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.

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

“The laughter of the world is merely loneliness pathetically trying to reassure itself.”

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

Topics: Loneliness, Secularism (Worldliness), Sin

“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

“Disciples, like diamonds, are developed in a process of time and heavy pressures, and both the disciple and the diamond reflect and magnify the light that comes through them.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | Wherefore, Ye Must Press Forward, p. 125

Topics: Discipleship

“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

When spiritually aligned, a poise can come, even when we do not know “the meaning of all things.” (1 Ne. 11:17) Such contented assurance produces not arrogance but quiet acceptance, which is its own form of being “anxiously engaged” but without all the bells and whistles (D&C 58:27; see also D&C 58:28).

However, this spiritual contentment rests on our accepting the Atonement of Jesus, because we “have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God, and his matchless power, and his wisdom, and his patience, and his long-suffering towards the children of men; and also, the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the world” (Mosiah 4:6).

Again, brothers and sisters, seeing Alma move from wanting to be a “trump” to being a humble “instrument” and from wanting to “shake the earth” to “perhaps [bringing] some soul to repentance” is a stunning transition! (See Alma 29:1.) Furthermore, isn’t it wonderful that we are permitted to grow, whether that growth is expressed in the space of nine verses or in a lifetime?

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | “Content with the Things Allotted unto Us,” Ensign, May 2000, p. 72

Topics: Atonement, Repentance

“Perfect love is perfectly patient.”

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

Topics: Love, Patience

“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

“Daily hope is vital, since the “Winter Quarters” of our lives are not immediately adjacent to our promised land… Those with true hope often see their personal circumstances shaken, like kaleidoscopes, again and again. Yet with the “eye of faith,” they still see divine pattern and purpose.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | Brightness of Hope, Ensign, Nov. 1994

Topics: Hope, Trials

“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