Boyd K. Packer Quotes

Tolerance is a virtue, but like all virtues, when exaggerated, it transforms itself into a vice. We need to be careful of the “tolerance trap” so that we are not swallowed up in it. The permissiveness afforded by the weakening of the laws of the land to tolerate legalized acts of immorality does not reduce the serious spiritual consequence that is the result of the violation of God’s law of chastity.

Faith is a real power, not just an expression of belief.

Punctuality is an essential trait of the teacher. It is a foundation, not an embellishment.

How grateful we are for you, our youth.

Do not ever disturb prelude music for others, for reverence is essential to revelation

Young men speak about the future because they have no past, and old men speak of the past because they have no future.

If you need a transfusion of spiritual strength then just ask for it. We call that Prayer. Prayer is powerful spiritual medicine.

Get to Know Yourself Once you start getting acquainted with yourselves, finding out who you are and where you belong and who your relatives are, spiritually speaking as well as in the earthly frame of reference, you come to the astounding, overwhelming realization that you are a child of God-that you belong to Him, that He is your Father. He is our Father.

Happily ever after never happens in the second act.

The Word of Wisdom does not promise you perfect health, but it teaches how to keep the body you were born with in the best condition and your mind alert to delicate spiritual promptings.

Often, very often, we are punished as much by our sins as we are for them.

The guilt that accompanies mistakes can be washed away.

Somewhere there is a message in the protest of the man who said, "You can't tell me that worry doesn't help. The things I worry about never happen."

Those who speak of blind obedience may appear to know many things, but they do not understand the doctrines of the gospel. There is an obedience that comes from a knowledge of the truth that transcends any external form of control. We are not obedient because we are blind, we are obedient because we can see.

There are spiritual and physical laws to obey if we are to be happy.

The ultimate end of all activity in the Church is to see a husband and his wife and their children happy at home, protected by the principles and laws of the gospel, sealed safely in the covenants of the everlasting priesthood. Husbands and wives should understand that their first calling-from which they will never be released-is to one another and then to their children.

Some things that are true are not very useful.

Parents are with their children almost constantly and can observe when they are ready to be instructed. From questions or behavior or because of experiences in their own lives, they can sense that it is time to teach. Parents must know when the time for the lesson is now, right now, for their children are ready for it.

Every soul confined in a prison of sin, guilt, or perversion has a key to the gate. The key is labeled “repentance.” If you know how to use this key, the adversary cannot hold you.

True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior. Preoccupation with unworthy behavior can lead to unworthy behavior. That is why we stress so forcefully the study of the doctrines of the gospel.

The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ has the nourishing power to heal starving spirits of the world.

There is a temptation for the writer or the teacher of Church history to want to tell everything, whether it is worthy or faith promoting or not. Some things that are true are not very useful.

Teenagers also sometimes think, 'What's the use? The world will soon be blown all apart and come to an end.' That feeling comes from fear, not from faith. No one knows the hour or the day (see D&C 49:7), but the end cannot come until all of the purposes of the Lord are fulfilled. Everything that I have learned from the revelations and from life convinces me that there is time and to spare for you to carefully prepare for a long life.

Like most things of great worth, knowledge which is of eternal value comes only through personal prayer and pondering. These, joined with fasting and scripture study, will invite impressions and revelations and the whisperings of the Holy Spirit. This provides us with instruction from on high as we learn precept upon precept.

If prayer is to leave the public schools, let the ridicule of prayer leave also.

Things we cannot solve, we must survive.

The first gift that Adam and Eve received was agency: ‘Thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee’ (Moses 3:17). You have that same agency. Use it wisely to deny acting on any impure impulse or unholy temptation that may come into your mind. Just do not go there, and if you are already there, come back out of it. ‘Deny yourselves of all ungodliness’ (Moroni 10:32).

The answer is the same for everyone: we must, and we can, resist temptations of any kind.

No one of us can survive in the world of today, much less what it will become, without personal inspiration.

This great circle of sisters will be a protection for each of you and for your families. The Relief Society might be likened to a refuge- the place of safety and protection- the sanctuary of ancient times. You will be safe within it. It encircles each sister like a protecting wall.

Don't live so that your children go unled because of habits that leave you uninspired.

I know that God is our Father. He introduced His Son, Jesus Christ, to Joseph Smith. I declare to you that I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that He lives. He was born in the meridian of time. He taught His gospel and was tried. He suffered and was crucified and resurrected on the third day. He, like His Father, has a body of flesh and bone. He made His Atonement. Of Him I bear witness. Of Him I am a witness.

In or out of marriage, abortion is not an individual choice. At a minimum, three lives are involved.

Happiness will depend on what each of us does with what each has, what we learn from what we do, and what we do thereafter.

The Spirit is a voice that one feels more than hears.

The scriptures hold the keys to spiritual protection.

The gospel stands as true for those who reject it as for those who accept it - both will be judged by it.

Parents now are concerned about the moral and spiritual diseases. These can have terrible complications when standards and values are abandoned. We must all take protective measures.

Freedom is not a self-preserving gift. It has to be earned, and it has to be protected.

In the eternal scheme of things - not always in mortality - righteous yearning and longing will be fulfilled.

Perhaps no other book has been denounced so vigorously by those who have never read it as has the Book of Mormon.

We were given our agency. We must use it wisely and remain close to the Spirit; otherwise, we foolishly find ourselves yielding to the enticements of the adversary.

If you understand the great plan of happiness and follow it, what goes on in the world will not determine your happiness.

Addiction has the capacity to disconnect the human will and nullify moral agency. It can rob one of the power to decide.

Some worry endlessly over missions that were missed, or marriages that did not turn out, or babies that did not arrive, or children that seem lost, or dreams unfulfilled, or because age limits what they can do. I do not think it pleases the Lord when we worry because we think we never do enough or that what we do is never good enough....Some needlessly carry a heavy burden of guilt which could be removed through confession and repentance.

I'm not ashamed to say that I want to be good. And I've found in my life that it has been critically important to establish this intention between me and the Lord so that I knew that HE knew which way I committed my agency. I went before Him and said, 'I'm not neutral, and you can do with me what you want. If you need my vote-it's there. I don't care what you do with me and you don't have to take anything from me because I give it to you-everything. All I own. All I am.' And THAT has made all the difference.

No service in the Church or in the community transcends that given in the home.

Our lives are made up of thousands of everyday choices. Over the years these little choices will be bundled together and show clearly what we value.