Knowledge

LDS Quotes on Knowledge

“It is so important that you young men and you young women get all of the education that you can. The Lord has said very plainly that His people are to gain knowledge of countries and kingdoms and of things of the world through the process of education, even by study and by faith. Education is the key which will unlock the door of opportunity for you. It is worth sacrificing for. It is worth working at, and if you educate your mind and your hands, you will be able to make a great contribution to the society of which you are a part, and you will be able to reflect honorably on the Church of which you are a member. My dear young brothers and sisters, take advantage of every educational opportunity that you can possibly afford, and you fathers and mothers, encourage your sons and daughters to gain an education, which will bless their lives.”

Gordon B. Hinckley

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Elder Jeffery R. Holland of the LDS church

“In this Church there is an enormous amount of room — and scriptural commandment — for studying and learning, for comparing and considering, for discussion and awaiting further revelation. We all learn “line upon line, precept upon precept”, with the goal being authentic religious faith informing genuine Christlike living.”

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland  |  "Broken Things to Mend"

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“I always know when I am speaking under the influence of the Holy Ghost because I always learn something from what I have said.”

Marion G. Romney

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“No matter what your circumstances are, whether you are in prosperity or in adversity, you can learn from every person, transaction, and circumstance around you.”

Brigham Young

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“There are few things more pathetic than those who have lost their curiosity and sense of adventure, and who no longer care to learn.”

Gordon B. Hinckley  |  Way to Be!: 9 Rules For Living the Good Life

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“Show me Latter-day Saints who have to feed upon miracles, signs and visions in order to keep them steadfast in the Church, and I will show you members … who are not in good standing before God, and who are walking in slippery paths. It is not by marvelous manifestations unto us that we shall be established in the truth, but it is by humility and faithful obedience to the commandments and laws of God”

Joseph Fielding Smith  |  Conference Report, Apr. 1900, 40

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“Humility is the awareness that there’s a lot you don’t know and that a lot of what you think you know is distorted or wrong.”

David Brooks  |  The Road to Character

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“The Restoration scriptures encourage us as individuals and as a Church community to seek after good everywhere and make it a part of our religion. ‘The grand fundamental principle of Mormonism is to receive truth let it come from where it may.’ As the prophet Joseph Smith stated: If the Methodists, Presbyterians, or others have any truth, then we should embrace it. One must ‘get all the good in the world’ if one wants to ‘come our a pure Mormon.'”

Terryl and Fiona Givens  |  "The Christ Who Heals"

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Joseph Smith Portrait

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.

Joseph Smith  |  Lectures on Faith 3:2-5

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“The Lord and His Church have always encouraged education to increase our ability to serve Him and our Heavenly Father’s children. For each of us, whatever our talents, He has service for us to give. And to do it well always involves learning, not once or for a limited time, but continually.”

Elder Henry B. Eyring

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“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.”

David O. McKay  |  Gospel Ideals p. 440-441

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“Your mind is precious! It is sacred. Therefore, the education of one’s mind is also sacred. Indeed, education is a religious responsibility. Of course, our opportunities and abilities will vary a great deal. But, in the pursuit of one’s education, individual desire is more important than is the institution you choose; personal drive is more significant than is the faculty.

“Our Creator expects His children everywhere to gain an education as a personal endeavor. … When you leave this frail existence, your material possessions will remain here, but the Lord has declared that the knowledge you acquire here will rise with you in the resurrection. … In light of this celestial perspective, if you impulsively drop out or otherwise cut short your education, you would not only disregard a divine decree but also abbreviate your own eternal potential.”

Russell M. Nelson

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“The Master could overwhelm us with his supernal knowledge, but he does not. He honors our agency. He allows us the joy of discovery.”

Russell M. Nelson  |  “Gratitude for the Mission and Ministry of Jesus Christ,” BYU Education Week Devotional Address, BYU Speeches

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“We don’t become better because we acquire new information. We become better because we acquire better loves. We don’t become what we know. Education is a process of love formation. When you go to a school, it should offer you new things to love.”

David Brooks  |  The Road to Character

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“Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.”

Albert Einstein

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“Your education must never stop. If it ends at the door of the classroom on graduation day, we will fail. And we will need the help of heaven to know which of the myriad things we could study we would most wisely learn. . . .The real life we’re preparing for is eternal life. Secular knowledge has for us eternal significance. Our conviction is that God, our Heavenly Father, wants us to live the life that He does.”

