Gordon B. Hinckley quotes:

Jesus said, 'Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' There are no exceptions. Baptism is a necessary ordinance.

Meekness implies a spirit of gratitude as opposed to an attitude of self-sufficiency, an acknowledgement of a greater power beyond oneself, a recognition of God, and an acceptance of his commandments.

Let the Latter-day Saints be in their homes, teaching their families, reading the scriptures, doing things that are wholesome and beautiful and communing with the Lord on the Sabbath day.

Marriage, in its truest sense, is a partnership of equals, with neither exercising dominion over the other, but, rather, with each encouraging and assisting the other in whatever responsibilities and aspirations he or she might have.

Anything so precious as the gospel of Jesus Christ is worthy of all the effort and sacrifice of time and means employed to teach it.

I hope that if you are employed full-time, you are doing it to ensure that basic needs are met and not simply to indulge a taste for an elaborate home, fancy cars, and other luxuries.

Eligibility for a temple recommend is not based on financial worth. That has nothing whatever to do with it. It is based on consistent personal behavior, on the goodness of one's life. It is not concerned with money matters, but rather with things of eternity.

The whole essence of the Christian religion is based on the atonement of Christ, his death and his resurrection.

I do not concern myself much with reading long commentary volumes designed to enlarge at length upon that which is found in the scriptures. Rather, I prefer to dwell with the source, tasting of the unadulterated waters of the fountain of truth - the word of God as he gave it and as it has been recorded in the books we accept as scripture.

Where ever the spirit of Christ is known, there is much of good will, of mutual respect, of love and appreciation and kindness.

If there were no immortality there would be no need for temples. There would be no need for eternal marriage if there were no eternity.

Respect for self is the beginning of cultivating virtue in men and women.

When you are young, do not get involved in steady dating. When you reach an age where you think of marriage, then is the time to become so involved.

Missionary work has never been easy, and yet the joyful rewards cannot be equaled by any other experience.

It is not a mark of manhood to carelessly use the name of the Almighty or of His Beloved Son in a vain and flippant way, as many are prone to do.

With all my heart, I plead with the Latter-day Saints to live honestly with the Lord in the payment of tithes and offerings. I plead with youth to establish this habit while you are still young and to resolve to continue with it all the days of your lives.

As we give presents at Christmas, we need to recognize that sharing our time and ourselves is such an important part of giving.

The biggest challenge facing a missionary today is to forget himself and lose himself in the work.

A tattoo is graffiti on the temple of the body.

Keep your families close together, and love and honor your children.

We do not wonder that there is conflict in the world. There is now, and has been from the time that Cain slew Abel, so much of hatred.

Do you feel gloomy? Lift your eyes. Stand on your feet. Say a few words of appreciation and love to the Lord. Be positive.

In missionary work, as in all else, preparation precedes power. Encouragement to prepare while still very young can make a tremendous difference.

Through reading the scriptures, we can gain the assurance of the Spirit that that which we read has come of God for the enlightenment, blessing, and joy of his children.

There is need occasionally to leave the noise and the tumult of the world and step within the walls of a sacred house of God, there to feel His Spirit in an environment of holiness and peace.

Truth will prevail.

God gave us our agency. He taught us a way. He showed us what to do. But he gave us our agency and left us free to act as we choose to do.

Until I got older, I never dreamed of what a demanding responsibility it is to keep food in the pantry, to keep clothing neat and presentable, to buy all that is needed to keep a home running.

It is difficult for me to understand the tragic accounts of troubled marriages that come to me.

The world is starved for spiritual food.

If you are too busy in your church activities to take care of your family, then perhaps we had better find something else for you to do.

Let every mother realize that she has no greater blessing than the children who have come to her as a gift from the Almighty; that she has no greater mission than to rear them in light and truth, in understanding and love.

Choose your friends carefully. It is they who will lead you in one direction or the other.

I am satisfied that every man or woman who goes to the temple in a spirit of sincerity and faith leaves the house of the Lord a better man or woman.

I cannot understand why any young man - or young woman, for that matter - would wish to undergo the painful process of disfiguring the skin with various multicolored representations of people, animals, and various symbols.

The Almighty, if necessary, may have to shake the nations to humble them and cause them to listen to the servants of the living God. Whatever is needed will come to pass.

We live in a world that is filled with filth and sleaze, a world that reeks of evil. You cannot afford that filthy poison to touch you. Stay away from it. Avoid it.

To you wives who are constantly complaining and see only the dark side of life, and feel that you are unloved and unwanted, look into your own hearts and minds. If there is something wrong, turn about. Put a smile on your faces. Make yourselves more attractive. Brighten your outlook.

