Spencer Kimball Quotes & Sayings

Let us remember, too, that greatness is not always a matter of the scale of one's life, but of the quality of one's life. True greatness is not always tied to the scope of our tasks, but to the quality of how we carry out our tasks whatever they are. In that attitude, let us give our time, ourselves, and our talents to the things that really matter now, things which will still matter a thousand years from now. — Spencer W. Kimball

True repentance does not permit repetition. — Spencer W. Kimball

We make no apology then for raising our voices loud to a world that is ripening in sin the lord has said, Say nothing but repentance unto this generation; The adversary is subtle, cunning, he knows that he cannot induce good men and women immediately to do major evils so he moves slyly, whispering half truths until he has his intended victims following him finally he clamps his chains upon them and fetters them tight, and then he laughs at their discomfiture and their misery. — Spencer W. Kimball

In Spencer W. Kimball, 23. — The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints

I promise that if you will keep your journals and records, they will indeed be a source of great inspiration to your families, to your children, your grandchildren, and others, on through the generations. Each of us is important to those who are near and dear to us and as our posterity reads of our life's experiences, they, too, will come to know and love us. And in that glorious day when our families are together in the eternities, we will already be acquainted. — Spencer W. Kimball

In the kingdom, the greater our responsibilities, the greater is our need to see ourselves as servants. — Spencer W. Kimball

Perhaps the greatest reason for missionary work is to give the world it's chance to hear and accept the gospel. The scriptures are replete with commands and promises and calls and rewards for teach the gospel. I use the word command deliberately for it seems to be an insistent directive from which we, singly and collectively, cannot escape ... I wonder if we are doing all we can. Are we complacent in our approach to teaching all the world? We have been proselyting now 144 years. Are we prepared to lengthen our stride? To enlarge our vision? — Spencer W. Kimball

By one means or another, the swiftest method of rejection of the holy prophets has been to find a pretext, however false or absurd, to dismiss the man so that his message could also be dismissed. — Spencer W. Kimball

God is our Father, and we are his children. He has given us instructions. We are to follow the path. Righteous home life and activities, inspired teaching of gospel truths in the home, wise parental guidance, father presiding, and father and mother in counsel together-that's the cure for the problems of our time, a remedy for ills in our families — Spencer W. Kimball

One of the best ways to celebrate righteous history is to make more of it, make more righteous history! — Spencer W. Kimball

Any excuse for non-performance, no matter how valid, weakens character. — Spencer W. Kimball

Love people, not things; use things, not people. — Spencer W. Kimball

Home: The place to save society. — Spencer W. Kimball

Success should not necessarily be gauged by always reaching the goal set, but by progress and attainment. — Spencer W. Kimball

It is not so much what we know that is important, as what we are and what we do. — Spencer W. Kimball

Do not make small goals because they do not have the magic to stir men's souls. — Spencer W. Kimball

We are on the whole an idolatrous people. — Spencer W. Kimball

It is a glorious privilege to be attending this, the greatest university in all the world ... take a good look and carefully analyze, and when you take the important points and sum them up, you come out with this final thought: Brigham Young University is the greatest university in the world. — Spencer W. Kimball

Always keep good company. Never waste an hour with anyone who doesn't lift you up and encourage you. — Spencer W. Kimball

The more we are guided by eternal considerations in our conduct, the better we will manage our mortality. — Spencer W. Kimball

Of all treasures of knowledge, the most vital is the knowledge of God, his existence, powers, love, and promises. — Spencer W. Kimball

As Latter-day Saints we must ever be vigilant. The way for each person and each family to guard against the slings and arrows of the Adversary and to prepare for the great day of the Lord is to hold fast to the iron rod, to exercise greater faith, to repent of our sins and shortcomings, and to be anxiously engaged in the work of His kingdom on earth, which is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Herein lies the only true happiness for all our Father's children. — Spencer W. Kimball

There are many upright and faithful who live all the commandments and whose lives and prayers keep the world from destruction. — Spencer W. Kimball

I find that when I get casual with my relationship with divinity and when it seems no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away. If I immerse myself in the scriptures, the distance narrows and the spirituality returns. I find myself loving more intimately those I should love with all my heart, mind, and strength. — Spencer W. Kimball

We do believe in setting goals. We live by goals. In athletics we always have a goal. When we go to school, we have the goal of graduation and degrees. Our total existence is goal-oriented. We must have goals to make progress, encouraged by keeping records ... as the swimmer or the jumper or the runner does ... Progress is easier when it is timed, checked, and measured ... Goals are good. Laboring with a distant aim sets the mind in a higher key and puts us at our best. Goals should always be made to a point that will make us reach and strain. — Spencer W. Kimball

