“Let me emphasize that the noblest aim in life is to strive to live to make lives better and happier. The most worthy calling in life is that in which man can serve best his fellowman.”
| Conference Report, April 1961, p. 131
“The kind of life you live, your disposition, your very nature, will be determined by your thoughts, of which your acts are but the outward expression. Thought is the seed of action.”
| Teachings of Presidents of the Church: David O. McKay, 23: Developing a Christlike Character
“Motherhood is the one thing in all the world which most truly exemplifies the God-given virtues of creating and sacrificing. The mother who, in compliance with eternal law, brings into the world an immortal spirit occupies first rank in the realm of creation.”
| "Respect for Mothers and Their Divine Role"
“What you sincerely in your heart think of Christ will determine what you are, will largely determine what your acts will be. No person can study this divine personality, can accept his teachings without becoming conscious of an uplifting and refining influence within himself. In fact, every individual may experience the operation of the most potent force that can affect humanity.”
| Cherished Experiences from the Writings of President David O. McKay p. 24
Some of us look forward to a time in the future—salvation and exaltation in the world to come—but today is part of eternity.
| Pathways to Happiness, comp. Llewelyn R. McKay (1957), 291–92.
“Next to the bestowal of life itself, the right to direct that life is God’s greatest gift to man. . . . Freedom of choice is more to be treasured than any possession earth can give. It is inherent in the spirit of man. It is a divine gift to every normal being. . . . Everyone has this most precious of all life’s endowments – the gift of free agency – man’s inherited and inalienable right.”
| Improvement Era, Feb. 1962, p. 86
“No nobler work in this world can be performed by any mother than to rear and love the children with whom God has blessed her. That is her duty.”
“This ability and willingness properly to rear children, the gift to love, and eagerness, yes, longing to express it in soul development, make motherhood the noblest office or calling in the world. . .”
| Gospel Ideals, Salt Lake City: Improvement Era, 1953, pp. 453-54
“The Father of all mankind expects parents, as his representatives, to assist him in shaping and guiding human lives and immortal souls. That is the highest assignment which the Lord can bestow upon man.”
“Christ’s ideal pertaining to marriage is the unbroken home, and conditions that cause divorce are violations of his divine teachings. Except in cases of infidelity or other extreme conditions, the Church frowns upon divorce”
| (IE 72 [June 1969]:2-5)