Elder Henry B. Eyring

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“Many of the most important principles of intelligence cannot be taught at universities, from books, or through other temporal learning processes. Often these great principles are learned from afflictions, tribulations, and other mortal experiences. All that we learn in this manner will benefit us not only in this life but also in the next, for ‘whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection’ (D&C 130:18).”

Monte J. Brough  |  “Adversity, the Great Teacher,” Ensign, Aug. 2006, 10

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“Be grateful, be smart, be clean, be true, be humble, be prayerful.”

Gordon B. Hinckley  |  Way To Be!: 9 Rules For Living The Good Life

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Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“Joseph Smith loved learning even though he had few opportunities for formal education. In his journals, he spoke happily of days spent in study and often expressed his love of learning. The Prophet Joseph taught, ‘Knowledge does away with darkness, [anxiety], and doubt; for these cannot exist where knowledge is.’”

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

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“A supreme deity would no more gift us with intellect and expect us to forsake it in moments of bafflement, than He would fashion us eyes to see and bid us shut them to the stars”

Terryl and Fiona Givens  |  The God Who Weeps

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“I found in the Word of Wisdom a principle with a promise. The principle: Care for your body; avoid habit-forming stimulants, tea, coffee, tobacco, liquor, and drugs (see D&C 89:3–9). Such addictive things do little more than relieve a craving which they caused in the first place. The promise: Those who obey will receive better health (see D&C 89:18) and “great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures”

Boyd K. Packer  |  “Ye Are the Temple of God,” LDS General Conference (October 2000)

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“No matter where we begin, if we pursue knowledge diligently and honestly, our quest will inevitably lead us from the things of the earth to the things of heaven.”

Hugh Nibley

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“As knowledge increases, the verdict of yesterday must be reversed today, and in the long run the most positive authority is the least to be trusted.”

Hugh Nibley  |  Of All Things!: A Nibley Quote Book

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“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.”

Albert Einstein

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“The habit of saying thank you is the mark of a cultivated mind.”

Gordon B. Hinckley  |  Way to Be!: 9 Rules For Living the Good Life

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“But when considered from the unique perspective of eternity, fame and popularity aren’t nearly as important as loving and being loved; status doesn’t mean much when compared to service; and acquiring spiritual knowledge is infinitely more meaningful than acquiring an excess of wealth.”

Elder M. Russell Ballard  |  Our Search for Happiness

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Joseph Smith Portrait

“For a man to lay down his all, his character and reputation, his honor, and applause, his good name among men, his houses, his lands, his brothers and sisters, his wife and children, and even his own life also – counting all things but filth and dross for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ – requires more than mere belief or supposition that he is doing the will of God; but actual knowledge, realizing that, when these sufferings are ended, he will enter into eternal rest, and be a partaker of the glory of God.”

Joseph Smith  |  Lectures on Faith, 68-70

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Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“Joseph Smith loved learning even though he had few opportunities for formal education. In his journals, he spoke happily of days spent in study and often expressed his love of learning. Joseph taught the Saints that knowledge was a necessary part of our mortal journey, for “a man is saved no faster than he [gains] knowledge,” and that “whatever principle of intelligence we attain … in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.” During challenging times, it is even more important to learn. The Prophet Joseph taught, “Knowledge does away with darkness, [anxiety], and doubt; for these cannot exist where knowledge is.”

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf  |  "Two Principles for Any Economy", Ensign, Nov 2009, 55–58

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Thomas S. Monson

“The knowledge which we seek, the answers for which we yearn, and the strength which we desire today to meet the challenges of a complex and changing world can be ours when we willingly obey the Lord’s commandments.”

Thomas S. Monson  |  Obedience Brings Blessings

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“Everyone should learn something new everyday. You all have inquiring minds and are seeking truth in many fields. I sincerely hope your greatest search is in the realm of spiritual things, because it is there that we are able to gain salvation and make the progress that leads to eternal life in our Father’s kingdom. The most important knowledge in the world is gospel knowledge. It is knowledge of God and his law, of those things that men must do to work out their salvation with fear and trembling before the Lord.”