Just think of the possibilities, the potential. Every little boy that has just been born becomes an heir to this glorious, glorious program. When he is grown, he meets a lovely woman; they are married in the holy temple. They live all the commandments of the Lord. They keep themselves clean. And then they become sons of God, and they go forward with their great program-they go beyond the angels, beyond the angels and the gods that are waiting there. They go to their exaltation. — Spencer W. Kimball

Your life is your own, to develop or to destroy. You can blame others little and yourself almost totally if that life is not a productive, worthy, full, and abundant one. — Spencer W. Kimball

Please follow the counsel you have been given in the past and maintain your personal journals. Those who keep a book of remembrance are more likely to keep the Lord in remembrance in their daily lives. Journals are a way of counting our blessings and of leaving an inventory of these blessings for our posterity. — Spencer W. Kimball

We may have much that worries us, and we may find many reasons to be concerned. Yet, as President Spencer W. Kimball observed, peace and the Savior's doctrine of forgiveness are inseparably connected: The essence of forgiveness is that it brings peace to the previously anxious, restless, frustrated, perhaps tormented soul. — Cecil O. Samuelson

The difficulties and hazards of marriage are greatly increased where backgrounds are different — Spencer W. Kimball

Man can be literally transformed by his own repentance and by God's gift of forgiveness. — Spencer W. Kimball

The more we serve our fellowmen in appropriate ways, the more substance there is to our souls. We become more significant individuals as we serve others. We become more substantive as we serve others - indeed, it is easier to "find" ourselves because there is so much more of us to find! — Spencer W. Kimball

There isn't anything else more important than taking the gospel to the world. — Spencer W. Kimball

The time will come when only those who believe deeply and actively in the family will be able to preserve their families in the midst of the gathering evil around us. — Spencer W. Kimball

One of the most serious human defects in all ages is procrastination, an unwillingness to accept personal responsibilities now. — Spencer W. Kimball

Man is naturally a religious being. His heart instinctively seeks for God whether he reverences the sacred cow or prays to the sun or moon; whether he kneels before wood and stone images, or prays in secret to his Heavenly Father, he is satisfying an inborn urge. — Spencer W. Kimball

One can hardly help another to the top of the hill without climbing there himself. — Spencer W. Kimball

We learn to do by doing. — Spencer W. Kimball

It is an act of extreme selfishness for a married couple to refuse to have children when they are able to do so. — Spencer W. Kimball

You women are daughters of God. You are precious. You are made in the image of our Heavenly Mother. — Spencer W. Kimball

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

Sickness sometimes is a great blessing. People become angels through sickness. — Spencer W. Kimball

The day obedience becomes a quest and not an irritation is the day you gain power. — Spencer W. Kimball

We know so little. Our judgment is so limited. We judge the Lord's ways from our own narrow view. — Spencer W. Kimball

But let us emphasize that right and wrong, righteousness and sin, are not dependent upon man's interpretations, conventions and attitudes. Social acceptance does not change the status of an act, making wrong into right. If all the people in the world were to accept homosexuality, the practice would still be a deep, dark sin. — Spencer W. Kimball

It [masturbation] too often leads to grievous sin, even to that sin against nature, homosexuality. For, done in private, it evolves often into mutual masturbation - practiced with another person of the same sex - and thence into total homosexuality. — Spencer W. Kimball

Develop discipline of self so that you do not have to decide and re-decide what you will do when you are confronted with the same temptation time and time again. You need only decide some things once. — Spencer W. Kimball

I am convinced that each of us, at some time in our lives, must discover the scriptures for ourselves - and not just discover them once, but rediscover them again and again. — Spencer W. Kimball

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 cafe. 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

The best way to resist temptation is to avoid it. Prevention is far, far better than repentance. — Spencer W. Kimball

The abundant life begins from within and then moves outward to other individuals. If there is richness and righteousness in us, then we can make a difference in the lives of others, just as key individuals have influenced the lives of each of us for good and made us richer than we otherwise would have been. — Spencer W. Kimball

I go down the street, I say hello to everybody, a stranger or otherwise. I know that they do not know me, but I like to say hello and I think they appreciate it. I notice their faces light up with a smile and I believe that if all the people in our great city ... would do that, the whole world would begin to say it is the "Friendly City." You can do a tremendous thing here. We get so absorbed, we do not always speak to our friends. Speak to them, even strangers, you are not going to give offense. — Spencer W. Kimball

