David O. McKay Quotes

A man who cannot control his temper is not very likely to control his passions, and no matter what his pretensions in religion, he moves in daily life very close to the animal plane.

Man's greatest happiness comes from losing himself for the good of others.

We must not close our eyes to the fact that there are conspiring men who would pollute young boys, and girls of corresponding age, for sake of increasing profits.

True motherhood is the noblest call of the world, and we look with sorrow upon the practice here in our own United States of limiting families, a tendency creeping into our own Church.

Into the soul of every student I would have instilled the patriotic fervor of Patrick Henry.

The first condition of happiness is a clear conscience.

Every member ... a missionary!

There is no development of character without resistance, there is no growth of spirituality without overcoming.

A man who cannot control his temper is not very likely to control his passions.

There is a crying need today to have this truth heralded throughout the land that youth especially may appreciate and hold the freedom of the individual as sacred as did our revolutionary fathers.

True Christianity is love in action. There is no better way to manifest love for God than to show an unselfish love for your fellow men. This is the spirit of missionary work

The basis of all sin is selfishness.

The latest I like to be to meeting is 15 minutes early

In the well-ordered home we may experience a taste of heaven.

Trust is greater than love.

I wish to emphasize the fact that our homes should be more attractive and that more of our amusements should be in the home instead of the streets.

When the husband and wife are healthy, and free from inherited weaknesses and diseases that might be transmitted with injury to their offspring the use of contraceptives is to be condemned.

Slander is poison to the soul.

"We don't take sufficient time to meditate." I get up early in the morning...five o'clock, when my mind and spirit are clear and rested. Then I meditate.

Always remember that a soldier's pack is lighter than a slave's chains.

If we would change the world, we must first change people's thoughts.

Thoughts that most frequently occupy the mind determine a man's course of action.

[One] principle that actuated the lives of the fathers who founded our Constitution was faith in God.

When harmony, mutual consideration and trust pass out of the home, hell enters in.

In choosing a companion, it is necessary to study the disposition, the inheritance, and training of the one with whom you are contemplating making life’s journey.

What you think about when you don't think, shows who you really are.

The real test of any church or religion is the kind of men it makes.

I will raise my voice as long as God gives me sound or ability, against this Communistic idea that the Government will take care of us all, and everything belongs to the government. It is wrong!

The seeds of a happy marriage are sown in youth. Happiness does not begin at the altar; it begins during the period of youth and courtship.

To be carnally minded is to be spiritually dead

Man is responsible not only for every deed, but also for every idle word and thought.

That home is most beautiful in which you find each person striving to serve the other.

An unsatisfied appetite for knowledge means progress and is the state of a normal mind.

This age is fraught with limitless perils, as well as untold possibilities.

I never think of death: I am too busy thinking of life.

I believe that only through a truly educated citizenry can the ideals that inspired the Founding Fathers of our nation be preserved and perpetuated.

Sincere prayer implies that when we ask for any virtue or blessing, we should work for the blessing and cultivate the virtue.

The greatest spiritual blessing comes from helping another.

The true purpose of life is the perfection of humanity through individual effort, under the guidance of God's inspiration.

What-e're thou art, Act well thy part.

If our young people could but glimpse it, it would be the most powerful spiritual motivation of their lives!

All men who have moved the world have been men who would stand true to their conscience.

[Liberty] is freedom of choice, a divine gift, an essential virtue in a peaceful society.

Adversity itself may lead toward and not away from God and spiritual enlightenment; and privation may prove a source of strength if we can but keep a sweetness of mind and spirit.

The home is the basis of a righteous life and no other instrumentality can take its place nor fulfill its essential functions.

Out of the homes of America will come the future citizens of America, and only as those homes are what they should be will this nation be what it should be.

Today, as never before, the issue is clearly defined-liberty and freedom of choice, or oppression and subjugation for the individual and for nations.

Men may yearn for peace, cry for peace, and work for peace, but there will be no peace until they follow the path pointed out by the Living Christ. He is the true light of men's lives.

The world is hungry to hear the truth. ... We have it. Are we equal to the task-to the responsibility God has placed upon us?

Everyone is possessed with an irresistible desire to know his relationship to the Infinite.