If you feel that . . . what you do this year or in the years to come does not make you very famous, take heart. Most of the best people who ever lived weren't very famous either.

To dig a straight furrow, the plowman needs to keep his eyes on a fixed point ahead of him. That keeps him on a true course. If, however, he happens to look back to see where he has been, his chances of straying are increased. The results are crooked and irregular furrows...Fix your attention on your...goals and never look back on your earlier problems....If our energies are focused not behind us but ahead of us--on eternal life and the joy of salvation--we assuredly will obtain it.

To discipline ourselves through fasting brings us in tune with God, and fast day provides an occasion to set aside the temporal so that we might enjoy the higher qualities of the spiritual. As we fast on that day we learn and better understand the needs of those who are less fortunate.

True greatness...always requires regular, consistent, small, and sometimes ordinary and mundane steps over a long period of time.

We have every reason in time and eternity to rejoice and give thanks for the quality of our lives and the blessings we have been given.

We need a more peaceful world, growing out of more peaceful families and neighborhoods and communities. To secure and cultivate such peace, "we must love others, even our enemies as well as our friends"

Why do we serve? When we understand why, we won't be concerned about where we serve.