Heber J. Grant Quotations

Let every man feel that he is the architect and builder of his own life, and that he proposes to make a success of it by working.

If you and I desire the blessings of life, of health, of vigor of body and mind; if we desire the destroying angel to pass us by, as he did in the days of the children of Israel, we must obey the Word of Wisdom; then God is bound, and the blessing shall come to us.

When we set our hearts upon the things of this world and fail to be strictly honest with the Lord, we do not grow in the light and power and strength of the gospel as we otherwise would do.

A Mormon knows that the promises of God are true, and He said that all will be tried; realizing these things the Latter-day Saints will acknowledge their Maker not only in blessings but also in tribulations.

When I was about forty-three years of age, I had a private secretary with a beautiful baritone voice. I told him I would give anything in the world if I could only carry a tune. He laughed and said, 'Anybody who has a voice and perseverance can sing.'

I am free to confess that I am disappointed with the Yosemite valley. It seems only about one-half as grand as the American Fork canyon.

My most earnest prayer is that every man and every woman will get it into his or her heart that they are in very deed the architects of their lives.

I have no animosity against any living soul.

To my mind, the main reason for the Depression in the United States as a whole, is the bondage of debt and the spirit of speculation among the people.

As a man grows and increases in the things of this world, if he is not careful, he will lose the Spirit of the Lord, and he will set his heart upon the things of this world.

What the world needs today more than anything else is an implicit faith in God, our Father, and in Jesus Christ, His Son, as the Redeemer of the world.

When one is giving service for the advancement of humanity, when one is working without money and without price, with no hope of earthly reward, there comes a real, genuine joy into the human heart.

If there is any one thing that will bring peace and contentment into the human heart, and into the family, it is to live within our means. And if there is any one thing that is grinding and discouraging and disheartening, it is to have debts and obligations that one cannot meet.

If you have ambitions, dream of what you wish to accomplish, and then put your shoulder to the wheel and work.

If we are striving, if we are working, if we are trying, to the best of our ability, to improve day by day, then we are in the line of our duty.

I know of nothing that brings greater joy to the human heart than laboring at home or abroad for the salvation of the souls of men. I know of nothing which gives us a greater love of all that is good, than teaching this Gospel of Jesus Christ.

What I count as real prosperity... is the growth in a knowledge of God, and in a testimony, and in the power to live the gospel and to inspire our families to do the same. That is prosperity of the truest kind.

Being an only child, my mother reared me very carefully.

With the help of the Lord, I will do the best I can, and... with His help, I have no fear at all but what I can get along.

I am always pleased when I have the opportunity of meeting with the Latter-day Saints in any of their gatherings.

I consider it one of the greatest accomplishments of my life that I have learned to sing.

Day-dreams without work do not amount to anything; it is the actual work that counts.

Every individual can improve from day to day, from year to year, and have greater capacity to do things as the years come and the years go.

I have felt the inspiration of the living God directing me in my labors.

I have reached out my hand, I have plucked the fruits of the Gospel, I have eaten of them, and they are sweet, yea, above all that is sweet.

I value all things as nothing in comparison with having the spirit of God to guide me.

When I was a child, next to my own mother, no woman that ever lived took as much interest in me, gave me as much motherly advice or seemed to love me more than did Sister Snow. I loved her with all my heart, and loved her hymn, 'O My Father.'

Let every Latter-day Saint give value received for everything he gets, whether it be in work, or whatever he does.

Many men say: 'If I could only see an angel, if I could only hear an angel proclaim something, that would cause me to be faithful all the days of my life!'

I don't care if every patriarch in the Church has made a mistake in a blessing, and told a lie, I believe with all my heart and soul that the gospel is true, and I will not allow my faith to be upset.

I appeal to the Latter-day Saints to be honest with the Lord, and I promise them that peace, prosperity and financial success will attend those who are honest with our Heavenly Father.

I have, all the days of my life, enjoyed singing very much.

There is no better example of an older brother's love than that exhibited in the life of Hyrum Smith for the Prophet Joseph Smith.

It is a remarkable fact that we can never read or hear of the labors which our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ performed, without taking pleasure in it, while, on the other hand, there is nothing so interesting in the life and history of any other individual but what by hearing or reading it time and time again we become tired of it.

My wife Lucy was very sick for nearly three years prior to her death. At one time, I was in the hospital with her for six months.

My mother tried to teach me when I was a small child to sing but failed because of my inability to carry a tune.

When I was about twenty-five years of age, Professor Sims informed me that I could sing, but added, 'I would like to be at least forty miles away while you are doing it.'

When I first began to learn to sing... I would get off on nearly every line and did not know it. I have learned to know when I am off.

When I first began to learn to sing, it took me from three to four months to learn two simple hymns.

When I joined a baseball club, the boys of my own age, and a little older, played in the first nine, those younger than myself played in the second, and those still younger in the third, and I played with them.

