“The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior.”
| “Do Not Fear”
Character
LDS Quotes on Character
“Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”
It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.
“It is interesting to me that one of the central elements of the word character is created by the letters A, C, and T. As we already have seen in the examples of Christ’s character from the New Testament, the nature and consistency of how one acts reveals in a powerful way his or her true character.”
| "The Character of Christ", Jan 25, 2003
“The best and most clear indicator that we are progressing spiritually and coming unto Christ is the way we treat other people.”
“Character is the aim of true education; and science, history, and literature are but means used to accomplish the desired end. Character is not the result of chance work but of continuous right thinking and right acting. . . . True education seeks, then to make men and women not only good mathematicians, proficient linguists, profound scientists, or brilliant literary lights, but also honest men, combined with virtue, temperance, and brotherly love — men and women who prize truth, justice, wisdom, benevolence, and self-control as the choicest acquisitions of a successful life. . . It is regrettable, not to say deplorable, that modern education so little emphasizes these fundamental elements of true character. The principal aim of many of our schools and colleges seems to be to give the students purely intellectual attainments and to give but passing regard to the nobler and more necessary development along moral lines.”
| Gospel Ideals p. 440-441
“The gift of the Holy Ghost … quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands and purifies all the natural passions and affections; and adapts them, by the gift of wisdom, to their lawful use. It inspires, develops, cultivates and matures all the fine-toned sympathies, joys, tastes, kindred feelings, and affections of our nature. It inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness, and charity. It develops beauty of person, form and features. It tends to health, vigor, animation, and social feeling. It invigorates all the faculties of the physical and intellectual man. It strengthens, and gives tone to the nerves. In short, it is, as it were, marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole being”
Three things are necessary in order that any rational and intelligent being may exercise faith in God unto life and salvation. First, the idea that he actually exists. Secondly, a correct idea of his character, perfections, and attributes. Thirdly, an actual knowledge that the course of life which he is pursuing is according to His will.
| Lectures on Faith 3:2-5
“The best index to a person’s character is how he treats people who can’t do him any good, and how he treats people who can’t fight back.”
“Courage is not just one of the virtues, it is the form of every virtue at the testing place.”