It has been my privilege on various occasions to converse with presidents of the United States and important men in other governments. At the close of each such occasion, I have reflected on the rewarding experience of standing with confidence in the presence of an acknowledged leader.

I have yet to find a faithful tithe payer who cannot testify that in a very literal and wonderful way the windows of Heaven have been opened and blessings have been poured out upon him or her.

Our bodies... are the tabernacles of our spirits.

I submit that in the few minutes that Joseph Smith was with the Father and the Son, he learned more of the nature of God the Eternal Father and the risen Lord than all the learned minds in all their discussions through all centuries of time.

Study a foreign language if you have opportunity to do so. You may never be called to a land where that language is spoken, but the study will have given you a better understanding of your own tongue or of another tongue you may be asked to acquire.

If you are a good missionary, you will return home with the desire to continue to serve the Lord, to keep His commandments, and to do His will.

I thank the Lord for the great principle of repentance and forgiveness.

When all is said and done, the greatest satisfaction you'll have in this life as you grow old will be seeing your children grow in righteousness and faith and goodness as citizens of the society of which they are a part.

You dear women, I say thanks to you. Thank you for being the kind of people you are and doing the things you do.

You can't build a great building on a weak foundation. You must have a solid foundation if you're going to have a strong superstructure.

My heart goes out to a missionary who does not receive regular mail from home. Generally, a letter once a week is a good rule. But on the other hand, too much mail can be damaging to a missionary's morale.

Be virtuous in thought and in deed. God has planted in you, for a purpose, a divine urge which may be easily subverted to evil and destructive ends.

Criticism and pessimism destroy families, undermine institutions of all kinds, defeat nearly everyone, and spread a shroud of gloom over entire nations.

I've tried to recognize my wife's individuality, her personality, her desires, her background, her ambitions.

Parents have no greater responsibility in this world than the bringing up of their children in the right way, and they will have no greater satisfaction as the years pass than to see those children grow in integrity and honesty and make something of their lives.

There is nothing we could do of greater importance than to have fortified in our individual lives an unshakable conviction that Jesus is the Christ, the living Son of the living God.

You don't need coffee. Nobody needs coffee. You can get along without it.

I promise you that the time will come, if you have tattoos, that you will regret your actions. They cannot be washed off. They are permanent. Only by an expensive and painful process can they be removed. If you are tattooed, then probably for the remainder of your life you will carry it with you.

I almost stand in awe when I think of Joseph Smith. The angel appeared to him in 1823 - he said to this simple little boy, 'Your name should be known for good and evil throughout the entire world.'

If you have a temper, now is the time to learn to control it. The more you do so while you are young, the more easily it will happen.

We live in a world of shifting values. The family is falling apart. Parents failing in what they ought to do.

The gospel is not a philosophy of repression, as so many regard it. It is a plan of freedom that gives discipline to appetite and direction to behavior.

You will find peace and happiness if you will live the gospel.

We all know that education unlocks the door of opportunity for the young.

Every convert is a son or daughter of God.

We're all sons and daughters of God, and therefore in a very literal sense, brothers and sisters. And we ought to treat each other that way.

Fear comes not from God but from the evil one.

Seek to establish an environment conducive to study in the home.

Knowledge, learning, is an eternal thing.

Every good citizen adds to the strength of a nation.

A nation will rise no higher than the strength of its homes.

Oh, I don't think religion has failed. It's man who has failed. Christ hasn't failed. The Gospel hasn't failed. The teachings of God have not failed.

Some of our finest work comes through service to others.

I think the world would be much poorer without religion, speaking generally.

There is far too much of divorce, wherein hearts are broken, and sometimes lives are destroyed.

Children can be disciplined with love.

Did you ever think that your body is holy? You are a child of God. Your body is His creation.

We all exercise agency in the choices we make.

When you touch the life of a man of this generation, that influence is felt through generations yet to come.

Encourage your children to read more and watch television less.

If there were more temple work done in the Church, there would be less of selfishness, less of contention, less of demeaning others.

We have come to Earth in this great season in the long history of mankind. It is a marvelous age - the best of all.

There is dissatisfaction among a great many Christian people. They are not happy with what they have and, therefore, respond readily to the message of the restored gospel.

I have two sons. Good sons. They're both businessmen.

Nothing's too good for the Lord.

How grateful I am for the law of tithing. It is the Lord's law of finance.

Opportunities for sharing the gospel are everywhere.

The most persuasive gospel tract is the exemplary life of a faithful Latter-day Saint.

