Top 172 Quotes & Sayings by Dallin H. Oaks

...A man is not required to run faster than he is able but it is a requirement to run.

We should recognize that the Lord will speak to us through the Spirit in His own time and in His own way.

The purpose of the gospel is to transform common creatures into celestial citizens, and that requires change.

It is Christ's atonement that makes it possible for us to be forgiven of our sins and His resurrection that gives us the assurance of immortality and the life to come. It is that life to come that orients our views in mortality and reinforces our determination to live the laws of God so that we can qualify for His blessings in immortality.

We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our families.

A good marriage does not require a perfect man or a perfect woman. It only requires a man and a woman committed to strive together toward perfection.

All of us should banish hateful communications and practice civility for differences of opinion.

Following Christ is not a casual or occasional practice but a continuous commitment and way of life that applies at all times and in all places.

And young women, please understand that if you dress immodestly, you are magnifying this problem by becoming pornography to some of the men who see you.

When we give thanks in all things, we see hardships and adversities in the context of the purpose of life.

If we are practicing our faith and seeking the companionship of the Holy Spirit, his presence can be felt in our hearts and in our homes. A family having daily family prayers and seeking to keep the commandments of God and honor his name and speak lovingly to one another will have a spiritual feeling in their home that will be discernible to all who enter it.

If we choose the wrong road, we choose the wrong destination.

If our bodies are sick, we seek to heal them. We do not give up. The same thing should be true of our marriages.

The most powerful teaching of children is by the example of their parents.

Our attitude toward abortion . . . is fixed by our knowledge that according to an eternal plan all of the spirit children of God must come to this earth for a glorious purpose, and that individual identity began long before conception and will continue for all the eternities to come. We rely on the prophets of God who have told us that while there may be 'rare' exceptions, 'the practice of elective abortion is fundamentally contrary to the Lord's injunction, 'Thou shalt not . . . kill, nor do anything like unto it'

When we understand our relationship to God, we also understand our relationship to one another.

Don't accommodate any degree of temptation. Prevent sin and avoid having to deal with its inevitable destruction. So, turn it off! Look away! Avoid it at all costs. Direct your thoughts in wholesome paths. Remember your covenants and be faithful in temple attendance.

Become what our Heavenly Father desires you to become.

Over past years we have seen unrelenting pressure from advocates of homosexuality to accept as normal what is not normal, and to characterize those who disagree as narrow-minded, bigoted and unreasonable. Such advocates are quick to demand freedom of speech and thought for themselves, but equally quick to criticize those with a different view and, if possible, to silence them by applying labels like "homophobic."

Our priorities are most visible in how we use our time. Someone has said, “Three things never come back—the spent arrow, the spoken word, and the lost opportunity.” We cannot recycle or save the time allotted to us each day. With time, we have only one opportunity for choice, and then it is gone forever.

Faith is developed in a setting where we cannot see ahead.

The commandment to avoid contention applies to those who are right as well as those who are wrong.

When we face seemingly insurmountable obstacles in the fulfillment of righteous responsibilities, we should remember that when we are involved in the work of the Lord, the obstacles before us are never as great as the power behind us. We should reach out and climb. Handholds will only be found by hands that are outstretched. Footholds are only for feet that are on the move.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the brightest light and the only hope for this darkened world.

To avoid all possibility for error is to avoid all possibility for growth.

Adversities are temporary. What is permanent is what we become by the way we react to them.

The principles stated in the proclamation on the family are a beautiful expression of this gospel culture.

When we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we must have trust in him. We must trust him enough that we are content to accept his will, knowing that he knows what is best for us.

Love is the most powerful force in the world.

My experiences taught me firsthand that when a person is not performing well, there are many possible reasons, some not of his own choosing.

When we have a vision of what we can become, our desire and our power to act increase enormously.

Even as we seek to be meek and to avoid contention, we must not compromise or dilute our commitment to the truths we understand. We must not surrender our positions or our values. The gospel of Jesus Christ and the covenants we have made inevitably cast us as combatants in the eternal contest between truth and error. there is no middle ground in that contest.

