Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Quotes By Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Elder Neal A. Maxwell served as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from 1981–2004. Among others, Elder Maxwell’s most prominent books are All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, Not My Will, but Thine and the Neal A. Maxwell Quote Book. Maxwell was known for his great mind and ability to articulate his thoughts elegantly.

“God does not begin by asking us about our ability, but only about our availability, and if we then prove our dependability, he will increase our capability!”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | Ensign, July 1975, p. 7

Topics: Atonement, Discipleship

“The strait and narrow path, though clearly marked, is a path, not a freeway nor an escalator. Indeed, there are times when the only way the strait and narrow path can be followed is on one’s knees!”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | “A Brother Offended,” Ensign, May 1982, p. 37

Topics: Prayer

“People truly matter more than stars do. Despite their longevity, we have never seen an immortal star, but, thanks to Jesus, we are immortal.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Topics: Potential, Worth of Souls

“When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies? The great armistices made by military men or the peacemaking of women in homes and in neighborhoods? Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in congresses?”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | The Women of God

Topics: Mothers & Motherhood, Politics, Women

“God does not send thunder if a still, small voice is enough.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | Ensign, November 1976, p. 14

Topics: Holy Ghost, Spirit

“Because our lives are foreseen by God, he is never surprised by developments within our lives. The sudden loss of health, wealth, self-esteem, status, or a loved one – developments that may stun us – are foreseen by God, though not necessarily caused by him.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Topics: Nature of God, Patriarchal Blessings

“The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we ‘give’… are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | “Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father,” Ensign, Nov. 1995, 24.

Topics: Eternal Life, Sacrifice, Salvation, Service

“Petitioning in prayer has taught me, again and again, that the vault of heaven with all its blessings is to be opened only by a combination lock. One tumbler falls when there is faith, a second when there is personal righteousness; the third and final tumbler falls only when what is sought is, in God’s judgment – not ours – right for us. Sometimes we pound on the vault door for something we want very much and wonder why the door does not open. We would be very spoiled children if that vault door opened any more easily than it does. I can tell, looking back, that God truly loves me by inventorying the petitions He has refused to grant me. Our rejected petitions tell us much about ourselves but also much about our flawless Father. By inventorying our insights, from time to time, it will surprise us what the Lord has done in teaching us. What we have learned in the past can help us to persist in the present. By tallying the truths and keeping such before us, we can also avoid lapsed literacy in spiritual things. If we will let Him, the Holy Ghost will bring all the important insights to our remembrance.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | “Insights,” New Era, April 1978, p. 6

Topics: Faith, Personal Revelation, Prayer

“When the word living is used, it carries a divinely deliberate connotation. The Church is neither dead nor dying, nor is it even wounded. The Church, like the living God who established it, is alive, aware, and functioning. It is not a museum that houses a fossilized faith; rather, it is a kinetic kingdom characterized by living faith in living disciples.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | Things As They Really Are, 46;

Topics: Church Organization, Restoration

“Therefore, what we insistently desire over time, is what we will eventually become and what we will receive in eternity.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | “According to the Desire of [Our] Hearts,” Conference October 1996

Topics: Change, Diligence, Perfection

“Work is always a spiritual necessity even if, for some, work is not an economic necessity.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | “Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel”

Topics: Career, Work

“Creative expression can also represent the celebration of our gratitude to God for our gifts and talents.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | “Creativity,” New Era, Aug. 1982, 4

Topics: Art

“Personality patterns, habits, strengths, and weaknesses observed by God over a long period of time in the pre-mortal world would give God a perfect understanding of what we would do under a given set of circumstances to come.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Topics: Nature of God, Personality

“There is also a dimension of patience which links it to a special reverence for life. Patience is a willingness, in a sense, to watch the unfolding purposes of God with a sense of wonder and awe, rather than pacing up and down within the cell of our circumstance. Put another way, too much anxious opening of the oven door and the cake falls instead of rising. So it is with us. If we are always selfishly taking our temperature to see if we are happy, we will not be…When we are impatient, we are neither reverential nor reflective because we are too self-centered. Whereas faith and patience are companions, so are selfishness and impatience. It is so easy to be confrontive without being informative; so easy to be indignant without being intelligent; so easy to be impulsive without being insightful. It is so easy to command others when we are not in control of ourselves.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | Patience, BYUDA 11/79

