Ezra Taft Benson Quotes

172 Sourced Quotes

Encourage good music and art and literature in your homes. Homes that have a spirit of refinement and beauty will bless the lives of your children forever.

Ezra Taft Benson
Freedom is an eternal principle. Heaven disapproves of force, coercion and intimidation. Only a free people can be truly a happy people.

Ezra Taft Benson
Have you ever asked yourself why one person is honorable and another dishonorable; why one is honest, another dishonest; why one is moral, another immoral? Most individuals do not intend to be dishonest, dishonorable, or immoral. They seem to allow their characters to erode by a series of rationalizations, lies, and compromises. Then when grave temptation presents itself, they haven't the strength of character to do what they know to be right.

Ezra Taft Benson
One of Satan's most frequently used deceptions is the notion that the commandments of God are meant to restrict freedom and limit happiness.

Ezra Taft Benson
A man who is pressing forward to accomplish worthy goals can soon put despondency under his feet.

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

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

Ezra Taft Benson
The deepest joys and blessings in life are associated with family, parenthood, and sacrifice.

Ezra Taft Benson
We do not find the Savior using force or coercion to accomplish His purposes.

Ezra Taft Benson
The Book of Mormon contains the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ (D&C 20:9). That does not mean it contains every teaching, every doctrine ever revealed. Rather, it means that in the Book of Mormon we will find the fulness of those doctrines required for our salvation. And they are taught plainly and simply so that even children can learn the ways of salvation and exaltation.

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

Ezra Taft Benson
Modesty in dress and language and deportment is a true mark of refinement and a hallmark of a virtuous Latter-day Saint woman.

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

Ezra Taft Benson
It is the mark of a truly educated man to know what not to read.

Ezra Taft Benson
The Lord is pleased with every effort, even the tiny, daily ones in which we strive to be more like Him.

Ezra Taft Benson
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.

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

Ezra Taft Benson
We do not have to prove the Book of Mormon is true. The book is its own proof.

Ezra Taft Benson
Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ

Ezra Taft Benson
Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.

Ezra Taft Benson
First, we should become informed about communism, about socialism, and about Americanism. What better way can one become informed than by first studying the inspired words of the prophets and using that as a foundation; against which to test all other material. This is in keeping with the Prophet Joseph Smith's motto, "When the Lord commands, do it."

Ezra Taft Benson
If we would truly seek to be more like our Savior and Master, learning to love as He loves should be our highest goal

Ezra Taft Benson
Why did the Lord inspire Mormon (or Moroni or Alma) to include that in his record? What lesson can I learn from that to help me live in this day and age?

Ezra Taft Benson
The expression "follow the Brethren" has a broader meaning than some would apply to it. It means not only to agree with the counsel given to the Church by the Brethren, but also to follow their example in appearance and deportment.

Ezra Taft Benson
Our wise founders seemed to understand, better than most of us, our own scripture, which states that 'it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority … they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.'

Ezra Taft Benson