The power of the living God is here on the earth. The Priesthood is here.

There is no labor in which we engage but that there is a spirit telling us, 'Oh, you do not need to do that; it is a waste of time, and you ought to be engaged in something else.'

There is no such thing as standing still.

Every living soul among the Latter-day Saints that fasts two meals once a month will be benefited spiritually and be built up in the faith of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ - benefited spiritually in a wonderful way - and sufficient means will be in the hands of the bishops to take care of all the poor.

Thank the Lord for a mother who was a general as well as a Latter-day Saint; who realized that it was a remarkable and splendid thing to encourage a boy to do something besides perhaps milking cows if he was on a farm, if he had ambitions along athletic lines.

Prosperity comes to those who observe the law of tithing.

As a boy, without experience, never having spoken in public in my life, for any length of time, never ten minutes at once, I was called to preside over a stake of Zion.

There never was one particle of... jealousy... in the heart of Hyrum Smith.

The Book of Mormon is in absolute harmony from start to finish with other sacred scriptures. There is not a doctrine taught in it that does not harmonize with the teachings of Jesus Christ.

There stand out in my life many incidents in my youth, of wonderful inspiration and power through men preaching the gospel in the spirit of testimony and prayer.

Not only did Jesus come as a universal gift, He came as an individual offering with a personal message to each one of us.

I know that Lorenzo Snow was God's mouthpiece upon the earth, that he was the representative of the Lord, and that he was, in very deed, a prophet of God.

I, of course, owe everything to my mother, because my father died when I was only nine days of age; and the marvelous teachings, the faith, the integrity of my mother have been an inspiration to me.

I ask every man and woman occupying a place of responsibility whose duty it is to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to live it and keep the commandments of God, so that their example will teach it.

The singing of the songs of Zion, though imperfectly, with the inspiration of God, will touch the hearts of the honest more effectively than if sung well without the Spirit of God.

No man can teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ under the inspiration of the living God and with power from on high unless he is living it.

The Lord is no respector of persons, and will give success to all who work for it. If l can only impress upon the minds of the youth of Zion the eloquence, the inexpressible eloquence of work, I shall feel fully repaid.

Teaching by precept, without example, is mighty poor teaching.

The birth of Christ our Lord was more than an incident, it was an epoch in the history of the world... He came to teach us the character of God, and by example and precept pointed out the path which, if we walk in it, will lead us back into his presence. He came to break the bands of death with which man was bound, and made possible the resurrection by which the grave is robbed of its victory and death of its sting.

Many of the Latter-day Saints have surrendered their independence; they have surrendered their free thought, politically, and we have got to get back to where we are not surrendering the right. We must stay with the right and if we do so God will bless us.

In times of temptation, of sorrow, of peace and of blessing, let us pray always, both alone and with our families.

I know of nothing that I feel is of so great value in life as to be obedient to the counsel and advice of the Lord, and of His servants in this our day.

I am deeply interested in this work. I am anxious to encourage the people to press on in securing their genealogies and after doing so in laboring in our temples.

Let us be ready and willing to follow our file leaders, and to sustain them. ... You will always be blessed and benefitted in following the advice and counsel of those whom God has chosen to preside over the Church. By honoring the man God has chosen, God will honor and bless you; and as you individually do your duty, you will grow and increase in the light and inspiration of the Spirit of God. As we grow and increase individually, so will the Church grow and increase.

The first great commandment was to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, might, mind and strength; and the second was like unto it, to love our neighbor as ourselves. And the best way in the world to show our love for our neighbor is to go forth and proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, of which He has given us an absolute knowledge concerning its divinity.

There is no true Latter-day Saint who would not rather bury a son or a daughter than to have him or her lose his or her chastity - realizing that chastity is of more value than anything else in all the world.

No power on earth, no power beneath the earth, will ever prevent you or me or any Latter-day Saint from being saved, except ourselves

No matter in what land we may dwell the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ makes us brothers and sisters, interested in each other, eager to understand and know each other.

One can never tell what will be the result of faithful service rendered, nor do we know when it will come back to us or to those with whom we are associated. The reward may not come at the time, but in dividends later. I believe we will never lose anything in life by giving service, by making sacrifices, and doing the right thing.

In the quiet hours, in the heat of battle, and through the hazards of the day; in times of temptation, of sorrow, of peace and of blessing, let us pray always, both alone, and with our families gathered around us, with gratitude for the blessings of life, for understanding of its problems, and for strength to endure to the end.

If we are faithful in keeping the commandments of God His promises will be fulfilled to the very letter. . . . The trouble is, the adversary of men's souls blinds their minds. He throws dust, so to speak, in their eyes, and they are blinded with the things of this world.

No obstacles are insurmountable when God commands and we obey.