Joseph Fielding Smith  |  Ensign, May 1971, pp. 2-3

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The man who cannot listen to an argument which opposes his views either has a weak position or is a weak defender of it. No opinion that cannot stand discussion or criticism is worth holding. And it has been wisely said that the man who knows only half of any question is worse off than the man who knows nothing of it. He is not only one sided, but his partisanship soon turns him into an intolerant and a fanatic. In general it is true that nothing which cannot stand up under discussion and criticism is worth defending.

James E. Talmage

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“Character is higher than intellect.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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“Thanking is the true inward knowing.”

Julian of Norwich

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“To attain knowledge, add things everyday. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.”

Lao Tzu

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“Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”

TS Eliot

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“Your mind is precious! It is sacred. Therefore, the education of one’s mind is also sacred. Indeed, education is a religious responsibility. Of course, our opportunities and abilities will vary a great deal. But, in the pursuit of one’s education, individual desire is more important than is the institution you choose; personal drive is more significant than is the faculty.”

Russell M. Nelson

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“True learning must have a powerful spiritual component. That spiritual element, when it is effective, refines and uplifts the aims of our total education. . . . Remember, you are interested in education, not just for mortal life but for eternal life. When you see that reality clearly, you will put spiritual learning first and yet not slight the secular learning. In fact, you will work harder at your secular learning than you would without that spiritual vision.”

Elder Henry B. Eyring

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Neal A. Maxwell Headshot
You cannot have adequate faith in a Christ you do not adequately know.

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

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“Education is yours to obtain. No one else can fain it for you. Wherever you are, develop a deep desire to learn.”

Russell M. Nelson

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“Faith is more like being faithful to your husband or wife than it is like believing in magic. Fidelity is key. You may fall in love with someone because of how well they complement your story, but you’ll prove yourself faithful to them only when you care more for the flawed, difficult, and unplotted life you end up sharing with them. Faith isn’t the opposite of knowledge. Rather, like love, faith perfects knowledge by practicing fidelity to it.”

Adam S. Miller

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Thomas S. Monson

“The past is behind, learn from it. The future is ahead, prepare for it. The present is here, live it.”

Thomas S. Monson

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Spencer W. Kimball Portrait

“Of all treasures of knowledge, the most vital is the knowledge of God.”

Spencer W. Kimball

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When we get to the other side of the veil, we shall know something. We now work by faith. We have the evidence of things not seen. The resurrection, the eternal judgment, the celestial kingdom, and the great blessings that God has given in the holy anointings and endowment in the temples, are all for the future, and they will be fulfilled, for they are eternal truths. We will never while in the flesh, with this veil over us, fully comprehend that which lies before us in the world to come. It will pay any man to serve God and to keep His commandments the few days he lives upon the earth.

Wilford Woodruff  |  Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Wilford Woodruff, p. 154

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“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.”

Leonardo da Vinci

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“It is so important that you young men and you young women get all of the education that you can. The Lord has said very plainly that His people are to gain knowledge of countries and kingdoms and of things of the world through the process of education, even by study and by faith.”

Gordon B. Hinckley  |  Inspirational Thoughts, Ensign, June 1999, 4.

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“How sweet is the assurance, how comforting is the peace that come from the knowledge that if we marry right and live right, our relationship will continue, notwithstanding the certainty of death and the passage of time. Men may write love songs and sing them. They may yearn and hope and dream. But all of this will be only a romantic longing unless there is an exercise of authority that transcends the powers of time and death.”

Gordon B. Hinckley  |  The Marriage That Endures

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“Knowledge without labor is profitless. Knowledge with labor is genius.”

Gordon B. Hinckley  |  Stand a Little Taller

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“Man is a spiritual being, a soul, and at some point of his life everyone is possessed with an irresistible desire to know his relationship to the infinite. There is something within him which urges him to rise above himself, to control his environment, to master the body and all things physical and live in a higher, more beautiful world.”

David O. McKay

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“I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.”

Maya Angelou

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Neal A. Maxwell Headshot

“Many in the world hold back from making the ‘leap of faith’ because they have already jumped to some other conclusions — often the conclusions of Korihor, which are: God never was nor ever will be; there is not a redeeming Christ; man cannot know the future; man cannot know of that which he cannot see; whatsoever a man does is no crime; and death is the end. (See Alma 30:13-18.) The number of modern-day adherents to the Korihor conclusions will grow.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell  |  “The Inexhaustible Gospel,” Ensign, April 1993, p. 71

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