People are looking for stability in a shaky world. They want something they can get hold of that's firm and sure and an anchor in the midst of all of this instability in which they're living.

I think that the churches do a better job in many respects than the government does in various kinds of things. Extending aid, the helpfulness, and so on, yes.

My children are now all grown. Some are in their 60s. But when they call and I answer the phone, they say, 'How are you?' And before I can answer, they ask, 'Is Mother there?'

The major work of the world is not done by geniuses. It is done by ordinary people, with balance in their lives, who have learned to work in an extraordinary manner.

When the 'Book of Mormon' was first published, some of those who believed in it taught it to others and testified of it.

I spent one night in the hospital in my life. I was past 75 when that occurred.

You have to establish in your life some sense of prioritizing things, of giving emphasis to the important things and of laying aside the unimportant things that will lead to nothing.

If every man would make his prime concern the comfort and well-being of his wife and every wife make her chief concern the comfort and well-being of her husband, we would have very little divorce in the land.

We magnify our priesthood and enlarge our calling when we serve with diligence and enthusiasm in those responsibilities to which we are called by proper authority.

I do not fear truth. I welcome it. But I wish all of my facts to be in their proper context.

Every individual in the church is free to think as he pleases.

No matter the circumstances, I encourage you to go forward with faith and prayer, calling on the Lord. You may not receive any direct revelation. But you will discover, as the years pass, that there has been a subtle guiding of your footsteps in paths of progress and great purpose.

Try a little harder to be a little better."

How much more beautiful would be the world and the society in which we live if...every mother regarded her children as the jewels of her life, as gifts from the God of heaven, who is their Eternal Father, and brought them up in true affection in the wisdom and admonition of the Lord.

The true gospel of Jesus Christ never led to bigotry. It never led to self-righteousn ess. It never led to arrogance. The true gospel of Jesus Christ leads to brotherhood, to friendship, to appreciation of others, to respect and kindness and love

You must ask for God's help. After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again.

There is no strength that is greater than the strength of virtue. There is no other nobility equal to the nobility of virtue. There is no quality so becoming, no attire so attractive.

You are good. But it is not enough just to be good. You must be good for something. You must contribute good to the world. The world must be a better place for your presence. And the good that is in you must be spread to others....

You are good. But it is not enough just to be good. You must be good for something.

You can be smart and happy or stupid and miserable. . . it's your choice

A testimony is a conviction, a quiet inward certainty of the reality of the living God, of the divinity of His Beloved Son, of the restoration of Their work in this time. It demands that we do what He has asked us to do.

As we have been continuously counseled for more than 60 years, let us have some food set aside that would sustain us for a time in case of need. But let us not panic nor go to extremes. Let us be prudent in every respect. And, above all, my brothers and sisters, let us move forward with faith in the Living God and His Beloved Son.

There would be no Christmas if there had not been Easter. The babe Jesus of Bethlehem would be but another baby without the redeeming Christ of Gethsemane and Calvary, and the triumphant fact of the Resurrection.

I challenge every one of you who can hear me to rise to the divinity within you. Do we really realize what it means to be a child of God, to have within us something of the divine nature?

Christmas is more than trees and twinkling lights, more than toys and gifts and baubles of a hundred varieties. It is love. It is the love of the Son of God for all mankind. It is magnificent and beautiful.

No matter how old we become, we can acquire knowledge and use it. We can gather wisdom and profit from it. We can grow and progress and improve-and, in the process, strengthen the livs of those within our circle of influence.

He who is our Eternal Father has blessed you with miraculous powers of mind and body. He never intended that you should be less than the crowning glory of His creations.

All of us have to deal with death at one time or another, but to have in one's heart a solid conviction concerning the reality of eternal life is to bring a sense of peace in an hour of tragedy that can come from no other source under the heavens

In my ninety-plus years, I have learned a secret. I have learned that when good men and good women face challenges with optimism, things will always work out! Truly, things always work out! Despite how difficult circumstances may look at the moment, those who have faith and move forward with a happy spirit will find that things always work out.

Stay out of the gutter in your conversation. Foul talk defiles the man who speaks it... Don't swear. Don't profane. Avoid so-called dirty jokes. Stay away from conversation that is sprinkled with foul and filthy words. You will be happier if you do so, and your example will give strength to others.

Don't waste your time searching and wishing. Grow and be ready...and you'll see God will give you a love story far better than you could ever dreamed of.

A truly educated man never ceases to learn.

The trick, my brethren and sisters is to enjoy the journey, traveling hand in hand, in sunshine and storm, as companions who love one another.

Strength to do battle begins with enlisting the strength of God.