Joseph Smith, Jr. Quotes - Page 2

No man can receive the Holy Ghost without receiving revelations. The Holy Ghost is a revelator.

If my life is of no value to my friends it is of none to myself.

[God] never will institute an ordinance or give a commandment to His people that is not calculated in its nature to promote that happiness which He has designed, and which will not end in the greatest amount of good and glory to those who become the recipients of His law and ordinances.

We may come to Jesus and ask Him; He will know all about it; if He comes to a little child, he will adapt himself to the language and capacity of a little child.

Salvation could not come to the world without the mediation of Jesus Christ.

Do not be discouraged on account of the greatness of the work; only be humble and faithful. . . . He who scattered Israel has promised to gather them; therefore inasmuch as you are to be instrumental in this great work, He will endow you with power, wisdom, might, and intelligence, and every qualification necessary.

Seek to know God in your closets, call upon him in the fields. Follow the directions of the Book of Mormon, and pray over, and for your families, your cattle, your flocks, your herds, your corn, and all things that you possess [see Alma 34:18-27]; ask the blessing of God upon all your labors, and everything that you engage in.

This doctrine of polygamy, or spiritual wife-system, that has been taught and practiced among us, will prove our destruction and overthrow.

I made this my rule: When the Lord commands, do it.

The Book of Mormon is true, just what it purports to be, and for this testimony I expect to give an account in the day of judgment.

The Lord gave us power in proportion to the work to be done, and strength according to the race set before us, and grace and help as our needs required.

Search your hearts, and see if you are like God. I have searched mine, and feel to repent of all my sins.

There are so many fools in the world for the devil to operate upon, it gives him the advantage oftentimes.

Sometimes the Lord brings us low before he can lift us higher.

I love that man better who swears a stream as long as my arm yet deals justice to his neighbors and mercifully deals his substance to the poor, than the long, smooth faced hypocrite.

We cannot be saved until we have risen above all our enemies, not the least of which is ignorance.

A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge. For if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world, as evil spirits will have more knowledge, and consequently more power.

God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret.... It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God, and to know... that he was once a man like us.... Here, then, is eternal life - to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves... the same as all Gods have done before you.

Truth does not appease but inflames the curiosity.

Friendship is one of the grand fundamental principles of “Mormonism”; it is designed to revolutionize and civilize the world, and cause wars and contentions to cease and men to become friends and brothers.

The Constitution, when it says, "We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America," meant just what it said without reference to color or condition, ad infinitum.

Happiness is the object and design of our existence.

Truth revealed from heaven is worth more than all the notions of men.

The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.

God himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself. The relationship we have with God places us in a situation to advance in knowledge. He has power to institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences, that they may be exalted with Himself, so that they might have one glory upon another, and all that knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence, which is requisite in order to save them in the world of spirits. (King Follett Discourse)