Top 77 Quotes & Sayings by L. Tom Perry

To anyone who has followed the practice of using profanity or vulgarity and would like to correct the habit, could I offer this suggestion? First, make the commitment to erase such words from your vocabulary. Next, if you slip and say a swear word or a substitute word, mentally reconstruct the sentence without the vulgarity or substitute word and repeat the new sentence aloud. Eventually you will develop a non-vulgar speech habit.

Have you ever thought of yourself as a junior angel crowned with glory and honor? Every one of our Father in Heaven's children is great in His sight. If the Lord sees greatness in you, how then should you see yourself?

If you will respond to the invitation to share your beliefs and feelings about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, a spirit of love and a spirit of courage will be your constant companion.

The only shortage we have today is the shortage we have between our own two ears.

The most powerful teaching a child will ever receive will come from concerned and righteous fathers and mothers.

We must never let the noise of the world overpower and overwhelm that still small voice.

A family needs a father to anchor it.

Family is the center of life. It is the key to eternal happiness.

Mothers of today have no greater opportunity and no more serious challenge than to do all they can to strengthen the home.

In our search to obtain relief from the stresses of life, may we earnestly seek ways to simplify our lives. May we comply with the inspired counsel and direction the Lord has given us in the great plan of happiness. May we be worthy to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost and follow the guidance of the Spirit as we navigate this mortal journey. May we prepare ourselves to accomplish the ultimate purpose of this mortal test-to return and live with our Heavenly Father.

Go forward with new zeal and determination, and through your example shine the light of the gospel in this troubled world.

Enduring to the end is definitely not a do-it-yourself project.

Homes should be an anchor, a safe harbor, a place of refuge, a place where families dwell together, a place where children are loved. In the home, parents should teach their children the great lessons of life. Home should be the center of one’s earthly experience, where love and mutual respect are appropriately blended.

Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and the restorer of all things important to building the kingdom of God and preparing for the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I promise you, if you will heed the voice of warning of the Holy Ghost and will follow His direction, you will be blessed with the ministering of angels, which will add wisdom, knowledge, power, and glory to your life. Remember, the Lord is bound by solemn covenant to bless our lives according to our faithfulness.

Our value system must conform to His. Our actions must conform to our values.

What we need is a royal army of returned missionaries reenlisted into service.

The joining together of a man and a woman to be legally and lawfully wed not only is preparation for future generations to inherit the earth, but it also brings the greatest joy and satisfaction that can be found in this mortal experience.

Young men, I challenge you to build your lives on a foundation of truth and righteousness. It is the only foundation that will stand the pressures of this life and endure through the eternities. The priesthood you bear is a special gift, for the giver is the Lord Himself. Use it, magnify it, and live worthy of it. I want you to know that I have a special and personal testimony of its power. It has blessed my life in so many ways.

How our governments need standards of integrity! How our communities need yardsticks to measure decency! How our neighborhoods need models of beauty and cleanliness! How our schools need continued encouragement and assistance to maintain high educational standards! Rather than spend time complaining about the direction in which these institutions are going, we need to exert our influence in shaping the right direction. A small effort by a few can result in so much good for all of mankind.

One of the better ways to simplify our lives is to follow the counsel we have so often received to live within our income, stay out of debt, and save for a rainy day. We should practice and increase our habits of thrift, industry, economy, and frugality. Members of a well-managed family do not pay interest; they earn it.

Strong, proactive obedience is anything but weak or passive.

Teaching children the joy of honest labor is one of the greatest of all gifts you can bestow upon them.

If you don't raise the bar, how will you ever know your potential?

Let us each day search from the scriptures and from the prophets…. The scriptures that are never read will never help us. If read, the words of God will nourish our souls and carry us to great heights in our endeavors.

You are not competing with anyone else. You are only competing with yourself to do the best with whatever you have received.

The service of bringing light to a troubled world must never end.

When we have the Spirit to direct us, we are capable of teaching with great power.

Today's complexities demand greater simplicity.

Increasingly, the balance between living in the world and not being of the world is becoming more delicate. Publications, radio, television, and the Internet have surrounded us with worldliness. . . . We are fortunate to have been blessed with a special power to direct us in making important decisions between right and wrong.