Topics: Attitude, Patience, Self-mastery

Meanwhile, ultimate hope makes it possible to say the same three words used centuries ago by three valiant men. They knew God could rescue them from the fiery furnace, if He chose. “But if not,” they said, nevertheless, they would still serve Him! (Dan. 3:18)

Unsurprisingly the triad of faith, hope, and charity, which brings us to Christ, has strong and converging linkage: faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ, hope is in His atonement, and charity is the “pure love of Christ”! (See Ether 12:28; Moro. 7:47.) Each of these attributes qualifies us for the celestial kingdom (see Moro. 10:20–21; Ether 12:34). Each, first of all, requires us to be meek and lowly (see Moro. 7:39, 43).

Faith and hope are constantly interactive, and may not always be precisely distinguished or sequenced. Though not perfect knowledge either, hope’s enlivened expectations are “with surety” true (Ether 12:4; see also Rom. 8:24; Heb. 11:1; Alma 32:21). In the geometry of restored theology, hope has a greater circumference than faith. If faith increases, the perimeter of hope stretches correspondingly.

Just as doubt, despair, and desensitization go together, so do faith, hope, and charity. The latter, however, must be carefully and constantly nurtured, whereas despair, like dandelions, needs so little encouragement to sprout and spread. Despair comes so naturally to the natural man!

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Conference Report, October 1994

Topics: Charity, Faith, Hope, Natural Man

“Even the gifts of God are of little final use, if one has not developed the quality of charity. I hope we understand the implications of those words. Without charity we can’t go to the upper rooms of the celestial kingdom. It is just as essential as baptism. So what we are to do and what we are to be are incredibly important.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | address at New Mission Presidents Seminar, Church News, July 2, 1994, p. 5

Topics: Baptism, Celestial Kingdom, Charity

The Lord loves each of us too much to merely let us go on being what we now are, for he knows what we have the possibility to become!

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | “In Him All Things Hold Together”

Topics: Inspirational Quotes, Plan of Salvation, Potential, Salvation, Short Quotes

“The doctrines of the Church and its authority are not just partially true, but true as measured by divine standards. The Church is not, therefore, conceptually compromised by having been made up from doctrinal debris left over from another age, nor is it comprised of mere fragments of the true faith. It is based upon the fulness of the gospel of him whose name it bears, thus passing the two tests for proving his church that were given by Jesus during his visit to the Nephites.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | Things As They Really Are

Topics: Church Organization, Restoration, Truth

“Do not company with fornicators – not because you are too good for them but, as CS Lewis wrote, because you are not good enough. Remember that bad situations can wear down even good people. Joseph had both good sense and good legs in fleeing from Potiphar’s wife.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Topics: Adultery, Sex

“Time is clearly not our natural dimension. This it is that we are never really at home in time because we belong to eternity. Time, as much as any one thing, whispers that we are strangers here.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Topics: Eternal Life, Time

“Death is a mere comma, not an exclamation point!”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Topics: Death, Eternal Life, Physical

“Someone has recently coined what is called the Gadarene Swine Law, which is, simply put, that just because a group is in formation does not mean that it is going in the right direction.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Topics: Obedience, Peer Pressure

Homework from school is surely a necessity, but does mental work squeeze out spiritual work entirely? Your grade-point average is very important, but what is your GPA for Christian service?

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | “Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel”

Topics: Education

“When the time comes, young men, make your career choices. Know that whether one is a neurosurgeon, forest ranger, mechanic, farmer, or teacher is a matter of preference not of principle. While those career choices are clearly very important, these do not mark your real career path. Instead, brethren, you are sojourning sons of God who have been invited to take the path that leads home. There, morticians will find theirs is not the only occupation to become obsolete. But the capacity to work and work wisely will never become obsolete. And neither will the ability to learn. Meanwhile, my young brethren, I have not seen any perspiration-free shortcuts to the celestial kingdom; there is no easy escalator to take us there.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | “Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel”

Topics: Career

“Now may I speak . . . to those buffeted by false insecurity, who, though laboring devotedly in the Kingdom, have recurring feelings of falling forever short. . . This feeling of inadequacy is . . . normal. There is no way the Church can honestly describe where we must yet go and what we must yet do without creating a sense of immense distance. . . .This is a gospel of grand expectations, but God’s grace is sufficient for each of us.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | “Notwithstanding My Weakness,” Ensign, November 1976