There is nothing unholy or degrading about sexuality in itself, for by that means men and women join in a process of creation and in an expression of love — Spencer W. Kimball

Every divorce is the result of selfishness on the part of one or the other or both parties to a marriage contract. Someone is thinking of self comforts, conveniences, freedoms, luxuries, or ease. Sometimes the ceaseless pin pricking of an unhappy, discontented, and selfish spouse can finally add up to serious physical violence. Sometimes people are goaded to the point where they erringly feel justified in doing the things that are so wrong. Nothing of course justifies sin. — Spencer W. Kimball

I have learned that it is by serving that we learn how to serve. When we engaged in the service of our fellowmen, not only do our deeds assist them but we put our own problems in fresher perspective. When we concern ourselves more with others, there is less time to be concerned with ourselves — Spencer W. Kimball

We have a commitment to serve our Lord. We have an assurance that the cause is just and worthy. But, above all, we have a knowledge that God lives and is in His Heavens and that His Son Jesus Christ has laid out a plan for us which will bring us and our loved ones eternal life if we are faithful. That life will be a busy, purposeful life with accomplishments and joys and development. — Spencer W. Kimball

Brethren and sisters, the day of miracles is not passed except for those whose faith has passed. — Spencer W. Kimball

Being human, we would expel from our lives physical pain and mental anguish and assure ourselves of continual ease and comfort, but if we were to close the doors upon sorrow and distress, we might be excluding our greatest friends and benefactors. Suffering can make saints of people as they learn patience, long-suffering, and self-mastery. — Spencer W. Kimball

Failure to plan brings barrenness and sterility. Fate brushes man with its wings, but we make our own fate largely. — Spencer W. Kimball

Spencer W. Kimball: No Ordinary Man," Ensign, Mar. 1974, 3. — The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints

Sow a thought, reap an act; Sow an act, reap a habit; Sow a habit, reap a character; Sow a character, reap an eternal destiny. — Spencer W. Kimball

To be sure your life will be full and abundant, you must plan your life. — Spencer W. Kimball

Self-justification is the enemy of repentance. — Spencer W. Kimball

If we live in such a way that the considerations of eternity press upon us, we will make better decisions. — Spencer W. Kimball

God is good. He is eager to forgive. He wants us to perfect ourselves and maintain control of ourselves. He does not want Satan and others to control our lives. We must learn that keeping our Heavenly Father's commandments represents the only path to total control of ourselves, the only way to find joy, truth, and fulfillment in this life and in eternity. — Spencer W. Kimball

The burning bushes, the smoking mountains, ... the Cumorahs, and the Kirtlands were realities; but they were the exceptions ... Always expecting the spectacular, many will miss entirely the constant flow of revealed communication. — Spencer W. Kimball

The Lord's way builds individual self esteem and develops and heals the dignity of the individual, whereas the world's way depresses the individual's view of himself and causes deep resentment — Spencer W. Kimball

The statement, "As a man thinketh, so is he," could equally well be rendered "As a man thinketh, so does he." If one thinks it long enough he is likely to do it. — Spencer W. Kimball

There are two keys to productive missionary work
(1) family-to-family friendshipping (when a member family shares the gospel with a nonmember family) and (2) cooperation between members and the missionaries to reach people ... Every member knows of nonmembers he or she can refer to the missionaries. Every father, mother, and youth in this church should share the gospel by giving a Book of Mormon, telling the account of the Prophet Joseph Smith, or inviting our acquaintances to a special meeting. — Spencer W. Kimball

Time cannot be recycled. When a moment has gone, it is really gone. Wise time management is really wise management of ourselves. — Spencer W. Kimball

If you have not done so yet, decide to decide. — Spencer W. Kimball

A mission is not just a casual thing-it is not an alternative program in the Church. Neither is a mission a matter of choice any more than tithing is a choice, any more than sacrament meeting is a choice, any more than the Word of Wisdom is a choice. Of course, we have our free agency, and the Lord has given us choices. We can do as we please. We can go on a mission or we can remain home. But every normal young man is as much obligated to go on a mission as he is to pay his tithing, attend his meetings, keep the Sabbath day holy, and keep his life spotless and clean. — Spencer W. Kimball

Love is like a flower, and like the body, it needs constant feeding ... And with love, also, cannot be expected to last forever unless it is continually fed with portions of love, the manifestation of esteem and admiration, the expressions of gratitude, and the consideration of unselfishness. — Spencer W. Kimball

Wherever you have a plot of land, however small, plant a garden. Staying close to the soil is good for the soul. — Spencer W. Kimball

