Bruce R. McConkie Quotes

The most important single thing that any Latter-day Saint ever does in this world is to marry the right person, in the right place, by the right authority.

Prayer is a great tower of strength, a pillar of unending righteousness, a mighty force that moves mountains and saves souls. Through it the sick are healed, the dead are raised, and the Holy Spirit is poured out without measure upon the faithful.

I stand before the Church this day and raise the warning voice. ... It is a voice calling upon the Lords people to prepare for the troubles and desolations which are about to be poured out upon the world without measure. For the moment we live in a day of peace and prosperity but it shall not ever be thus. Great trials lie ahead. All of the sorrows and perils of the past are but a foretaste of what is yet to be. And we must prepare ourselves temporally and spiritually.

We are here on earth to work-to work long, hard, arduous hours, to work until our backs ache and our tired muscles knot, to work all our days. This mortal probation is one in which we are to eat our bread in the sweat of our faces until we return to the dust from whence we came. Work is the law of life; it is the ruling principle in the lives of the Saints.

But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God’s Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way.

As starving men crave a crust of bread, as choking men thirst for water, so do the righteous yearn for the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is a Revelator: he is a Sanctifier; he reveals truth, and he cleanses human souls. He is the Spirit of Truth, and his baptism is one of fire; he burns dross and evil out of repentant souls as though by fire. The gift of the Holy Ghost is the greatest of all the gifts of God, as pertaining to this life; and those who enjoy that gift here and now, will inherit eternal life hereafter, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God in eternity.

I think that people who study the scriptures get a dimension to their life that nobody else gets and that can’t be gained in any way except by studying the scriptures. There’s an increase in faith and a desire to do what’s right and a feeling of inspiration and understanding that comes to people who study the gospel—meaning particularly the Standard Works—and who ponder the principles, that can’t come in any other way

I do not know what we did in the preexistence to merit the wonderful blessings we enjoy. We have come to earth in this great season in the long history of mankind. It is a marvelous age, the best of all. As we reflect on the plodding course of mankind, from the time of our first parents, we cannot help feeling grateful.

The family unit is the most important organization in time or in eternity.

We cannot survive spiritually with one foot in the Church and the other in the world.

All progression in spiritual things is dependent upon the attainment of humility.

Music is given of God to further his purposes. Sweet melodies mellow the souls of men and help prepare them for the gospel. After men receive the truth, songs of praise to Deity help to sanctify and cleanse their souls.

Existence came from God; death came by Adam; and immortality and eternal life come through Christ.

Obviously the holy practice (of polygamy) will commence again after the Second Coming of the Son of Man and the ushering in of the millennium.

No one can argue with a testimony, it is not a debatable issue. It is there to be accepted or rejected.

Belief, humble belief, is the foundation of all righteousness and the beginning of spiritual progression. It goes before good works, opens the door to an eternal store of heavenly truth, and charts the course to eternal life. . . . Belief is the brilliant beacon that marks the course through the waves and woes of the world to that celestial harbor where rest and safety are found.

Every mortal birth is a heaven-given reminder to prepare for the second birth.

Woman's primary place is in the home, where she is to rear children and abide by the righteous counsel of her husband.

Our Lord might be described as the great Physician, Healer, Engineer, Chief Scout, Foreman, Builder, or the like - all showing his pre-eminence in the field concerned, and all pointing attention to his power to deal in the spiritual field with human souls as these mortal counterparts deal in their temporal pursuits.

We expect to see the day when temples will dot the earth, each one a house of the Lord.

There is no such thing as neutrality where the gospel is concerned.

God... is a personal Being, a holy and exalted man.

Plural marriage is not essential to salvation or exaltation.

As long as man's beliefs, or any part of them, are based on error, he is not completely free, for the chains of error bind his mind.

To worship the Lord is to stand valiantly in the cause of truth and righteousness, to let our influence for good be felt in civic, cultural, educational, and governmental fields, and to support those laws and principles which further the Lord's interests on earth.

