Perfection

LDS Quotes on Perfection

All of our decisions will not be perfect. We will feel hopefully only temporarily, regret. But let us never wait for perfect clarity. It will be a rare decision indeed when all of the data in perfect clarity is apparent before the decision is made. Some of our greatest growth comes from the mind stretching exercise of filling in where information is not available and weighing that which is incomplete. Sometimes there must simply be a leap of faith.

Hugh W. Pinnock  |  “Decisions Determine Our Destiny,” February 6, 1981

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“Realizing that change is a process, most of us would never get angry at a seed for not being a flower or expect a sculptor to transform a block of marble into a masterpiece overnight.”

Brad Wilcox

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“Our Heavenly Father is perfect and we can also become perfect. One of the most Christ-like qualities we ought to develop is reverence, an attitude that shows how we feel about Heavenly Father and the things He has asked us to do. The person who is reverent has a quiet dignity. It requires a pure heart to be reverent. Reverence is more than just being quiet. It is a spiritual communication between us and our Father in heaven. When we are reverent, we don’t do anything that reflects negatively upon the Lord or His Church. This does not mean just during meetings, but it includes our conduct wherever we may be or in whatever we do.”

Vaughn J Featherstone  |  "Friend to Friend", September 1976 Friend pg 8

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Joseph Smith Portrait

“If you wish to go where God is, you must be like God, or possess the principles which God possesses, for if we are not drawing towards God in principle, we are going from him and drawing towards the devil. Yes, I am standing in the midst of all kinds of people. Search your hearts, and see if you are like God. I have searched mine, and feel to repent of all my sins.”

Joseph Smith  |  Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pg. 216-17

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“The miracle of the Atonement can make up for imperfections in our performance.”

Elder Gary E. Stevenson

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Spencer W. Kimball Portrait

“Our vision is completely obscured when we have no mirror to hold up to our own faults and look only for the foibles of others. When we follow the instructions of the Lord, we are kept so busy perfecting ourselves that we come to realize that the faults of others are small in comparison.”

Spencer W. Kimball  |  The Miracle of Forgiveness

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“The true end of life is not mere existence, not pleasure, not fame, not wealth. The true purpose of life is the perfection of humanity through individual effort, under the guidance of God’s inspiration. Real life is response to the best within us. To be alive only to appetite, pleasure, pride, money-making, and not to goodness and kindness, purity and love, poetry, music, flowers and stars, God and eternal hopes, is to deprive one’s self of the real joy of living.”

David O. McKay  |  General Conference, October 1963

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“We need to come to terms with our desire to reach perfection and with our frustration when our accomplishments or our behaviors are less than perfect. I feel that one of the great myths we would do well to dispel is that we’ve come to earth to perfect ourselves, and nothing short of that will do. If I understand the teachings of the prophets of this dispensation correctly, we will not become perfect in this life, though we can make significant strides toward that goal. . . .I am also convinced of the fact that the speed with which we head along the straight and narrow path isn’t as important as the direction in which we are traveling. That direction, if it is leading toward eternal goals, is the all-important factor.”

Marvin J. Ashton  |  Ensign, May 1989, pp. 20-21

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“I do not expect that any of us will ever become in mortality quite so perfect as God is perfect; but in the spheres in which we are called to act, and according to the capacity and breadth of intelligence that we possess, in our sphere and in the exercise of the talent, the ability and intelligence that God has given to us, we may become as perfect in our sphere as God is perfect in His higher and more exalted sphere. I believe that.”

Joseph Fielding Smith  |  Conference Report, April 1915, p. 140

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“Sometime in the eternities to come, we will see that our trials were calculated to cause us to turn to our Heavenly Father for strength and support. Any affliction or suffering we are called upon to bear may be directed to give us experience, refinement, and perfection.”

Delbert L. Stapley  |  "The Blessings of Righteous Obedience", Ensign, Nov. 1977

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