Heber J. Grant Quotes

I do not believe we accomplish very much in life unless we are enthusiastic, unless we are in earnest, and unless we practice what we preach.

There is no other labor in all the world that brings to a human heart, judging from my own personal experience, more joy, peace and serenity than proclaiming the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ

If you desire the spirit of God you must keep the commandments of God.

In times of temptation, of sorrow, of peace and of blessing, let us pray always, both alone and with our families.

No power on earth, no power beneath the earth, will ever prevent you or me or any Latter-day Saint from being saved, except ourselves

I value all things as nothing in comparison with having the spirit of God to guide me.

President Heber J. Grant often quoted the following statement, which is sometimes attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson: “That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do-not that the nature of the thing is changed, but that our power to do is increased.'

If there is any one thing that will bring peace and contentment into the human heart, and into the family, it is to live within our means. And if there is any one thing that is grinding and discouraging and disheartening, it is to have debts and obligations that one cannot meet.

Satan...[plans] to destroy liberty and freedom ~ economic, political, and religious, and to set up in place thereof the greatest, most widespread, and most complete tyranny that has ever oppressed men. He is working under such perfect disguise that many do not recognize either him or his methods.

Let us be ready and willing to follow our file leaders, and to sustain them. ... You will always be blessed and benefitted in following the advice and counsel of those whom God has chosen to preside over the Church. By honoring the man God has chosen, God will honor and bless you; and as you individually do your duty, you will grow and increase in the light and inspiration of the Spirit of God. As we grow and increase individually, so will the Church grow and increase.

I am deeply interested in this work. I am anxious to encourage the people to press on in securing their genealogies and after doing so in laboring in our temples.

I consider it one of the greatest accomplishments of my life that I have learned to sing.

I have reached out my hand, I have plucked the fruits of the Gospel, I have eaten of them, and they are sweet, yea, above all that is sweet.

No matter in what land we may dwell the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ makes us brothers and sisters, interested in each other, eager to understand and know each other.

I am free to confess that I am disappointed with the Yosemite valley. It seems only about one-half as grand as the American Fork canyon.

The doctrine of pre-existence pours a wonderful flood of light upon the otherwise mysterious problem of man's origin. It shows that man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father, prior to coming upon the earth in a temporal body to undergo an experience in mortality.

There is no true Latter-day Saint who would not rather bury a son or a daughter than to have him or her lose his or her chastity - realizing that chastity is of more value than anything else in all the world.

I have felt the inspiration of the living God directing me in my labors.

May we be strengthened with the understanding that being blessed does not mean that we shall always be spared all the disappointments and difficulties of life.

No pains must be spared to wipe out all feeling of diffidence, embarrassment, or shame on the part of those receiving relief; [we] must be one great family of equals. The spiritual welfare of those on relief must receive especial care and be earnestly and prayerfully fostered. A system which gives relief for work or service will go far to reaching these ends.

If we are striving, if we are working, if we are trying, to the best of our ability, to improve day by day, then we are in the line of our duty.

If a man has the assurance within his own heart that he is worthy, and that he is laboring to the best of his ability to do good, he can stand up under the condemnation, the criticism and the censure of those by whom he is surrounded.

The first great commandment was to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, might, mind and strength; and the second was like unto it, to love our neighbor as ourselves. And the best way in the world to show our love for our neighbor is to go forth and proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, of which He has given us an absolute knowledge concerning its divinity.

Teaching by precept, without example, is mighty poor teaching.

The Church has been and now is unalterably opposed to gambling in any form whatever. It is opposed to any game of chance, occupation, or so-called business, which takes money from the person who may be possessed of it without giving value received in return. It is opposed to all practices the tendency of which is to encourage the spirit of reckless speculation, and particularly to that which tends to degrade or weaken the high moral standard which the members of the Church, and our community at large, have always maintained

The aim of the Church is to help the people to help themselves. Work is to be re-enthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership

Day-dreams without work do not amount to anything; it is the actual work that counts.

Being an only child, my mother reared me very carefully.

He will be our comfort and solace, our guide and counselor, our salvation and exaltation, for "there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

Many of the Latter-day Saints have surrendered their independence; they have surrendered their free thought, politically, and we have got to get back to where we are not surrendering the right. We must stay with the right and if we do so God will bless us.

The Lord does not need your tithing, as far as He is concerned, but you need it for your growth, spiritually and temporally, that the windows of heaven may be opened and the Spirit of the living God given to you.

Thank God we are not to be judged by the opinions of our fellows, but by the work that we do.

The minute a man stops supplicating God for His Spirit and direction, just so soon he starts out to become a stranger to Him and His works. When men stop praying for God's Spirit, they place confidence in their own unaided reason, and they gradually lose the Spirit of God.

No man can teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ under the inspiration of the living God and with power from on high unless he is living it.

The singing of the songs of Zion, though imperfectly, with the inspiration of God, will touch the hearts of the honest more effectively than if sung well without the Spirit of God.

Let every man feel that he is the architect and builder of his own life, and that he proposes to make a success of it by working.

No obstacles are insurmountable when God commands and we obey.

The object of our being placed upon this earth is that we may work out an exaltation, that we may prepare ourselves to go back and dwell with our Heavenly Father; and our Father, knowing the faults and failings of men has given us certain commandments to obey, and if we will examine those requirements and the things that devolve upon us we will find that they are all for our individual benefit and advancement. The school of life in which we are placed and the lessons that are given to us by our Father will make of us exactly what He desires, so that we may be prepared to dwell with Him.

I assert with confidence that the law of success, here and hereafter, is to have a humble and a prayerful heart, and to work, work, work.

We do appeal to all men and women, realizing the responsibility resting upon them, to seek God our heavenly Father to guide them politically as well as religiously, and to stand for right and for those things that are for the good of this nation.

I remember that after that teaching given to me as a young man, as a boy, almost, by the President of the Church. I read this chapter about once a week for quite a while, then once a month for several months. I thought I needed it in my business, so to speak; that it was one of the things that were necessary for my advancement.

I believe that we can accomplish any object that we make up our minds to, and no boy or girl ought to sit down and say, because they cannot do as well as somebody else, that they will not do anything. God has given to some people ten talents; to others, he has given one; but they who improve the one talent will live to see the day when they will far outshine those who have ten talents but fail to improve them.

He can who thinks he can.

There is a still small voice telling us what is right, and if we listen to that still small voice we shall grow and increase in strength and power, in testimony and in ability not only to live the gospel but to inspire others to do so.

Every individual can improve from day to day, from year to year, and have greater capacity to do things as the years come and the years go.

If we are faithful in keeping the commandments of God His promises will be fulfilled to the very letter. . . . The trouble is, the adversary of men's souls blinds their minds. He throws dust, so to speak, in their eyes, and they are blinded with the things of this world.

I believe unless we have ambition to accomplish things and to do things that we amount to but very little in the battle of life.

One can never tell what will be the result of faithful service rendered, nor do we know when it will come back to us or to those with whom we are associated. The reward may not come at the time, but in dividends later. I believe we will never lose anything in life by giving service, by making sacrifices, and doing the right thing.