Top 100 David O. McKay Quotes
#1. Seek to share joy with others, or to make somebody else happy, and you will find your own soul radiant with the joy you wished for another.
David O. McKay
#2. A man who cannot control his temper is not very likely to control his passions, and no matter what his pretensions in religion, he moves in daily life very close to the animal plane.
David O. McKay
#3. As long as the day lasts, let's give it all we got.
David O. McKay
#4. Next to be in one with worshiping God, there is nothing in this world upon which this church should be more united than in upholding and defending the constitution of the United States.
David O. McKay
#5. The latest I like to be to meeting is 15 minutes early
David O. McKay
#6. No man can sincerely resolve to apply to his daily life the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth without sensing a change in his own nature. The phrase, 'born again', has a deeper significance than many people attach to it. This changed feeling may be indescribable, but it is real.
David O. McKay
#7. The world is hungry to hear the truth ... We have it. Are we equal to the task-to the responsibility God has placed upon us?
David O. McKay
#8. One of my most precious possessions is my memory of a home in which love was supreme, in which I cannot recall ever a cross word having passed between father and mother. We all owe such a blessing to our children.
David O. McKay
#9. The purpose of the church is to make bad men good and good men better.
David O. McKay
#10. We must not close our eyes to the fact that there are conspiring men who would pollute young boys, and girls of corresponding age, for sake of increasing profits.
David O. McKay
#11. The greatest comfort in this life is having a close relationship with God.
David O. McKay
#12. I will raise my voice as long as God gives me sound or ability, against this Communistic idea that the Government will take care of us all, and everything belongs to the government. It is wrong!
David O. McKay
#13. As individuals, we must think nobler thoughts. We must not encourage vile thoughts or low aspirations. We shall radiate them if we do. If we think noble thoughts, if we encourage and cherish noble aspirations, there will be that radiation when we meet people, especially when we associate with them.
David O. McKay
#14. This age is fraught with limitless perils, as well as untold possibilities.
David O. McKay
#15. Friendship is a sacred possession. As air, water and sunshine to flowers, trees and verdure, so smiles, sympathy and love of friends to the daily life of man. To live, laugh, love one's friends, and be loved by them is to bask in the sunshine of life.
David O. McKay
#16. In choosing a companion, it is necessary to study the disposition, the inheritance, and training of the one with whom you are contemplating making life's journey.
David O. McKay
#17. It is written that he who governs well, leads the blind; But that he who teaches, gives them eyes.
David O. McKay
#18. Is it the body you are going to serve and be a slave to or is it the spirit you are going to develop, and live happily in this life and in the world to come?
David O. McKay
#19. "We don't take sufficient time to meditate." I get up early in the morning ... five o'clock, when my mind and spirit are clear and rested. Then I meditate ...
David O. McKay
#20. Appreciation is a great virtue, and if husbands and wives expressed it more frequently in our homes, wives would be happier, and husbands would probably be more kind (Gospel Ideals, p. 475).
David O. McKay
#21. When harmony, mutual consideration and trust pass out of the home, hell enters in.
David O. McKay
#22. Choose your mate not alone for physical attraction, but for congenial and spiritual companionship.
David O. McKay
#23. There are seeds of happiness planted in every human soul. Our mental attitude and disposition constitute the environment in which these seeds may germinate.
David O. McKay
#24. Man's greatest happiness comes from losing himself for the good of others.
David O. McKay
#25. Misrepresentation, false propaganda, innuendoes soon sprout into poisonous weeds, and before long the people find themselves victims of a pollution that has robbed them of their individual liberty and enslaved them to a group of political gangsters.
David O. McKay
#26. ... The Lord through His grace appeared to man, gave him the Gospel or eternal plan whereby he might rise above the carnal and selfish things of life and obtain spiritual perfection. But he must rise by his own efforts and he must walk by faith.
David O. McKay
#27. Always remember that a soldier's pack is lighter than a slave's chains.
David O. McKay
#28. Each one of us is the architect of his own fate; and he is unfortunate indeed who will try to build himself without the inspiration of God, without realizing that he grows from within, not from without.
David O. McKay
#29. True education does not consist merely in the acquiring of a few facts of science, history, literature, or art, but in the development of character.
David O. McKay
#30. True liberty in individuals consists in the enjoying of every right that will contribute to one's peace and happiness, so long as the exercise of such a privilege does not interfere with the same privilege in others.
