David J. Ridges

In my study of Moses 7:36, I found this little Gem! Enjoy!

After reading verse 36, above, students often ask, “What did we do to deserve being sent to this earth?” They feel that they must have done something wrong in premortality to be sent here. I have responded that my feeling is that it is a great honor to be sent to this earth, the world to which the Savior was sent to gain His mortal body and serve His mortal mission, the earth upon which was performed the infinite Atonement of Jesus Christ, which blesses the inhabitants of all the Father’s world’s—past, present, and future (D&C 76:24). To me, they should be asking what they did right to deserve such an honor!
David J. Ridges

Parley P. Pratt

Elder Parley P. Pratt taught about the functions of the Holy Ghost. He said: “The gift of the Holy Spirit adapts itself to all these organs and attributes. It quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands and purifies all the natural passions and affections; and adapts them, by the gift of wisdom, to their lawful use. It inspires, develops, cultivates matures all the fine-toned sympathies, joys, tastes, kindred feelings and affections of our nature. It inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness and charity. It develops beauty of person, form and features. It tends to health, vigor, animation and social feeling. It develops and invigorates all the faculties of the physical and intellectual man. It strengthens, invigorates, and gives tone to the nerves. In short, it is, as it were, marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole being” (Key to the Science of Theology/A Voice of Warning, page 101).

Joseph Smith

“Wherefore, we again say, search the revelations of God; study the prophesies, and rejoice that God grants unto the world Seers and Prophets. They are they who saw the mysteries of godliness; they saw the flood before it came; they saw angels ascending and descending upon a ladder that reached from earth to heaven; they saw the stone cut out of the mountain, which filled the whole earth; they saw the Son of God come from the regions of bliss and dwell with men on earth; they saw the deliverer come out of Zion, and turn away ungodliness from Jacob; they saw the glory of the Lord when he showed the transfiguration of the earth on the mount; they saw every mountain laid low and every valley exalted when the Lord was taking vengeance upon the wicked; they saw truth spring out of the earth, and righteousness look down from heaven in the last days, before the Lord came the second time to gather his elect; they saw the end of wickedness on earth, and the Sabbath of creation crowned with peace; they saw the end of the glorious thousand years, when Satan was loosed for a little season; they saw the day of judgment when all men received according to their works, and they saw the heaven and the earth flee away to make room for the city of God, when the righteous receive an inheritance in eternity” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pages 12-13).

Helen Keller

When we do the best we can, we never know what miracles await.
Helen Keller

J.M. Barrie

Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.
J.M. Barrie

Anne Frank

Whoever is happy will make others happy.
Anne Frank

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Don't anticipate the happiness of tomorrow. Discover it today.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Henry David Thoreau

It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.
Henry David Thoreau

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sir Winston Churchill

Every day you make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.
Sir Winston Churchill

Henry Ward Beecher

Rain! Whose soft architectural hands have power to cut stones, and chisel to shapes of grandeur the very mountains.
Henry Ward Beecher

Marcelene Cox

Life is like a camel; you can make it do anything except back up.
Marcelene Cox

Abraham Lincoln

When you have got an elephant by the hind leg, and he is trying to run away, it's best to let him run.
Abraham Lincoln

David O. McKay

"I never make a decision without asking myself, `How will I explain this to the Savior when I meet him?"
David O. McKay

Gordon B. Hinckley

"I take you back to the general conference of October 1856. On Saturday of that conference Franklin D. Richards and a handful of associates arrived in the valley. They had traveled from Winter Quarters with strong teams and light wagons and had been able to make good time. Brother Richards immediately sought out President Young. He reported that there were hundreds of men, women, and children scattered over the long trail from Scottsbluff to this valley. Most of them were pulling handcarts. They were accompanied by two wagon trains which had been assigned to assist them. They had reached the area of the last crossing of the North Platte River. Ahead of them lay a trail that was uphill all the way to the Continental Divide with many, many miles beyond that. They were in desperate trouble. Winter had come early. Snow-laden winds were howling across the highlands of what is now western Nebraska and Wyoming. Our people were hungry, their carts and their wagons were breaking down, their oxen dying. The people themselves were dying. All of them would perish unless they were rescued. "I think President Young did not sleep that night. I think visions of those destitute, freezing, dying people paraded through his mind. "The next morning he came to the old Tabernacle which stood on this square. He said to the people: " 'I will now give this people the subject and the text for the Elders who may speak. . . . It is this. . . . Many of our brethren and sisters are on the plains with handcarts, and probably many are now seven hundred miles from this place, and they must be brought here, we must send assistance to them. The text will be, "to get them here." " 'That is my religion; that is the dictation of the Holy Ghost that I possess. It is to save the people." 'I shall call upon the Bishops this day. I shall not wait until tomorrow, nor until the next day, for 60 good mule teams and 12 or 15 wagons. I do not want to send oxen. I want good horses and mules. They are in this Territory, and we must have them. Also 12 tons of flour and 40 good teamsters, besides those that drive the teams. " 'I will tell you all that your faith, religion, and profession of religion, will never save one soul of you in the Celestial Kingdom of our God, unless you carry out just such principles as I am now teaching you. Go and bring in those people now on the plains' (in LeRoy R. Hafen and Ann W. Hafen, Handcarts to Zion [1960], 120-21). "Wonderful sermons have been preached from this pulpit, my brethren and sisters. But none has been more eloquent than that spoken by President Young in those circumstances."
Gordon B. Hinckley "Reach with a Rescuing Hand," Ensign, Nov. 1996, 85-86

Brigham Young

I feel like a father with a great family of children around me, in a winter storm, and I am looking with calmness confidence, and patience, for the clouds to break and the sun to shine, so that I can run out and plant and sow and gather in the corn, and wheat and say, Children, come home, winter is approaching again and I have homes and wood and flour and meal and meat and potatoes and squash and onions and cabbages and all things in abundance, and I am ready to kill the fatted calf and make a joyful feast to all who will come and partake.
Brigham Young February 1847

Robert F. Kennedy

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.
Robert F. Kennedy

Helen Keller

One can never consent to creep when one feels the impulse to soar.
Helen Keller

Daniel Hudson Burnham

Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood. Make big plans: aim high in hope and work.
Daniel Hudson Burnham

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Henry David Thoreau

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined.
Henry David Thoreau