“Though a man should say but a few words, and his sentences and words be ever so ungrammatical, if he speaks by the power of the Holy Ghost, he will do good.”
| Discourses of Brigham Young, 31
“Effective teaching is the very essence of leadership in the church. Eternal life will come only as men and women are taught with such effectiveness that they change and discipline their lives. They cannot be coerced into righteousness or into heaven. They must be led, and that means teaching.”
| "How to Be a Teacher When Your Role as a Leader Requires You to Teach"
“It must be emphasized that as a father, you are always teaching. For good or ill your family learns your ways, your beliefs, your heart, your ideas, your concerns. Your children may or may not choose to follow you, but the example you give is the greatest light you hold before your children, and you are accountable for that light.”
“May I suggest to you that one of the things we need to teach our students, and one of the things which will become more important in their lives the longer they live, is the reality of angels, their work, and their ministry. Obviously I speak here not alone of the angel Moroni, but also of those more personal ministering angels who are with us and around us, empowered to help us, and who do exactly that. …Perhaps more of us, including our students, could literally, or at least figuratively, behold the angels around us if we would but awaken from our stupor and hear the voice of the Spirit as those angels try to speak. …I believe we need to speak of and believe in and bear testimony to the ministry of angels more than we sometimes do. They constitute one of God’s great methods of witnessing through the veil.”
| (A Standard unto My People [address to religious educators at a symposium on the Book of Mormon, Brigham Young University, Aug. 9, 1994], 11–13).
“God’s work is therefore first and foremost educative and constructive, not reparative. Life is pain, but it is not punishment.”
“Stake president, bishops, and branch presidents, please take particular interest in improving the quality of teaching in the Church. I fear that all too often many of our members come to church, sit through a class or a meeting, and then return home having been largely uninspired. It is especially unfortunate when this happens at a time of stress, temptation, or crisis [in their life]. We all need to be touched and nurtured by the Spirit, and effective teaching is one of the most important ways this can happen. We often do vigorous work to get members to come to Church but then do not adequately watch over what they receive when they do come.”
| "Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball"
“It is the Holy Ghost that bears witness of your words when you teach and testify. It is the Holy Ghost that, as you speak in hostile venues, puts into your heart what you should say and fulfills the Lord’s promise that “you shall not be confounded before men” (D&C 100:5). It is the Holy Ghost that reveals how you may clear the next seemingly insurmountable hurdle. It is by the Holy Ghost in you that others may feel the pure love of Christ and receive strength to press forward. It is also the Holy Ghost, in His character as the Holy Spirit of Promise, that confirms the validity and efficacy of your covenants and seals God’s promises upon you.”
| “The Power of Covenants,” Ensign, May 2009, p. 22
It is my hope and my belief that the Lord never permits the light of faith wholly to be extinguished in any human heart, however faint the light may glow. The Lord has provided that there shall still be there a spark which, with teaching, with the spirit of righteousness, with love, with tenderness, with example, with living the Gospel, shall brighten and glow again, however darkened the mind may have been. And if we shall fail so to reach those among us of our own whose faith has dwindled low, we shall fail in one of the main things which the Lord expects at our hands.
| Conference Report, October 1936, p. 114
Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape.
“It’s not living the gospel thats hard. Its life that’s hard…How often do we make the mistake of talking to our youth about how hard it is…Shouldn’t we instead be focusing on the doctrine of joy…?”
| No Doubt About It
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