David O. McKay
#31. When the husband and wife are healthy, and free from inherited weaknesses and diseases that might be transmitted with injury to their offspring the use of contraceptives is to be condemned.
David O. McKay
#32. Among life's sweetest blessings is fellowship with men and women whose ideals and aspirations are high and noble. Next to a sense of kinship with God comes the helpfulness, encouragement, and inspiration of friends.
David O. McKay
#33. The privilege to work is a gift.
The power to work is a blessing.
The love of work is success.
David O. McKay
#34. There is no success which can compensate for the failure of the family.
David O. McKay
#35. If our young people could but glimpse it, it would be the most powerful spiritual motivation of their lives!
David O. McKay
#37. If you would be happy, render a kind service, make somebody else happy.
David O. McKay
#38. Let husband and wife never speak to one another in loud tones,unless the house is on fire.
David O. McKay
#39. A man's reaction to his appetites and impulses when they are roused gives the measure of that man's character. In these reactions are revealed the man's power to govern or his forced servility to yield.
David O. McKay
#40. It is our duty to seek to acquire the art of being cheerful. It will hold in check the demons of despair and stifle the power of discouragement and hopelessness.
David O. McKay
#41. Music is truly the universal language, and when it is excellently expressed how deeply it moves our souls
David O. McKay
#42. To be ignorant of one's own ignorance is to be in an unprogressive, uninspired state of existence.
David O. McKay
#43. True education seeks to make men and women not only good mathematicians, proficient linguists, profound scientists, or brilliant literary lights, but also honest men and women with virtue, temperance, and brotherly love.
David O. McKay
#44. Prayer is the pulsation of a yearning, loving heart in tune with the Infinite. It is a message of the soul sent directly to a loving Father. The language is not mere words.
David O. McKay
#45. Man's earthly existence is but a test as to whether he will concentrate his efforts, his mind, his soul upon things which contribute to the comfort and gratification of his physical instincts and passions, or whether he will make as his life's end and purpose the acquisition of spiritual qualities
David O. McKay
#46. All men who have moved the world have been men who would stand true to their conscience.
David O. McKay
#47. A girl who sacrifices self-respect for social popularity debases true womanhood. A spotless character, founded upon the ability to say "no" in the presence of those who mock and jeer, wins the respect and love of men and women whose opinion is most worthwhile..
David O. McKay
#48. Happiness and peace will come to earth only as the light of love and human compassion enter the souls of men.
David O. McKay
#49. The kind of life you live, your disposition, your very nature, will be determined by your thoughts, of which your acts are but the outward expression. Thought is the seed of action.
David O. McKay
#50. Throughout the ages advanced souls have yearned for a society in which liberty and justice prevail. Men have sought for it, fought for it, have died for it. Ancient freemen prized it; slaves longed for it; the Magna Charta demanded it; the Constitution of the United States declared it.
David O. McKay
#51. True motherhood is the noblest call of the world, and we look with sorrow upon the practice here in our own United States of limiting families, a tendency creeping into our own Church.
David O. McKay
#52. He who harbors hatred and bitterness injures himself far more than the one towards whom he manifests these evil propensities.
David O. McKay
#53. The greatest battles of life are fought out daily in the silent chambers of the soul.
David O. McKay
#54. [One] principle that actuated the lives of the fathers who founded our Constitution was faith in God.
David O. McKay
#55. The two most important documents affecting the destiny of America are the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Both these immortal papers relate primarily to the freedom of the individual.
David O. McKay
#56. Only to the extent that men desire peace and brotherhood can the world be made better. No peace even though temporarily obtained, will be permanent, whether to individuals or nations, unless it is built upon the solid foundation of eternal principles.
David O. McKay
#57. I think it must be apparent to every thinking mind that the noblest of all professions is that of teaching, and that upon the effectiveness of that teaching hangs the destiny of nations.
David O. McKay
#58. Live and let live" is an old adage. "Live and help live" is a better one.
David O. McKay
#59. True Christianity is love in action. There is no better way to manifest love for God than to show an unselfish love for your fellow men. This is the spirit of missionary work
David O. McKay
#60. Into the soul of every student I would have instilled the patriotic fervor of Patrick Henry.