No pains must be spared to wipe out all feeling of diffidence, embarrassment, or shame on the part of those receiving relief; [we] must be one great family of equals. The spiritual welfare of those on relief must receive especial care and be earnestly and prayerfully fostered. A system which gives relief for work or service will go far to reaching these ends.

I remember that after that teaching given to me as a young man, as a boy, almost, by the President of the Church. I read this chapter about once a week for quite a while, then once a month for several months. I thought I needed it in my business, so to speak; that it was one of the things that were necessary for my advancement.

The doctrine of pre-existence pours a wonderful flood of light upon the otherwise mysterious problem of man's origin. It shows that man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father, prior to coming upon the earth in a temporal body to undergo an experience in mortality.

May we be strengthened with the understanding that being blessed does not mean that we shall always be spared all the disappointments and difficulties of life.

The aim of the Church is to help the people to help themselves. Work is to be re-enthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership

When you are in the line of your duty, it is like standing in front of a line of posts, and every post is in line. But step one step aside, and every post looks as though it were not quite in line. The farther you get away from that straight line, the more crooked the posts will appear. It is the straight and narrow path of duty that will lead you and me back to the presence of God.

I believe that we can accomplish any object that we make up our minds to, and no boy or girl ought to sit down and say, because they cannot do as well as somebody else, that they will not do anything. God has given to some people ten talents; to others, he has given one; but they who improve the one talent will live to see the day when they will far outshine those who have ten talents but fail to improve them.

Thank God we are not to be judged by the opinions of our fellows, but by the work that we do.

The Church has been and now is unalterably opposed to gambling in any form whatever. It is opposed to any game of chance, occupation, or so-called business, which takes money from the person who may be possessed of it without giving value received in return. It is opposed to all practices the tendency of which is to encourage the spirit of reckless speculation, and particularly to that which tends to degrade or weaken the high moral standard which the members of the Church, and our community at large, have always maintained

I believe unless we have ambition to accomplish things and to do things that we amount to but very little in the battle of life.

We do appeal to all men and women, realizing the responsibility resting upon them, to seek God our heavenly Father to guide them politically as well as religiously, and to stand for right and for those things that are for the good of this nation.

If a man has the assurance within his own heart that he is worthy, and that he is laboring to the best of his ability to do good, he can stand up under the condemnation, the criticism and the censure of those by whom he is surrounded.

Of what good is our faith, our repentance, our baptism, and all the sacred ordinances of the gospel by which we have been made ready to receive the blessings of the Lord, if we fail, on our part, to keep the commandments.

He can who thinks he can.

The minute a man stops supplicating God for His Spirit and direction, just so soon he starts out to become a stranger to Him and His works. When men stop praying for God's Spirit, they place confidence in their own unaided reason, and they gradually lose the Spirit of God.

If you desire the spirit of God you must keep the commandments of God.

The singing of our sacred hymns, written by the servants of God, has a powerful effect in converting people to the principles of the Gospel, and in promoting peace and spiritual growth.

I assert with confidence that the law of success, here and hereafter, is to have a humble and a prayerful heart, and to work, work, work.

I do not believe we accomplish very much in life unless we are enthusiastic, unless we are in earnest, and unless we practice what we preach.

He will be our comfort and solace, our guide and counselor, our salvation and exaltation, for "there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

The object of our being placed upon this earth is that we may work out an exaltation, that we may prepare ourselves to go back and dwell with our Heavenly Father; and our Father, knowing the faults and failings of men has given us certain commandments to obey, and if we will examine those requirements and the things that devolve upon us we will find that they are all for our individual benefit and advancement. The school of life in which we are placed and the lessons that are given to us by our Father will make of us exactly what He desires, so that we may be prepared to dwell with Him.

The faith of the Latter-day Saints and the teaching that I have had since I was a child at my mother's knee, as well as from this stand, is that the Constitution of our country was written by men inspired of the Lord God Almighty. Therefore we, as Latter-day Saints, more than any other people, ought to be supporters of the Constitution, and all constitutional law.

Satan...[plans] to destroy liberty and freedom ~ economic, political, and religious, and to set up in place thereof the greatest, most widespread, and most complete tyranny that has ever oppressed men. He is working under such perfect disguise that many do not recognize either him or his methods.

There is no other labor in all the world that brings to a human heart, judging from my own personal experience, more joy, peace and serenity than proclaiming the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ

The Lord does not need your tithing, as far as He is concerned, but you need it for your growth, spiritually and temporally, that the windows of heaven may be opened and the Spirit of the living God given to you.

President Heber J. Grant often quoted the following statement, which is sometimes attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson: “That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do-not that the nature of the thing is changed, but that our power to do is increased.'

There is a still small voice telling us what is right, and if we listen to that still small voice we shall grow and increase in strength and power, in testimony and in ability not only to live the gospel but to inspire others to do so.