Ezra Taft Benson

Ezra Taft Benson Quotes

“Yours is a great responsibility in this day when the need for courageous leadership is so urgent. You can become those leaders. … Our [people] need to develop qualities of leadership. They need to learn the value of staying power—stick-to-it-iveness. They need to learn devotion to duty—the devotion to duty that keeps a good doctor on the job right around the clock in an emergency; the devotion to duty that leads a scientist or a teacher to persevere in a low-paying position in public service because that is where his maximum contribution can be made.” –

Ezra Taft Benson

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“Fidelity to one’s marriage vows is absolutely essential for love, trust, and peace. Husbands and wives who love each other will find that love and loyalty are reciprocated.”

Ezra Taft Benson  |  October 1982 general conference

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“Husbands and wives who love each other will find that love and loyalty are reciprocated. This love will provide a nurturing atmosphere for the emotional growth of children. Family life should be a time of happiness and joy that children can look back on with fond memories and associations.”

Ezra Taft Benson  |  Marriage and Child-Bearing

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“We must not lose hope. Hope is an anchor to the souls of men. Satan would have us cast away that anchor. In this way he can bring discouragement and surrender. But we must not lose hope. The Lord is pleased with every effort, even the tiny, daily ones in which we strive to be more like Him. Though we may see that we have far to go on the road to perfection, we must not give up hope.”

Ezra Taft Benson  |  A Mighty Change of Heart, Ensign, Oct. 1989, 2

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“. . . we must be careful, as we seek to become more and more godlike, that we do not become discouraged and lose hope. Becoming Christlike is a lifetime pursuit and very often involves growth and change that is slow, almost imperceptible. The scriptures record remarkable accounts of men whose lives changed dramatically, in an instant. . . . But we must be cautious as we discuss these remarkable examples. Though they are real and powerful, they are the exception more than the rule. For every Paul, for every Enos, and for every King Lamoni, there are hundreds and thousands of people who find the process of repentance much more subtle, much more imperceptible. Day by day they move closer to the Lord, little realizing they are building a godlike life. They live quiet lives of goodness, service, and commitment. They are like the Lamanites, who the Lord said “were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not.”

Ezra Taft Benson  |  “A Mighty Change of Heart,” Ensign, October 1989, p. 2

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“Your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received— Which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation. And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon.”

Ezra Taft Benson

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The sacred title of “father” is shared with the Almighty.

Ezra Taft Benson  |  Great Things Required of Their Fathers

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“Our enmity toward God takes on many labels, such as rebellion, hard-heartedness, stiff-neckedness, unrepentant, puffed up, easily offended, and sign seekers. The proud wish God would agree with them. They aren’t interested in changing their opinions to agree with God’s.”

Ezra Taft Benson  |  “Beware of Pride,” Ensign, May 1989

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As member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we need to place unreserved confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we accept as the Son of God. Until the world accepts Him as the Savior of mankind, lives His teachings, and looks to Him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life in all phases of our lives, we shall continue in our anxiety about the future and our ability to cope with the challenges that mortality brings to each of us. . . .Why is it expedient that we center our confidence, our hope, and our trust in one solitary figure? Why is faith in Him so necessary to peace of mind in this life and hope in the world to come? The answers to these questions determine whether we face the future with courage, hope, and optimism or with apprehension, anxiety, and pessimism.

Ezra Taft Benson  |  Ensign, June 1990

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“Pride is concerned with WHO is right, Humility is concerned with WHAT is right.”

Ezra Taft Benson

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