David O. McKay
#61. There are seeds of happiness in every soul. Our mental attitude and dispositions constitute the environment in which these seeds germinate. There is as much need for sunshine in our heart as for sunshine in the world. Today, as perhaps never before, mankind needs encouragement and cheer.
David O. McKay
#62. What you think about when you don't think, shows who you really are.
David O. McKay
#63. I never think of death: I am too busy thinking of life.
David O. McKay
#64. There is no development of character without resistance, there is no growth of spirituality without overcoming.
David O. McKay
#65. The Constitution of this government was written by men who accepted Jesus Christ as the Savior of mankind. Let men and women in these United States then continue to keep their eyes centered upon Him who ever shines as a Light to all the world.
David O. McKay
#66. This is the number one responsibility of the Latter-day Saints - to get in the struggle to preserve freedom. Everywhere that Communism succeeds, missionary work, temple work, everything the Church does, dies. Your number one responsibility is to preserve freedom.
David O. McKay
#67. That home is most beautiful in which you find each person striving to serve the other.
David O. McKay
#69. Character is the aim of true education; and science, history, and literature are but means used to accomplish this desired end.
David O. McKay
#70. Do your duty, that is best; leave unto the Lord the rest.
David O. McKay
#72. Today, as never before, the issue is clearly defined-liberty and freedom of choice, or oppression and subjugation for the individual and for nations.
David O. McKay
#74. I wish to emphasize the fact that our homes should be more attractive and that more of our amusements should be in the home instead of the streets.
David O. McKay
#75. The first condition of happiness is a clear conscience.
David O. McKay
#76. Gossip bespeaks either a vacant mind or one that entertains jealousy or envy.
David O. McKay
#77. No parent can consistently teach faith in Christ who profanes the name of Deity. Profanity is never heard in the well-ordered home. Swearing is a vice that bespeaks a low standard of breeding. Blasphemous exclamations drive out all spirit of reverence.
David O. McKay
#78. The true end of life is not mere existence, not pleasure, not fame, not wealth. The true purpose of life is the perfection of humanity through individual effort, under the guidance of God's inspiration.
David O. McKay
#79. Freedom of choice is more to be treasured than any possession earth can give.
David O. McKay
#80. The best means of preaching the gospel is by personal contact.
David O. McKay
#82. The seeds of a happy marriage are sown in youth. Happiness does not begin at the altar; it begins during the period of youth and courtship.
David O. McKay
#83. I'm going to tell you the most important secret of human life. The most critical need of the human soul is to be kind.
David O. McKay
#84. Man's responsibility is correspondingly operative with his free agency. Actions in harmony with divine law and the laws of nature will bring happiness, and those in opposition to divine truth, misery. Man is responsible not only for every deed, but also for every idle word and thought.
David O. McKay
#85. The greatest spiritual blessing comes from helping another.
David O. McKay
#86. Being a parent is the greatest trust that has been given to human beings.
David O. McKay
#87. The first contributing factor to a happy home is the sublime virtue of loyalty, one of the noblest attributes of the human soul.
David O. McKay
#88. Everyone is possessed with an irresistible desire to know his relationship to the Infinite.
David O. McKay
#89. Adversity itself may lead toward and not away from God and spiritual enlightenment; and privation may prove a source of strength if we can but keep a sweetness of mind and spirit.
David O. McKay
#90. All good things require effort. That which is worth having will cost part of your physical being, your intellectual power and your soul power. Let us ever keep in mind that life is largely what we make it.
David O. McKay
#91. Pleasure is not the purpose of man's existence. Joy is.
David O. McKay
#92. Men and women who live in America ... have a responsibility greater than that yet borne by any other people. Theirs the duty, the obligation to preserve not only the Constitution of the land but the Christian principles from which sprang that immortal document.
David O. McKay
#93. Next to the bestowal of life itself, the right to direct that life is God;s greatest gift to man.
David O. McKay
#95. The real test of any church or religion is the kind of men it makes.
David O. McKay
#96. If we would change the world, we must first change people's thoughts.
David O. McKay
#98. The Gospel of Jesus Christ can make bad men good and good men better, can alter human nature, and can change human lives.
David O. McKay
#99. In the well-ordered home we may experience a taste of heaven.
David O. McKay
#100. Let sincere men and women the world over unite in earnest effort to supplant feelings of selfishness, hatred, animosity, greed, by the law of service to others, and thereby promote the peace and happiness of mankind.
David O. McKay
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