Top 100 Ezra Taft Benson Quotes

The fact that a book or publication is popular does not necessarily make it of value.

Let your minds be filled with the goal of being like the Lord, and you will crowd out depressing thoughts as you anxiously seek to know Him and do His will.

America is a place of many great events. Here is where Adam dwelt, where the Garden of Eden was located. America was the place of former civilizations, including Adam’s, the Jaredites’, and Nephites’.

Surely no child should fear his own father – especially a priesthood father. A father’s duty is to make his home a place of happiness and joy.

You cannot do wrong and feel right. It is impossible!

The seeds of divorce are often sown and the problems of children begin when Mother works outside the home.

There will always be those little minds who, out of vanity or intellectual display, will attempt to destroy faith in the very foundations of life.

The Lord clearly defined the roles of providing for and rearing a righteous posterity. In the beginning, Adam, not Eve, was instructed to earn the bread by the sweat of his brow.

Some prideful people are not so concerned as to whether their wages meet their needs as they are that their wages are more than someone else’s. Their reward is being a cut above the rest. This is the enmity of pride.

I reverence the Constitution of the United States as a sacred document. To me its words are akin to the revelations of God, for God has placed his stamp of approval on the Constitution of this land.

It is mother’s influence during the crucial formative years that forms a child’s basic character. Home is the place where a child learns faith, feels love, and thereby learns from mother’s loving example to choose righteousness.

To love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is all-consuming and all-encompassing. It is no lukewarm endeavor.

No nation which has kept the commandments of God has ever perished, but I say to you that once freedom is lost, only blood – human blood – will win it back.

Build traditions of family vacations and trips and outings. These memories will never be forgotten by your children.

The Saints never suffer as the sinners do.

The great test of life is obedience to God.

A young woman who knows and loves the Book of Mormon, who has read it several times, who has an abiding testimony of its truthfulness, and who applies its teachings will be able to stand against the wiles of the devil and will be a mighty tool in the hands of the Lord.

Periodic fasting can help clear up the mind and strengthen the body and the spirit.

There is a difference between a convert who is built on the rock of Christ through the Book of Mormon and stays hold of that iron rod, and one who is not.

A young man who knows and loves the Book of Mormon, who has read it several times, who has an abiding testimony of its truthfulness, and who applies its teachings will be able to stand against the wiles of the devil and will be a mighty tool in the hands of the Lord.

I am grateful my own eternal companion served a mission in Hawaii before we were married in the Salt Lake Temple, and I am pleased that I have had three granddaughters serve full-time missions.

Truly a man does not live by bread alone. A good name is still to be preferred over great riches. Especially is it to be preferred to the appearance of riches, acquired with nothing down and nothing to pay for two months.

Besides the physical ordinance of baptism and the laying on of hands, one must be spiritually born again to gain exaltation and eternal life.

God’s revelation to Adam did not instruct Noah how to build the ark.

Some of the greatest battles will be fought within the silent chambers of your own soul.

Disobedience is essentially a prideful power struggle against someone in authority over us. It can be a parent, a priesthood leader, a teacher, or ultimately God. A proud person hates the fact that someone is above him. He thinks this lowers his position.

With pride, there are many curses. With humility, there come many blessings.

When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives.

The founders had a strong distrust for centralized power in a federal government. So they created a government with checks and balances. This was to prevent any branch of the government from becoming too powerful.

From the Book of Mormon, we learn how disciples of Christ live in times of war.

It is a fundamental truth that the responsibilities of motherhood cannot be successfully delegated. No, not to day-care centers, not to schools, not to nurseries, not to babysitters.

You cannot help people permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.

Students at universities are sometimes so filled with the doctrines of the world they begin to question the doctrines of the gospel.

The earth was cursed for Adam’s sake. Work is our blessing, not our doom. God has a work to do, and so should we.

The fellowship of true friends who can hear you out, share your joys, help carry your burdens, and correctly counsel you is priceless.

Some spiritually alert parents hold early-morning devotionals with their families in their homes. They have a hymn, prayer, and then read and discuss the Book of Mormon.

I love all our Father’s children of every color, creed, and political persuasion.

The condition of the physical body can affect the spirit.

Years of happiness can be lost in the foolish gratification of a momentary desire for pleasure.

Satan works through human agents.

If someone wants to marry you outside the temple, whom will you strive to please – God or a mortal? If you insist on a temple marriage, you will be pleasing the Lord and blessing the other party.

God will have a humble people. Either we can choose to be humble, or we can be compelled to be humble.

God lives. I know that He lives. I know that Jesus is the Christ and the Redeemer of the world.

I cannot recall a time that I did not believe in Jesus Christ.

Your most important friendships should be with your own brothers and sisters and with your father and mother. Love your family. Be loyal to them. Have a genuine concern for your brothers and sisters.

Retirement from work has depressed many a man and hastened his death.

In a home where there is an able-bodied husband, he is expected to be the breadwinner.

Bad experience is a school that only fools keep going to.

Mothers, stay close to your daughters. Earn and deserve their love and respect. Be united with their father in the rearing of your children. Do nothing in your life to cause your daughters to stumble because of your example.

Wickedness never did, never does, never will bring us happiness.

Young people, you need the wisdom of age, just as some of us older ones need your enthusiasm for life.

To lose yourself in righteous service to others can lift your sights and get your mind off personal problems, or at least put them in proper focus.

