Ezra Taft Benson Pride Quotes & Sayings

The central feature of pride is enmity - enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means "hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition." It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us. — Ezra Taft Benson

Think of the repentance that could take place with lives changed, marriages preserved, and homes strengthened, if pride did not keep us from confessing our sins and forsaking them. — Ezra Taft Benson

The antidote for pride is humility; meekness; submissiveness...
Let us choose to be humble.
We can choose to humble ourselves by
conquering enmity toward our brothers and sisters,
esteeming them as ourselves,
and lifting them as high or higher than we are...
We can choose to humble ourselves
by receiving counsel and chastisement...
We can choose to humble ourselves by
forgiving those who have offended us...
We can choose to humble ourselves by
rendering selfless service...
We can chose to humble ourselves by
going on missions and preaching the word that can humble others...
We can choose to humble ourselves by
getting to the temple more frequently...
We can choose to humble ourselves by
confessing and forsaking our sins and being born of God...
We can choose to humble ourselves by loving God,
submitting our will to His, and putting Him first in our lives — Ezra Taft Benson

There is, however, a far more common ailment among us - and that is pride from the bottom looking up. It is manifest in so many ways, such as faultfinding, gossiping, backbiting, and murmuring, living beyond our means, envying, coveting, withholding gratitude and praise that might lift another, and being unforgiving and jealous. — Ezra Taft Benson

Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We pit our will against God's. — Ezra Taft Benson

Pride is ugly. It says, 'If you succeed, I am a failure.' — Ezra Taft Benson

Some prideful people are not so concerned as to whether their wages meet their needs as they are that their wages are more than someone else's. Their reward is being a cut above the rest. This is the enmity of pride. — Ezra Taft Benson

One of Satan's greatest tools is pride: to cause a man or a woman to center so much attention on self that he or she becomes insensitive to his Creator or fellow beings. It is a cause for discontent, divorce, teenage rebellion, family indebtedness, and most other problems we face. — Ezra Taft Benson

Pride is competition-competition between God and Man. — Ezra Taft Benson

Pride is a sin that can readily be seen in others but is rarely admitted in ourselves. — Ezra Taft Benson

With pride, there are many curses. With humility, there come many blessings. — Ezra Taft Benson

Was it not through pride that the devil became the devil? Christ wanted to serve. The devil wanted to rule. — Ezra Taft Benson

The proud wish God would agree with them. They are not interested in changing their opinions to agree with God's. — Ezra Taft Benson

Pride adversely affects all our relationships - our relationship with God and His servants, between husband and wife, parent and child, employer and employee, teacher and student, and all mankind. Our degree of pride determines how we treat our God and our brothers and sisters. Christ wants to lift us to where He is. Do we desire to do the same for others? — Ezra Taft Benson

Pride is the great stumbling block of Zion ... Pride is ugly; it says if you succeed I am a failure ... Pride is basically competitive in nature. When competition ends, pride ends. — Ezra Taft Benson

Many of us have a tendency to forget the Gracious Hand which has preserved our nation, enriched it, strengthened it. Many of us imagine in the foolishness of pride, that our manifold blessings are due not to God's goodness, but to our own wisdom and virtue. Too many of us have been so drunk with self-sufficiency as no longer to feel the need of prayer. — Ezra Taft Benson

Humility responds to God's will-to the fear of His judgments and to the needs of those around us. To the proud, the applause of the world rings in their ears; to the humble, the applause of heaven warms their hearts. Someone has said, "Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man." — Ezra Taft Benson

Pride ... limits or stops progression. The proud are not easily taught. They won't change their minds to accept truths, because to do so implies they have been wrong. — Ezra Taft Benson

Pride is characterized by "What do I want out of life?" rather than by "What would God have me do with my life?" It is self-will as opposed to God's will. It is the fear of man over the fear of God. — Ezra Taft Benson

Essentially, pride is a 'my will' rather than 'thy will' approach to life. — Ezra Taft Benson

Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right. — Ezra Taft Benson

In the scriptures there is no such thing as righteous pride - it is always considered a sin. Therefore, no matter how the world uses the term, we must understand how God uses the term so we can understand the language of holy writ and profit thereby. — Ezra Taft Benson

Selfishness is one of the more common faces of pride. 'How everything affects me' is the center of all that matters - self-conceit, self-pity, worldly self-fulfillment, self-gratification, and self-seeking. — Ezra Taft Benson

The proud cannot accept the authority of God giving direction to their lives. (See Helaman 12:6.) They pit their perceptions of truth against God's great knowledge, their abilities versus God's priesthood power, and their accomplishments against His mighty works. — Ezra Taft Benson