Top 276 Quotes & Sayings by Brigham Young

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American leader Brigham Young.

Last updated on November 3, 2024.

Brigham Young was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as church president, Young led his followers, the Mormon pioneers, west from Nauvoo, Illinois to the Salt Lake Valley. He founded Salt Lake City and served as the first governor of the Utah Territory. Young also worked to establish the learning institutions which would later become the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. A polygamist, Young had at least 55 wives and 56 children. He instituted a ban prohibiting conferring the priesthood on men of black African descent, and defended the Utah saints in the Utah War waged by the United States.

American - Leader | June 1, 1801 - August 29, 1877

Source: Wikipedia

We should never permit ourselves to do anything that we are not willing to see our children do.

Brigham Young

Produce what you consume; draw from the native element the necessaries of life. Permit no vitiated taste to lead you into the indulgence of expensive luxuries, which can only be obtained by involving yourselves in debt.

Brigham Young

In the adversity of our best friends we often find something that does not displease us.

Brigham Young

The biggest labor problem is tomorrow.

Brigham Young

I am a firm believer in slavery.

Brigham Young

True independence and freedom can only exist in doing what's right.

Brigham Young

There is no knowledge, no light, no wisdom that you are in possession of, but what you have received it from some source.

Brigham Young

Honest hearts produce honest actions.

Brigham Young

Don't try to tear down other people's religion about their ears, Build up your own perfect structure of truth, and invite your listeners to enter in and enjoy its glories.

Brigham Young

Never let a day pass that you will have cause to say, I will do better tomorrow.

Brigham Young

It is wise for us to forget our troubles, there are always new ones to replace them.

Brigham Young

Silence may be golden, but can you think of a better way to entertain someone than to listen to him?

Brigham Young

Any young man who is unmarried at the age of twenty one is a menace to the community.

Brigham Young

Brethren, let us mind our own business - that is, the calling the Lord has called us to - to do everything we can to promote the good of the Cause of Truth, and never ask how big we are, or inquire who we are; but let it be, 'What can I do to build up the Kingdom of God upon the Earth?'

Brigham Young

I want to live perfectly above the law, and make it my servant instead of my master.

Brigham Young

I don't care whether the people believe me to be a prophet, seer, or revelator or not - I have been very profitable to this people, and I have seen a good many things, and I have revealed many things.

Brigham Young

If the Devil can only make you think that you are abused or ill treated, and you begin to fret about it, and you give the Devil power over you - in the end, it is as bad as though you had done wrong yourself.

Brigham Young

Infringe upon the rights of no one. Borrow no tool but what you will return according to promise. Take no wood, nor anything else but what belongs to you - and if you find anything that is not your own, do not hide it away, but report it, that the owner may be found.

Brigham Young

Remember, a chip on the shoulder is a sure sign of wood higher up.

Brigham Young

Love the giver more than the gift.

Brigham Young

If I had a choice of educating my daughters or my sons because of opportunity constraints, I would choose to educate my daughters.

Brigham Young

Education is the power to think clearly, the power to act well in the worlds work, and the power to appreciate life.

Brigham Young

I don't care about my character here on earth. I don't care about what other people think or say about me, all I care about is my standing before the Lord.

Brigham Young

A good man, is a good man, whether in this church, or out of it.

Brigham Young

Nature is the glass reflecting God, as by the sea reflected is the sun, too glorious to be gazed on in his sphere.

Brigham Young

If we lack confidence in each other, and be jealous of each other, our peace will be destroyed. If we cultivate the principles of unshaken confidence in each other, our joy will be full.

Brigham Young

Daily toil, however humble it may be, is our daily duty, and by doing it well, we make it a part of our daily worship.

Brigham Young

I believe in sisters marrying brothers, and brothers having their sisters for wives... This is something pertaining to our marriage relation. The whole world will think what an awful thing it is. What an awful thing it would be if the Mormons should just say we believe in marrying brothers and sisters.

Brigham Young

We are now going to the Lamanites, to whom we intend to be messengers of instruction... We will show them that in consequence of their transgressions a curse has been inflicted upon them - in the darkness of their skins. We will have intermarriages with them, they marrying our young women, and we taking their young squaws to wife. By these means it is the will of the Lord that the curse of their color shall be removed and they restored to their pristine beauty.

Brigham Young

The men and women, who desire to obtain seats in the celestial kingdom, will find that they must battle everyday.

Brigham Young

Sin keeps a man from prayer, and prayer keeps a man from sin.

Brigham Young

All intelligent beings who are crowned with crowns of glory, immortality, and eternal lives must pass through every ordeal appointed for intelligent beings to pass through, to gain their glory and exaltation. Every calamity that can come upon mortal beings will be suffered ... to prepare them to enjoy the presence of the Lord. ... Every trial and experience you have passed through is necessary for your salvation.