Go on daddy-daughter dates and father-and-sons’ outings with your children. As a family, go on campouts and picnics, to ball games and recitals, to school programs, and so forth. Having Dad there makes all the difference.

Sound principles and eternal truths need to be frequently repeated so that we do not forget their application nor become dissuaded by other arguments.

I testify to you that God’s pay is the best pay that this world or any other world knows anything about.

Satan would have you believe that happiness comes only as you surrender to his enticements, but one only needs to look at the shattered lives of those who violate God’s laws to know why Satan is called the Father of Lies.

Mothers play an important role as the heart of the home, but this in no way lessens the equally important role fathers should play, as head of the home, in nurturing, training, and loving their children.

Too often the pressure for popularity, on children and teens, places an economic burden on the income of the father, so mother feels she must go to work to satisfy her children’s needs. That decision can be most shortsighted.

Every man eventually is backed up to the wall of faith, and there he must make his stand.

Was it not through pride that the devil became the devil? Christ wanted to serve. The devil wanted to rule.

Opposition provides choices, and choices bring consequences – good or bad.

In the beginning, Adam was instructed to earn the bread by the sweat of his brow – not Eve. Contrary to conventional wisdom, a mother’s place is in the home!

The Book of Mormon Is the Word of God.

‘What would Jesus do?’ or ‘What would He have me do?’ are the paramount personal questions of this life.

Sacrifice is truly the crowning test of the gospel. Men are tried and tested in this mortal probation to see if they will put first in their lives the kingdom of God.

What a gift it would be to receive at Christmastime a greater knowledge of the Lord. What a gift it would be to share that knowledge with others.

The undermining of the home and family is on the increase with the devil anxiously working to displace the father as the head of the home and create rebellion among the children.

The moral code of Heaven for both men and women is complete chastity before marriage and full fidelity after marriage.

We must not lose hope. Hope is an anchor to the souls of men. Satan would have us cast away that anchor.

An almost forgotten means of economic self-reliance is the home production of food. We are too accustomed to going to stores and purchasing what we need.

A positive self-image has little relationship to our material circumstances.

The literal resurrection of every soul who has lived and died on earth is a certainty, and surely one should make careful preparation for this event. A glorious resurrection should be the goal of every man and woman, for resurrection will be a reality.

Freedom can be killed by neglect as well as by direct attack.

One of the standards on which your happiness is based, now and in your future, is moral purity.

Some men are willing to die for their faith, but they are not willing to fully live for it. Christ both lived and died for us.

If you are a single parent, make friends with others in similar situations and develop friendships with married couples. Counsel with your priesthood leaders. Let them know of your needs and wants. Single parenthood is understood by the Lord.

The Book of Mormon offers so much that broadens our understandings of the doctrines of salvation. Without it, much of what is taught in other scriptures would not be nearly so plain and precious.

In the scriptures there is no such thing as righteous pride. It is always considered as a sin.

The true scientist no longer attempts to disprove the pull of gravity, or the rotation of the earth, or the motion of heavenly bodies, or the sequence of the seasons, or man’s need of food and water, or the function of the heart.

Plan to build up your food supply just as you would a savings account. Save a little for storage each paycheck. Can or bottle fruit and vegetables from your gardens and orchards. Learn how to preserve food through drying and possibly freezing. Make your storage a part of your budget.

Prayer in the hour of need is a great boon. From simple trials to our Gethsemanes, prayer – persistent prayer – can put us in touch with God, our greatest source of comfort and counsel.

Our desires, be they spiritual or temporal, should be rooted in a love of the Lord.

The great task of life is to learn the will of the Lord and then do it.

We must be careful, as we seek to become more and more godlike, that we do not become discouraged and lose hope.

One who is kind is sympathetic and gentle with others. He is considerate of others’ feelings and courteous in his behavior. He has a helpful nature. Kindness pardons others’ weaknesses and faults. Kindness is extended to all – to the aged and the young, to animals, to those low of station as well as the high.

Young people especially sometimes feel that the standards of the Lord are like fences and chains, blocking them from those activities that seem most enjoyable in life.

I am a witness to nations and people deprived of their freedom. I was there. I watched that great Iron Curtain drop around nations which formerly had prized their freedom – good people. I was aghast as these were written off by the stroke of a pen.

The one man other than my father who made the most lasting impression was an uncle, Serge B. Benson. He taught me in three different classes – but above all, he taught me lessons in moral, physical, and intellectual courage that I have tried to apply in later life.

Blessed are they who seek to learn wisdom.

The Bible sits on the pulpit of hundreds of different religious sects.

We should put God ahead of everyone else in our lives.

A woman whose life is involved in the righteous rearing of her children has a better chance of keeping up her spirits than the woman whose total concern is centered in her own personal problems.

Becoming Christlike is a lifetime pursuit and very often involves growth and change that is slow, almost imperceptible.

Our mothers put God first when they fill their highest mission within the walls of their own homes.

Praise your children more than you correct them. Praise them for even their smallest achievement.

God will not be mocked.

Daily, constantly, we choose by our desires, our thoughts, and our actions whether we want to be blessed or cursed, happy or miserable.

I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein.

Most of us think of pride as self-centeredness, conceit, boastfulness, arrogance, or haughtiness. All of these are elements of the sin, but the heart, or core, is still missing. The central feature of pride is enmity – enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen.

Do not leave yourself or your family unprotected against financial storms… Build up savings.