LDS Quotes on Character
“Righteous character is more valuable than any material object you own, any knowledge you have gained through study, or any goals you have attained, no matter how well lauded by mankind. In the next life your righteous character will be evaluated to assess how well you used the privilege of mortality.”
“It is hard to know when we have done enough for the Atonement to change our natures and so qualify us for eternal life. And we don’t know how many days we will have to give the service necessary for that mighty change to come. But we know that we will have days enough if only we don’t waste them.”
| "This Day," Conference April 2007
“The tongue is the mirror of the soul. Spoken words reveal the intents, desires, and feelings of the heart. We shall give an account before the judgment bar for every spoken word, and shall be condemned for our idle, intemperate, profane, and false words. Implicit in this principle of judgment is the fact that we can control what we say. And what better test can there be of a godly self-control than the ability to tame the tongue!”
| Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, Vol. 3: Colossians-Revelation (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1994), 262.
“Be grateful, be smart, be clean, be true, be humble, be prayerful.”
| Way To Be!: 9 Rules For Living The Good Life
“Perhaps the surest test of an individual’s integrity is his refusal to do or say anything that would damage his self-respect.”
“We may be quite sure that Christ-centeredness and Christ-likeness will never be attained by our own unaided efforts. How can self drive out self? We could as well expect Satan to drive out Satan. We’re not interested in skin-deep holiness and a merely external resemblance to Jesus Christ. We’re not satisfied by a superficial modification of behavior patterns in conformity to some Christian subculture which expects this, commands that, and prohibits the other. No, what we long for is a deep inward change of character resulting from a change of nature and leading to a radical change of conduct. In a word, we want to be like Christ, and that thoroughly, profoundly, entirely. Nothing less than that will do.”
| 1992 CES Symposium at BYU
“Reformation of the world begins with reformation of self. We cannot hope to influence others in the direction of moral virtue unless we live lives of virtue. The example of our virtuous living will carry a greater influence than will all the preaching, postulating, and theorizing in which we might indulge. We cannot expect to lift others unless we are standing on higher ground.”
| Standing for Something: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes
“By ‘moral discipline,’ I mean self-discipline based on moral standards. Moral discipline is the consistent exercise of agency to choose the right because it is right, even when it is hard. It rejects the self-absorbed life in favor of developing character worthy of respect and true greatness through Christlike service.”
| "Moral Discipline," Conference October 2009
“To believe that weaknesses and deficiencies in your character are unchangeable is to reject the central truth of the plan of salvation. You are not cast in stone. You not only can change but you do change all of the time. You are a dynamic, changing, evolving being. You are always changing. You never stay the same. You cannot stand still.”
| "The Fourth Missionary"
“The home … is the workshop where human characters are built and the manner in which they are formed depends upon the relationship existing between parents and the children. The home cannot be what it should be unless these relationships are of the proper character. Whether they are so or not depends, it is true, upon both parents and children, but much more upon parents. They must do their best.”