Hugh B Nibley Quotes & Sayings

The gas-law of learning: ... any amount of information no matter how small will fill any intellectual void no matter how large. — Hugh Nibley

Being self-taught is no disgrace; but being self-certified is another matter. — Hugh Nibley

Self-justification, that was the danger
the exhilerating exercise of explaining why my ways are God's ways after all. — Hugh Nibley

[Eve] sees through Satan's disquise of clever hypocrisy, identifies him, and exposes him for what he is ... [ever since Satan has] had it in for women. — Hugh Nibley

Well, I have a testimony, I may be ignorant, but I am not lost. — Hugh Nibley

Don't be like anybody else. Be different. Then you can make a
contribution. Otherwise, you just echo something; you're just a reflection. — Hugh Nibley

Things that appear unlikely, impossible, or paradoxical from one point of view often make perfectly good sense from another. — Hugh Nibley

At UCLA I quickly learned the knack of getting grades, a craven surrender to custom, since grades had little to do with learning. — Hugh Nibley

When, indeed, is a thing proven? Only
when an individual has accumulated in his own consciousness
enough observations, impressions, reasonings and feelings to
satisfy him personally that it is so. The same evidence which
convinces one expert may leave another completely unsatisfied. — Hugh Nibley

No matter where we begin, if we pursue knowledge diligently and honestly, our quest will inevitably lead us from the things of the earth to the things of heaven. — Hugh Nibley

Indolent and unworthy the beggar may be - but that is not your concern: It is better, said Joseph Smith, to feed ten impostors than to run the risk of turning away one honest petition. — Hugh Nibley

The worst sinners, according to Jesus, are not the harlots and publicans, but the religious leaders with their insistence on proper dress and grooming, their careful observance of all the rules, their precious concern for status symbols, their strict legality, their pious patriotism ... the haircut becomes the test of virtue in a world where Satan deceives and rules by appearances. — Hugh Nibley

Doctors and trainers often see perfectly developed bodies, but nobody can even begin to imagine what a perfect *mind* would be like; that is where the whole range of progress and growth must take place. — Hugh Nibley

The book of Isaiah is a tract for our own times; our very aversion to it testifies to its relevance. — Hugh Nibley

Beauty is whatever gives joy. — Hugh Nibley

The very helplessness of the public which makes it necessary for them to consult the experts also makes it impossible for them to judge how expert they are. — Hugh Nibley

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the House of the Lord than mingle with the top brass in the tents of the wicked. — Hugh Nibley

And the issue is never the merits of the evidence but always the jealous rivalry of the contestants to see which would be the official light unto the world. Right down to the present day we have been the spectators of a foolish contest between equally vain and bigoted rivals. — Hugh Nibley

Only if you reach the boundary will the boundary recede before you. And if you don't, if you confine your efforts, the boundary will shrink to accommodate itself to your efforts. And you can only expand your capacities by working to the very limit. — Hugh Nibley

Nobody loves the rat race, but nobody can think of anything else - Satan has us just where he wants us. — Hugh Nibley

Wherever we look in the ancient world the past has been controlled, but nowhere more rigorously than in the history of the Christian church. The methods of control, wherever we find them, fall under three general heads which might be described as (a) the invention, (b) the destruction, and (c) the alteration of documents. — Hugh Nibley

No matter what happens, it will, then, always remain secret: only I know exactly the weight and force of the covenants I have made
I and the Lord with whom I have made them
unless I choose to reveal them. If I do not, then they are secret and sacred no matter what others may say or do. Anyone who would reveal these things has not understood them, and therefore that person has not given them away. You cannot reveal what you do not know! — Hugh Nibley

What on earth have a man's name, degree, academic position, and of all things, opinions, to do with whether a thing is true? — Hugh Nibley

Every way of life produces its own environment and in turn is influenced by that environment. — Hugh Nibley

All scholarship, like all science, is an ongoing, open-ended discussion in which all conclusions are tentative forever, the principal value and charm of the game being the discovery of the totally unexpected. — Hugh Nibley

Careerism is the determination to reign in hell rather than serve in heaven. — Hugh Nibley

God's command to have dominion over every living thing is a call to service, a test of responsibility, a rule of love, a cooperation with nature, whereas Satan's use of force for the sake of getting gain renders the earth uninhabitable. Brigham Young's views on the environment direct attention to man's responsibility to beautify the earth, to eradicate the influences of harmful substances, and to use restraint, that the earth may return to its paradisiacal glory. — Hugh Nibley

Man's dominion is a call to service, not a license to to exterminate. — Hugh Nibley

True knowledge never shuts the door on more knowledge, but zeal often does. — Hugh Nibley

Why read the Book of Mormon? Because angels do not come on trivial errands. — Hugh Nibley

Joseph Smith could not have picked a better year to start The Book of Mormon than 600 B.C. — Hugh Nibley

The genius of stable societies is that they achieve stability without stagnation, repetition without monotony, conformity with originality, obedience with liberty. — Hugh Nibley

Who is righteous? Anyone who is repenting. No matter how bad he has been, if he is repenting he is a righteous man. There is hope for him. And no matter how good he has been all his life, if he is not repenting, he is a wicked man. The difference is which way you are facing. The man on the top of the stairs facing down if much worse off than the man on the bottom step who is facing up. The direction we are facing, that is repentance; and that is what determines whether we are good or bad. — Hugh Nibley

The tragedy of the Book of Mormon is not what became of the Nephites but what the Nephites became. — Hugh Nibley