sense of wonder and awe, rather than pacing up and down within the cell of our circumstance. — Neal A. Maxwell

How many planets are there in the universe with people on them? We don't know, but we are not alone in the universe! God is not the God of only one planet!
I testify that Jesus is truly the Lord of the universe, "that by [Christ], and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God" D&C 76:24 — Neal A. Maxwell

We can be of so much service to others in many thou-shalt ways. Of course, the problem is that rendering such service takes time, and we are all so busy. Some situations may call for service that somehow seems to be beneath us. Besides, we have other things to do. The thou shalts are so convenient to put off. Who will notice the procrastination anyway? After all, we are not robbing a bank. Or are there forms of withholding that constitute stealing? — Neal A. Maxwell

Our own intellectual shortfalls and perplexities do not alter the fact of God's astonishing foreknowledge, which takes into account our choices for which we are responsible. Amid the mortal and fragmentary communiques and the breaking news of the day concerning various human conflicts, God lives in an eternal now where the past, present, and future are constantly before Him (see D&C 130:7). — Neal A. Maxwell

When man has reached the periphery of the spiderweb of his own reason and logic, he can find the ropes of revelation upon which he can climb upward forever and ever. — Neal A. Maxwell

The "new" in us is bound to notice the "old" that remains. — Neal A. Maxwell

We are in bondage to that which overcomes us. See also 2 Peter 2:19. — Neal A. Maxwell

There is also the very real possibility that, in the justice of God, one of the reasons He uses the weak and the foolish of the world is so that no argument could be made later that certain people were advantaged in some unfair way by that which was unearned-either in the premortal life or here. Hence it seems prudent for us to realize that just because one is set apart or ordained to a certain calling or assignment he or she must not expect to be set apart from the stresses of life. There appear to be no immunities. — Neal A. Maxwell

Though we live in a failing world, we have not been sent here to fail. — Neal A. Maxwell

Faith in God includes Faith in God's timing. — Neal A. Maxwell

The more quickly we loosen our grip on the things of the world the more firmly we can take hold of the things of eternity. — Neal A. Maxwell

God's grace will cover us like a cloak-enough to provide for survival but too thin to keep out all the cold. — Neal A. Maxwell

We may never become accustomed to untrue and unjust criticism of us but we ought not to be immobilized by it. — Neal A. Maxwell

I testify that He is utterly incomparable in what He is, what He knows, what He has accomplished and what He has experienced. Yet, movingly, He calls us His Friends — Neal A. Maxwell

We can tell much by what we have already willing discarded along the pathway of discipleship. It is the only pathway where littering is permissible, even encouraged. In the early stages, the debris left behind includes the grosser sins of commission. Later debris differs; things begin to be discarded which have caused the misuse or underuse of our time and talent. — Neal A. Maxwell

In contrast to the path of selfishness, there is no room for road rage on the straight and narrow way. — Neal A. Maxwell

Regarding trials, including of our faith and patience, there are no exemptions-only variations. — Neal A. Maxwell

You must not mistake passing local cloud cover, for general darkness. — Neal A. Maxwell

The doctrine of foreordination is not a doctrine of repose; instead, it is a doctrine for second- and third-milers, and it will draw out of them the last full measure of devotion. It is a doctrine for the deep believer but it will bring only scorn from the skeptic. — Neal A. Maxwell

Work is always a spiritual necessity even if, for some, work is not an economic necessity. — Neal A. Maxwell

Perfect love is perfectly patient. — Neal A. Maxwell

We are so busy constantly checking our own temperatures, we fail to notice the burning fevers of others. — Neal A. Maxwell

We must endure the contempt of others without reciprocating that contempt. — Neal A. Maxwell

It is understandable how some people could give way to this kind of pervasive pessimism, but we speak of a gospel which brings good tidings of great joy and this must be reflected in our lives, if we are to be believable especially as we suggest to others that there is, in fact, not only a better way, but also the way. Scriptures that speak of man as a being who "might have joy" have more impact when falling from the lips or pens of men and women whose lives give fresh evidence of the validity of that scripture. — Neal A. Maxwell

Real disciples absorb the fiery darts of the adversary by holding aloft the quenching shield of faith with one hand, while holding to the iron rod with the other (see Eph. 6:16; 1 Ne. 15:24; D&C 27:17). There should be no mistaking; it will take both hands! — Neal A. Maxwell

Good homes are still the best source of good humans. — Neal A. Maxwell

Crowds cannot make right what God has declared to be wrong. — Neal A. Maxwell

Sir Thomas More was a victim of injustice and irony. Generously and meekly, just as he was about to be martyred, he said:
Paul ... was present, and consented to the death of St. Stephen, and kept their clothes that stoned him to death, and yet be they [Stephen and Paul] now both twain Holy Saints in heaven, and shall continue there friends for ever, so I verily trust and ... pray, that though your lordships have now here in earth been judges to my condemnation, we may yet hereafter in heaven merrily all meet together, to our everlasting salvation. — Neal A. Maxwell

We can hold to the iron rod even if others slip away and a few end up mocking us from "the great and spacious building." — Neal A. Maxwell

Even the good can become careless without the Lord's being there to chasten. — Neal A. Maxwell

Don't fear, just live right. — Neal A. Maxwell

To be cheerful when others are in despair, to keep the faith when others falter, to be true even when we feel forsaken - all of these are deeply desired outcomes during the deliberate, divine tutorials which God gives to us - because He loves us. These learning experiences must not be misread as divine indifference. Instead, such tutorials are a part of the divine unfolding. — Neal A. Maxwell

Patience is ... clearly not fatalistic, shoulder-shrugging resignation. It is the acceptance of a divine rhythm to life; it is obedience prolonged. Patience stoutly resists pulling up the daisies to see how the roots are doing. — Neal A. Maxwell

Listening is one of the forms of love. — Neal A. Maxwell