Brigham Young

Why should we worry about what others think of us, do we have more confidence in their opinions than we do our own?

Brigham Young

The Americans as a nation are killing themselves with their vices and high living. As much as a man ought to eat in half an hour they swallow in three minutes gulping down their food like the [dog] under the table which when a chunk of meat is thrown down to it swallows it before you can say 'twice.' If you want a reform carry out the advice I have just given you. Dispense with your multitudinous dishes, and, depend upon it, you will do much towards preserving your families from sickness, disease and death.

Brigham Young

Life is best enjoyed when time periods are evenly divided between labor, sleep, and recreation...all people should spend one-third of their time in recreation which is rebuilding, voluntary activity, never idleness.

Brigham Young

The time will come that gold will hold no comparison in value to a bushel of wheat.

Brigham Young

No matter what your circumstances are, whether you are in prosperity or in adversity, you can learn from every person, transaction, and circumstance around you.

Brigham Young

If there ever comes a day when the Saints interfere with the rights of others to live as they see fit, you can know with assurance that the Church is no longer led by a Prophet, but a mere man.

Brigham Young

Let us preach righteousness, and practice it. I do not wish to preach what I do not practice.

Brigham Young

You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind....Cain slew his brother. Can might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin.

Brigham Young

Pray as if all depended on God and work as if all depended upon you.

Brigham Young

I never cared but for one thing, and that is, simply to know that I am right before my Father in Heaven. If I am this moment, this day doing the things God requires of my hands, and precisely where my Father in Heaven wants me to be, I care no more about tomorrow than though it would never come.

Brigham Young

If you are without bread, how much wisdom can you boast and of what real utility are your talents, if you cannot procure for yourselves and save against a day of scarcity those substances designed to sustain your natural lives?

Brigham Young

Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so.

Brigham Young

If the Son was begotten by the Holy Ghost, it would be very dangerous to baptize and confirm females, and give the Holy Ghost to them, lest he should beget children, to be palmed upon the Elders by the people, bringing the Elders into great difficulties

Brigham Young

The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy

Brigham Young

Any man having one drop of the seed of Cane in him Cannot hold the priesthood ... I will say it now in the name of Jesus Christ. I know it is true & they know it. The Negro cannot hold one particle of Government ... if any man mingles his seed with the seed of Cane the only way he Could get rid of it or have salvation would be to Come forward & have his head Cut off & spill his Blood upon the ground. It would also take the life of his Children.

Brigham Young

If you work hard you'll be happy and if you don't then you'll go to hell!

Brigham Young

If you don't feel like praying, pray until you do!

Brigham Young

Let us have compassion upon each other, and let the strong tenderly nurse the weak into strength, and let those who can see guide the blind until they can see the way for themselves.

Brigham Young

You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation.

Brigham Young

He who takes offense when no offense is intended is a fool, and he who takes offense when offense is intended is a greater fool.

Brigham Young

Suppose you found your brother in bed with your wife, and put a javelin through both of them. You would be justified, and they would atone for their sins, and be received into the Kingdom of God. I would at once do so, in such a case; and under the circumstances, I have no wife whom I love so well that I would not put a javelin through her heart, and I would do it with clean hands.... There is not a man or woman, who violates the covenants made with their God, that will not be required to pay the debt. The blood of Christ will never wipe that out, your own blood must atone for it.

Brigham Young

In these respects we differ from the Christian world, for our religion will not clash with or contradict the facts of science in any particular... whether the Lord found the earth empty and void, whether he made it out of nothing or out of the rude elements; or whether he made it in six days or in as many millions of years, is and will remain a matter of speculation in the minds of men unless he give revelation on the subject. If we understood the process of creation there would be no mystery about it, it would be all reasonable and plain, for there is no mystery except to the ignorant.

Brigham Young

I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by Him. I am fearful they settle down in a state of blind self-security... Let every man and woman know, by the whispering of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates, or not.

Brigham Young

There is neither man or woman in this Church who is not on a mission. That mission will last as long as they live, and it is to do good, to promote righteousness, to teach the principles of truth, and to prevail upon themselves and everybody around them to live those principles that they may obtain eternal life

Brigham Young

He who takes offense when offense was not intended is a fool, yet he who takes offense when offense is intended is an even greater fool for he has succumbed to the will of his adversary.

Brigham Young

If you have a bad thought about yourself, tell it to go to hell because that is exactly where it came from.

Brigham Young

Prayer is good, but when baked potatoes and milk are needed, prayer will not supply their place.

Brigham Young

Now if any of you will deny the plurality of wives and continue to do so, I promise that you will be damned; and I will go still further, and say that this revelation, or any other revelation that the Lord had given, and deny it in your feelings, and I promise that you will be damned.

Brigham Young

Top 276 Quotes & Sayings by Brigham Young

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