Salvation is a family affair.

All our losses and sufferings will be made up to us in the resurrection.

We have made covenants so to do solemn, sacred, holy covenants, pledging ourselves before gods and angels. We are under covenant to live the law of obedience. We are under covenant to live the law of sacrifice. We are under covenant to live the law of consecration. It is our privilege to consecrate our time, talents, and means to build up his kingdom. We are called upon to sacrifice, in one degree or another, for the furtherance of his work. Obedience is essential to salvation; so, also, is service; and so, also, are consecration and sacrifice.

There is nothing as important as having the companionship of the Holy Ghost.

We make our own choices, and then we present the matter to the Lord and get his approving, ratifying seal.

I do not know all of the providences of the Lord, but I do know that he permits false doctrine to be taught in and out of the Church and that such teaching is part of the sifting process of mortality

Wear modest, clean clothing. Your clothing doesn't need to be new and [it] should have some fashion of course, but [it] should be clean, modest, and neat. Be dignified in your outward manner and in your inward morality.

Religious music is by far the greatest music of the ages. What is there to compare-in rhythmic beauty, poetic sublimity, and inspired teachings-with the Psalms of David?

The Holy Ghost, a personage of spirit, is their minister, who has been given the power and assigned the functions of bearing record of the Father and the Son, of revealing the truths of salvation to men on earth, and in due course, of revealing to them, all truth.

Yes, President Young did teach that Adam was the father of our spirits, and all the related things that the cultists ascribe to him. This [i.e., Brigham Young's teaching on Adam], however, is not true. He expressed views that are out of harmony with the gospel.

When the real history of the world is written, it will show god’s dealings with men, and the place the gospel has played in the rise and fall of nations.

The most important things that any member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ever does in this world are: 1. To marry the right person, in the right place, by the right authority; and 2. To keep the covenant made in connection with the holy and perfect order of matrimony-thus assuring the obedient persons of an inheritance of exaltation in the celestial kingdom.

Faith is a gift of God bestowed as a reward for personal righteousness.

Christ was Begotten by an immortal Father in the same way that mortal men are begotten by mortal fathers.

What does it matter if a few barking dogs snap at the heels of the weary travelers? ... The caravan moves on

The Atonement of Christ is the most transcendental event that has ever occurred or that will ever occur, since the sunrise of creation to all ages of eternity

Any who pretend to assume to engage in plural marriage in this day, when the one holding the keys has withdrawn the power by which they are performed, are guilty of gross wickedness. Thy are living in adultery, have already sold their souls to Satan, and (whether their acts are based on ignorance or lust or both) they will be damned in eternity.

Baptism is the gate through which all must enter to accomplish the Lord’s desire to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

As far as this life is concerned, [Jesus] was born of Mary and of Elohim; he came here as an offspring of that Holy Man who is literally our Father in heaven. He was born in mortality in the literal and full sense as the Son of God. He is the Son of his father in the same sense that all morals are the sons and daughters of their fathers.

Adam and Eve and all forms of life, both animal and plant, were created in immortality; that is, when first placed on this earth, all forms of life were in a state of immortality. There was no death in the world; death entered after the fall.

God stands revealed or remains forever unknown.

And Christ was born into the world as the literal Son of this Holy Being; he was born in the same personal, real, and literal sense that any mortal son is born to a mortal father. There is nothing figurative about his paternity; he was begotten, conceived and born in the normal and natural course of events, for he is the Son of God, and that designation means what it says.

It is my province to teach to the church what the doctrine is. It is your province to echo what I say or to remain silent.

Salvation is in Christ, not the Holy Ghost; our Blessed Lord redeemed us and the Holy Ghost is his messenger to carry the message of redeeming grace into the hearts of men. Thus, the joyous words spoken by the Holy Ghost are in reality the words of Christ. The Spirit is simply the one who delivers the word.

There are those who say that revealed religion and organic evolution can be harmonized. This is both false and devilish.