Quotes by Heber J. Grant

I know of nothing that I feel is of so great value in life as to be obedient to the counsel and advice of the Lord, and of His servants in this our day.

If a man has the assurance within his own heart that he is worthy, and that he is laboring to the best of his ability to do good, he can stand up under the condemnation, the criticism and the censure of those by whom he is surrounded.

No pains must be spared to wipe out all feeling of diffidence, embarrassment, or shame on the part of those receiving relief; [we] must be one great family of equals. The spiritual welfare of those on relief must receive especial care and be earnestly and prayerfully fostered. A system which gives relief for work or service will go far to reaching these ends.

The object of our being placed upon this earth is that we may work out an exaltation, that we may prepare ourselves to go back and dwell with our Heavenly Father; and our Father, knowing the faults and failings of men has given us certain commandments to obey, and if we will examine those requirements and the things that devolve upon us we will find that they are all for our individual benefit and advancement. The school of life in which we are placed and the lessons that are given to us by our Father will make of us exactly what He desires, so that we may be prepared to dwell with Him.

The doctrine of pre-existence pours a wonderful flood of light upon the otherwise mysterious problem of man's origin. It shows that man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father, prior to coming upon the earth in a temporal body to undergo an experience in mortality.

We do appeal to all men and women, realizing the responsibility resting upon them, to seek God our heavenly Father to guide them politically as well as religiously, and to stand for right and for those things that are for the good of this nation.

Of what good is our faith, our repentance, our baptism, and all the sacred ordinances of the gospel by which we have been made ready to receive the blessings of the Lord, if we fail, on our part, to keep the commandments.

Regarding Heber J. Grant's penmanship: As a youth, President Heber J. Grant's penmanship was so poor that when two of his friends looked at it, one said to the other, "That writing looks like hen tracks." "No," said the other, "it looks as if lightning has struck an ink bottle." This, of course, touched Heber Grant's pride, and he worked so diligently, so hard on it, that, while still in his teens and working as a policy clerk in the office of H. R. Mann and Co., he was offered three times his salary to go to San Francisco as a penman. He later became a teacher of penmanship and bookkeeping at the University of Deseret. In fact, with a specimen he had written before he turned seventeen, he took first prize in a territorial fair against four professional penmen.

If you desire the spirit of God you must keep the commandments of God.

If we are striving, if we are working, if we are trying, to the best of our ability, to improve day by day, then we are in the line of our duty.