Joseph Fielding Smith

“Every child that comes into this world is carried in water, is born of water, and of blood, and of the spirit. So when we are born into the kingdom of God, we must be born the same way. By baptism, we are born of water. Through the shedding of the blood of Christ, we are cleansed and sanctified; and we are justified, through the Spirit of God, for baptism is not complete without the baptism of the Holy Ghost. You see the parallel between birth into the world and birth into the kingdom of God.”

Joseph Fielding Smith  |  Doctrines of Salvation

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“The spirit of gratitude is always pleasant and satisfying because it carries with it a sense of helpfulness to others; it begets love and friendship, and engenders divine influence. Gratitude is said to be the memory of the heart.”

Joseph Fielding Smith  |  Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed. (1939), 262.

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“Nothing is a greater injury to the children of men than to be under the influence of a false spirit when they think they have the Spirit of God.”

Joseph Fielding Smith  |  Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 205.

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“A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the spirit of revelation; for instance, when you feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas, so that by noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon; … those things that were presented unto your minds by the Spirit of God, will come to pass; and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may grow into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in Christ Jesus.”

Joseph Fielding Smith

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How oft have wise men and women sought to dictate Brother Joseph by saying, “O, if I were Brother Joseph I would do this and that;” but if they were in Brother Joseph’s shoes they would find that men or women could not be compelled into the kingdom of God, but must be dealt with in long-suffering,

Joseph Fielding Smith  |  Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.241

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“I have heard people say, and members of the Church too, ‘I have a right to do as I please.’ My answer is: No, you do not. You haven’t any right at all to do just as you please. There is only one right that you have, and that is to do just what I read to you: keep the commandments of Jesus Christ. He has a perfect right to tell us so. We have no right to refuse. I do not care who the man is; I do not care where he lives, or what he is – when the gospel of Jesus Christ is presented to him, he has no right to refuse to receive it. He has the privilege. He is not compelled to receive it, because our Father in heaven has given to everyone of us, in the Church and out, the gift of free agency. That free agency gives us the privilege to accept and be loyal to our Lord’s commandments, but it has never given us the right to reject them. Every man who rejects the commandments of our Father in heaven is rebellious.”

Joseph Fielding Smith  |  Conference Report, April 1967, pp. 120-21

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“No member of this Church can stand approved in the presence of God who has not seriously and carefully read the Book of Mormon.”

Joseph Fielding Smith  |  Improvement Era, December 1961, pp. 925-26

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The bishop should encourage every man, woman and child who earns and receives a return for labor, to honor the Lord and to prove obedient to the law of God by giving the one-tenth of that which he or she receives, as the Lord requires, so that they may have their names enrolled on the book of the law of the Lord, that their genealogies may be had in the archives of the Church, and that they may be entitled to the privileges and blessings of the house of God.

Joseph Fielding Smith

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“Charity, or love, is the greatest principle in existence. If we can lend a helping hand to the oppressed, if we can aid those who are despondent and in sorrow, if we can uplift and ameliorate the condition of mankind, it is our mission to do it, it is an essential part of our religion to do it.”

Joseph Fielding Smith  |  Conference Report, April, 1918, p. 4

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“The lawful association of the sexes is ordained of God, not only as the sole means of race perpetuation, but for the development of the higher faculties and nobler traits of human nature, which the love-inspired companionship of man and woman alone can insure.”

Joseph Fielding Smith  |  Chastity and Purity

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