Ezra Taft Benson Quotes
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Some of the greatest battles you will face will be fought within the silent chambers of your own soul.
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I never travel across this great nation without experiencing a feeling of gratitude and thanksgiving for all that we have and are. As I see its broad fruitful farms, its humming factories, its gleaming cities, certainly it is easy to realize that we have achieved unequaled material progress in this great country.
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Rights are either God-given as part of the divine plan, or they are granted by government as part of the political plan. If we accept the premise that human rights are granted by government, then we must be willing to accept the corollary that they can be denied by government.
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It is not on the pinnacle of success and ease where men and women grow most. It is often down in the valley of heartache and disappointment and reverses where men and women grow.
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Beware of those who would pit the dead prophets against the living prophets, for the living prophets always take precedence.
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Our families may be corrupted by worldly trends and teachings unless we know how to use the Book of Mormon to expose and combat the falsehoods in socialism, organic evolution, rationalism, humanism, and so forth.…And our nation will continue to degenerate unless we read and heed the words of the God of this land, Jesus Christ, and quit building up and upholding the secret combinations which the Book of Mormon tells us proved the downfall of both previous American civilizations.
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Every Latter-day Saint should love the inspired Constitution of the United States - a nation with a spiritual foundation and a prophetic history - which nation the Lord has declared to be his base of operations in these latter days.
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Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ.
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To lose yourself in righteous service to others can lift your sights and get your mind off personal problems, or at least put them in proper focus.
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Since the beginning, a woman's first and most important role has been ushering into mortality spirit sons and daughters of our Father in Heaven.
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When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities.
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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.
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Build traditions of family vacations and trips and outings. These memories will never be forgotten by your children.
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There are certain basic principles regarding the proper role of government. If principles are correct, then they can be applied to any specific proposal with confidence... The true statesman values principle above popularity, and works to create popularity for those political principles which are wise and just.
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The man who is greatest and most blessed and joyful is one whose life most closely approaches the pattern of Christ. This has nothing to do with earthly wealth, power, or prestige. The only true test of greatness, blessedness, joyfulness is how close can a life come to being like the Master, Jesus Christ. He is the right way, the full truth, and the abundant life.
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Successful families try to work together toward solutions instead of resorting to criticism and contention.
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I have often said one of the greatest secrets of missionary work is work! If a missionary works, he will get the Spirit; if he gets the Spirit, he will teach by the Spirit; and if he teaches by the Spirit, he will touch the hearts of the people and he will be happy. There will be no homesickness, no worrying about families, for all time and talents and interests are centered on the work of the ministry. Work, work, work-there is no satisfactory substitute, especially in missionary work.
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Give me a young man who has kept himself morally clean and has faithfully attended his church meetings. Give me a young man who has magnified his priesthood and has earned the Duty of God Award and is an Eagle Scout. Give me a young man who is a Seminary graduate and has a burning testimony of the Book of Mormon. Give me such a young man, and I will give you a young man who can perform miracles for the Lord in the mission field and throughout his life.
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One of the cardinal sins in our country is profanity -- the taking of the name of the Lord in vain. Reverence for the name of Deity is enjoined in holy writ. Jesus made this clear when teaching His disciples to pray. He said, addressing the Father, "Hallowed be thy name: (see Matthew 6:9). Blaspheming the name of God separates man from his Creator."
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The great task of life is to learn the will of the Lord and then do it.
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Pride is ugly. It says 'If you succeed I am a failure.'
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To be a successful missionary one must have the Spirit of the Lord. We are also taught that the Spirit will not dwell in unclean tabernacles. Therefore, one of the first things a missionary must do to gain spirituality is to make sure his own personal life is in order.
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To love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is all-consuming and all-encompassin g. It is no lukewarm endeavor. It is total commitment of our very being-physicall y, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually-to a love of the Lord.
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No true Latter-day Saint and no true American can be a socialist or a communist.