As children of God, knowing of His great love and His ultimate knowledge of what is best for our eternal welfare, we trust in Him. The first principle of the gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and faith means trust.

The word sharing affirms that we have something extraordinarily valuable and desire to give it to others for their benefit and blessing.

...When a choice will make a real difference in our lives—obvious or not—and when we are living in tune with the Spirit and seeking his guidance, we can be sure we will receive the guidance we need to attain our goal.

Service that is given with little or no thought of personal advantage is an ideal to pursue for a lifetime.

Testimony is to know and to feel, Conversion is to do and to become.

Pornographic or erotic stories and pictures are worse than filthy or polluted food. The body has defenses to rid itself of unwholesome food. With a few fatal exceptions, bad food will only make you sick but do no permanent harm. In contrast, a person who feasts upon filthy stories or pornographic or erotic pictures and literature records them in this marvelous retrieval system we call a brain. The brain won't vomit back filth. Once recorded, it will always remain subject to recall, flashing its perverted images across your mind and drawing you away from the wholesome things in life.

The ultimate defining fact for all of us is that we are children of Heavenly Parents, born on this earth for a purpose, and born with a divine destiny.

I believe many of us are overnourished on entertainment junk food and undernourished on the bread of life.

I expect celibacy of any person that is not married.

To achieve our eternal destiny, we will desire and work for the qualities required to become an eternal being.

Let us give thanks for what we are and for the circumstances God has given us for our personal journey through mortality.

I say, choose faith. Choose faith over doubt, choose faith over fear, choose faith over the unknown and the unseen, and choose faith over pessimism.

Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions.

If we knew that we would meet the Lord tomorrow - through our premature death or through His unexpected coming - what would we do today? What confessions would we make? What practices would we discontinue? What accounts would we settle? What forgivenesses would we extend? What testimonies would we bear? If we would do those things then, why not now?

It's amazing how much you can get done if you don't worry about who gets the credit.

There are people who oppose a federal Constitutional amendment because they think that the law of family should be made by the states. I can see a legitimate argument there. I think it's mistaken, however, because the federal government, through the decisions of life-tenured federal judges, has already taken over that area.

Even as we seek to be meek and to avoid contention, we must not compromise or dilute our commitment to the truths we understand.

Healing blessings come in many ways, each suited to our individual needs, as known to Him who loves us best. Sometimes a ‘healing’ cures our illness or lifts our burden. But sometimes we are ‘healed’ by being given strength or understanding or patience to bear the burdens placed upon us.

We should recognize the reality that just because something is good is not sufficient reason for doing it. The number of good things we can do far exceeds the time available to accomplish them.

We need to remember the purpose of our service to one another. If it were only to accomplish some part of His work, God could dispatch 'legions of angels.' . . . But that would not achieve the purpose of the service He has prescribed. We serve God and our fellowmen in order to become the kind of children who can return to live with our heavenly parents.

Forgiving is divine. Plead for the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord to forgive wrongs, to overcome faults, and to strengthen relationships.

The church doesn't seek apologies and we don't give them.

Through the lens of spirituality, we see all the commandments of God as invitations to blessings.

You can never get enough of what you don't need, because what you don't need won't satisfy you.

Man's laws cannot make moral what God has declared immoral

When I think of happiness or joy in this life, I begin with some experiences that are simple and basic. I see the expression on the face of a one-year-old taking those first steps. I think of a child loving a puppy or a kitten. If the more mature have not dulled their physical or spiritual sensitivities by excess or disuse, they can also experience joy in what is simple and basic.

Tolerance obviously requires a non-contentious manner of relating toward one another’s differences. But tolerance does not require abandoning one’s standards or one’s opinions on political or public policy choices. Tolerance is a way of reacting to diversity, not a command to insulate it from examination.

It's wrong to criticize leaders of the Church, even if the criticism is true.