Topics: Grace, Jesus Christ

“Another great advantage of joy, contrasted with pleasure, is that joy overrides routine, which, otherwise, could make us bored. We don’t know, for instance, how many times Heavenly Father has been through the plan of salvation before with other of His children elsewhere before our particular sequence on this planet. God even hints at the repetitiveness of His redemption when He says, “[My] course is one eternal round” (see 1 Nephi 10:19; Alma 7:20; D&C 3:2). Yet God is never bored by what might seem mere routine. Why? Because of His perfect love for His children! What He calls “my work and my glory” brings abundant and pure joy! (see Moses 1:39).”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | “Brim with Joy” (Alma 26:11), BYU Devotional, January 23, 1996

Topics: Becoming like God, Happiness, Joy, Plan of Salvation

“We, more than others, should carry jumper and tow cables not only in our cars, but also in our hearts, by which means we can send the needed boost or charge of encouragement or the added momentum to mortal neighbors.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience

Topics: Charity, Kindness, Service

“The true Christian is a communicator.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience

Topics: Christian, Communication

“If we are serious about our discipleship, Jesus will eventually request each of us to do those very things which are most difficult for us to do.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Topics: Discipleship, Trials

Future revelations, brothers and sisters, will include astounding events as well as great and important truths. So much so, that Moses’ and Israel’s exulting song after safely crossing the Red Sea (see Ex. 15) and the Prophet Joseph’s 1842 litany will gladly give way to the crescendo of glorious events associated with Christ’s coming in majesty and power.

The valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman will ring again – this time with the sounds of dispensational reunion, as it glows with gathering (see Dan. 7:13-14; D&C 107:53-57; D&C 116:1)! Those of Enoch’s utterly unique city of “one heart” will greet those of the New Zion with holy embraces and holy kisses amid the sounds of sweet sobbing (see Moses 7:62–63)! The “hills shall tremble” at the presence of the lost tribes, and hearts, as well as ice, will melt, as they come “filled with songs of everlasting joy” (see D&C 133:26–33).

And it will all occur at the direction of the “Redeemer of Israel, our only delight.” Hence, “as children of Zion, good tidings for us. . . . The hour of redemption is near” (Hymns, 1985, no. 6)

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | “God Will Yet Reveal,” Ensign, November 1986

Topics: The Second Coming

Imperfect people are, in fact, called by our perfect Lord to assist in His work. The Lord declared to certain associates of Joseph Smith that He knew that they had observed Joseph’s minor imperfections. Even so, the Lord then testified that the revelations given through the Prophet were true! (See D&C 67:5, 9.)

Unsurprisingly, therefore, we do notice each other’s weaknesses. But we should not celebrate them. Let us be grateful for the small strides that we and others make, rather than rejoice in the shortfalls. And when mistakes occur, let them become instructive, not destructive.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | “A Brother Offended,” Ensign, May 1982, p. 37

Topics: Forgiveness, Joseph Smith

“In the physical eye, an astigmatism occurs when light fails to converge or focus on a single point. No wonder some, unfocused, are forever ‘looking beyond the mark.'”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Topics: Discipleship

“Perfect love is perfectly patient.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience

Topics: Love, Patience

“To boast ‘I can handle it’ without any inner meekness is to set oneself up for failure. The adversary doubtless noses any superficial boasts by women and men alike. Because he was and is so perfectly meek and lowly, Jesus submitted his will to the Father’s will. For us, truly doing likewise may seem so out of reach, partly because we ironically insist on attaching hindering conditions to our submission. There is too much hesitance and holding back.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Topics: Failure, Humility

“One scientist, who probably doesn’t believe in divine design, nevertheless noted that ‘As we look out into the universe and identify the many accidents of physics and astronomy that have worked together to our benefit, it almost seems as if the universe must in some sense have known we were coming.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Topics: Science

“Does all this mean that in letting go of the world, it will be easy to set priorities? No! It is often harder, for now we choose, not between task A, which is a tainted task, and B, which is good; but now we must allot time and talent between C, which is important and good, and D, which is good and important.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | Wherefore, Ye Must Press Forward, 19