Oh, brothers and sisters, families can be forever! Do not let the lures [or the irritants] of the moment draw you away from them! Divinity, eternity, and family
they go together, hand in hand, and so must we! — Spencer W. Kimball

To be mediocre, when only application and diligence would have netted superiority, is an error akin to sin. — Spencer W. Kimball

Home life, home teaching, parental guidance is the panacea for all the ailments, a cure for all diseases, a remedy for all problems. — Spencer W. Kimball

How could a person possibly become what he is not thinking? Nor is any thought, when persistently entertained, too small to have its effect. The 'divinity that shapes our ends' is indeed ourselves. — Spencer W. Kimball

Many good people, being influenced by the bold spirit of the times, are now seeking surgery for the wife or the husband so they may avoid pregnancies and comply with the strident voice demanding a reduction of children. It was never easy to bear and rear children, but easy things do not make for growth and development. But loud, blatant voices today shout 'fewer children' and offer the Pill, drugs, surgery, and even ugly abortion to accomplish that. Strange the proponents of depopulating the world seem never to have thought of continence! — Spencer W. Kimball

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

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. — Spencer W. Kimball

Strength and struggle travel together. — Spencer W. Kimball

We are not asking for something spectacular but rather for our sisters to find real self-fulfillment through wise self-development in the pursuit of righteous and worthy endeavors. — Spencer W. Kimball

Whatever thing a man sets his heart on ... is his god; and if his god doesn't also happen to be the true and living God of Israel that man is laboring in idolatry. — Spencer W. Kimball

My plea therefore is this: Let us get our instruments tightly strung and our melodies sweetly sung. Let us not die with our music still in us. Let us rather use this precious mortal probation to move confidently and gloriously upward toward the eternal life which God our Father gives to those who keep his commandments. — Spencer W. Kimball

Make certain decisions only once. — Spencer W. Kimball

Sometimes our celebrations of notable occurrences seem to take on earthly color, and we do not fully realize the significance of the reason for the celebration. This is true of Christmas, when too often we celebrate the holiday rather than the deep significance of the birth and resurrection of the Lord. They must be unhappy indeed who ignore the godship of Christ, the sonship of the Master. — Spencer W. Kimball

We don't go to Sabbath meetings to be entertained or even solely
to be instructed. We go to worship the Lord. It is an individual
responsibility, and regardless of what is said from the pulpit, if one
wishes to worship the Lord in spirit and truth, he may do so by
attending his meetings, partaking of the sacrament, and
contemplating the beauties of the gospel If the service is a
failure to you, you have failed. No one can worship for you. You
must do your own waiting upon the Lord. — Spencer W. Kimball

When one becomes conscious of his great humility, he has already lost it. When one begins boasting of his humility, it has already become pride-the antithesis of humility. — Spencer W. Kimball

How wonderful that God should endow us with this sensitive yet strong guide we call a conscience! Someone has aptly re-marked that conscience is a celestial spark which God has put into every man for the purpose of saving his soul. — Spencer W. Kimball

Young men do not usually become inactive in the Church because they are given too many significant things to do. — Spencer W. Kimball

And you fathers, are you so busy making a living, playing golf, bowling, hunting, that you do not have time to talk to your boys and hold them close to you and win their confidence? Or do you brush them off, so that they dare not come and talk about these things with you? — Spencer W. Kimball

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

I find that when I get casual in my relationships with divinity and when it seems that no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away. If I immerse myself in the scriptures the distance narrows and the spirituality returns. I find myself loving more intensely those whom I must love with all my heart and mind and strength, and loving them more, I find it easier to abide their counsel. — Spencer W. Kimball

The only way we can keep our freedom is to work at it. Not some of us. All of us. Not some of the time, but all of the time. — Spencer W. Kimball

There is never a day in any mans life when repentance is not essential to his well being in eternal progress. — Spencer W. Kimball

Every Latter-day Saint should sustain, honor, and obey the constitutional law of the land in which he lives. — Spencer W. Kimball

It is in the doing that the real blessing comes. Do it! That's our motto. — Spencer W. Kimball

They who get off on tangents and ride hobby horses to death are they who become fanatic. Let them understand that they must be tolerant of others faults but never accept as justifiable their own. — Spencer W. Kimball

No matter what you read or hear, no matter what the difference of circumstances you observe in the lives of women about you, it is important for you Latter-day Saint women to understand that the Lord holds motherhood and mothers sacred and in the highest esteem. He has entrusted to his daughters the great responsibility of bearing and nurturing children ... There is divinity in each new life. — Spencer W. Kimball