Topics: Priorities, Time

“Patience is tied very closely to faith in our Heavenly Father. Actually, when we are unduly impatient, we are suggesting that we know what is best—better than does God. Or, at least, we are asserting that our timetable is better than His. We can grow in faith only if we are willing to wait patiently for God’s purposes and patterns to unfold in our lives, on His timetable.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Topics: Faith, Patience

“This is a gospel of great expectations, but God’s grace is sufficient for each of us if we remember that there are no instant Christians.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Topics: Christian, Conversion, Gospel, Grace, Patience

“How can you and I really expect to glide naively through life, as if to say, ‘Lord, give me experience, but not grief, not sorrow, not pain, not opposition, not betrayal, and certainly not to be forsaken. Keep from me, Lord, all those experiences which made Thee what Thou art! Then, let me come and dwell with Thee and fully share Thy joy!’ ”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | "Lest Ye Be Wearied and Faint in Your Minds," Ensign, May 1991, 88

Topics: Mortality, Trials

“The less love, the less service.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience

Topics: Charity, Love, Service

“Those who “live without God in the world” anxiously glean their few and fleeting satisfactions, but they are unable to find real happiness. . . . Ignorant of the plan of salvation, many simply do not know what the journey of life is all about. Therefore, modern selfishness and skepticism brush aside the significance of the Savior. . . .”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | Ensign, March 1998, p. 9

Topics: Happiness, Mortality, Plan of Salvation, Secularism (Worldliness)

“Jacob, in 2 Nephi 9:41, in speaking of the straight and narrow, reminds us that ‘the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel’ and that Jesus ‘employeth no servant there.’ The emphasis rightly is on the fact that Jesus ‘cannot be deceived.’ There is another dimension of reassurance, too: not only will the ultimate judgment not be delegated in order to serve the purposes of divine justice, but also divine mercy can best be applied by him who knows these things what only he can know.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | For the Power Is in Them (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1970), 37.

Topics: Final Judgement, Justice, Mercy

“In the end, if you have not chosen Jesus Christ, it will not matter what you have chosen.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Topics: Jesus Christ

“Long sufferers are really something because they think the errant and unrepentant are really something – something worth saving.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Topics: Leadership, Patience, Service

“Just as the Lord was able to summarize His priorities so succinctly that it is his ‘work and … glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man’ (Moses 1:39), so we, too, will need to be able to manage our time and talents in such a way that we, too, know our real priorities and focus on them. When we are settled in our hearts on that which really matters, then our talent and time as well as our treasure will be thus deployed!”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | We Will Prove Them Herewith, 66–67

Topics: Priorities, Spiritual Gifts

In the same vein, God’s second commandment, love thy neighbor, clearly leaves no room for racism.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | "Deny Yourselves of All Ungodliness”

Topics: Race & Racism

“A good friend, who knows whereof he speaks, has observed of trials, ‘if it is fair, it is not a true trial.’ That is, without the added presence of some inexplicableness and some irony and injustice, the experience may not stretch or lift us sufficiently. The crucifixion of Christ was clearly the greatest injustice in human history, but the Savior bore up under it with majesty and indescribable valor.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | The Neal A. Maxwell Quote Book

Topics: Adversity, Opposition in All Things, Sacrifice, Trials, Why Bad Things Happen to Good People

“The Lord does not ask for our inability or ability, only our availability shows unto him our dependability, and HE will give you capability.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Topics: Attitude, Being Called & Callings, Inspirational Quotes, Weaknesses

One’s life . . . cannot be both faith-filled and stress-free. . . . Therefore, how can you and I really expect to glide naively through life, as if to say, ”Lord, give me experience, but not grief, not sorrow, not pain, not opposition, not betrayal, and certainly not to be forsaken. Keep from me, Lord, all those experiences which made Thee what Thou art! Then let me come and dwell with Thee and fully share Thy joy!” . . .Real faith . . . is required to endure this necessary but painful developmental process.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | “Lest Ye Be Wearied and Faint in Your Minds,” Ensign, May 1991, pp. 88, 90

Topics: Adversity, Faith, Trials

“Each of us is an innkeeper who decides if there is room for Jesus!”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | "Settle This in Your Hearts"

Topics: Agency, Christmas, Jesus Christ

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