I believe it is by divine design that the role of motherhood emphasizes the nurturing and teaching of the next generation.

If I keep my promises to the Lord, He will always keep His promises to me. He [will] always fulfill His end of the bargain—and much, much more—if I fulfill mine.

What the restored gospel brings to the discussion on marriage and family is so large and so relevant that it cannot be overstated: we make the subject eternal!

I do plead with the mothers of Zion to undertake modesty in dress. We may like to follow the fashion, but let us follow it in modesty. The most precious thing that a girl has is her modesty and if she preserves this in dress, in speech, in action, it will arm, and protect her as nothing else will. But let her lose her modesty, and she becomes a victim of those who pursue her, as the hare is of the hound; and she will not be able to stand unless she preserves her modesty.

Parents must bring light and truth into their homes by one family prayer, one scripture study session, one family home evening, one book read aloud, one song, and one family meal at a time. They know that the influence of righteous, conscientious, persistent, daily parenting is among the most powerful and sustaining forces for good in the world. The health of any society, the happiness of its people, their prosperity, and their peace all find common roots in the teaching of children in the home.

Let me close by bearing witness (and my nine decades on this earth fully qualify me to say this) that the older I get, the more I realize that family is the center of life and is the key to eternal happiness.

Acquire and store a reserve of food and supplies that will sustain life. ... As long as I can remember, we have been taught to prepare for the future and to obtain a years supply of necessities. I would guess that the years of plenty have almost universally caused us to set aside this counsel. I believe the time to disregard this counsel is over. With events in the world today, it must be considered with all seriousness.

Build traditions in your families that will bring you together, for they can demonstrate your devotion, love, and support for one another. These events would include blessings of children, baptisms, other priesthood ordinances, graduations, missionary farewells, homecomings, and, of course, marriages. Sharing these occasions as a family will help us build a foundation established upon a rock.

Prayer endows us with the power to draw near to our Eternal Father. How important it is, then, that one of our fundamental teachings to our children is how to pray.

The scriptures are one of our greatest treasures. They contain God’s instructions to His people from the beginning of time.

Obedience is a choice. It is a choice between our own limited knowledge & power & God's unlimited wisdom & omnipotence.

Prayer endows us with the power to draw near to our Eternal Father.

In a world of turmoil and uncertainty, it is more important than ever to make our families the center of our lives and the top of our priorities.

A good character is something you must make for yourself. It cannot be inherited from parents. It cannot be created by having extraordinary advantages. It isn't a gift of birth, wealth, talent or station. It is the result of your own endeavor. It is the reward that comes from living good principles and manifesting a virtuous and honorable life.

The choices you make will make all of the difference in what you want to achieve.

The almost universal gift everyone can develop is the creation of a pleasant disposition, an even temperament.

What a glorious legacy of faith, courage, and ingenuity those noble early Mormon pioneers have left for us to build upon. My admiration for them deepens the longer I live.

In our hearts do we feel a sense of gratitude and devotion to the Father? Are we of one heart with Him to whom we owe everything? The test of our devotion to the Lord seems to be the way we serve Him.

Parents have the glorious opportunity of being the most powerful influence, above and beyond any other, on the new lives that bless their homes.

Who can put a pricetag on the influence of a mother?

Teaching children the joy of honest labor is one of the greatest of all gifts you can bestow upon them. Let us also teach our children to see that the work assigned is carried to its completion and to take pride in what they accomplish.

Embedded in the gospel of Jesus Christ there are eternal principles and truths that will last far longer than the principles of building ships and roofs. You and I, as members of the Lord's true Church, have special access and insight into these eternal principles and truths, especially when we listen to the Spirit for individual guidance and hear the prophet's voice as he declares the will of God to the members of the Church. You and I both know how important these eternal principles and truths are in our lives.

A good character is something you must make for yourself. It cannot be inherited from parents.

Just as the pioneers made the desert blossom as a rose, so too our lives and families will blossom if we follow their example and embrace their traditions. Yes, pioneer faith is needed as much in the world today as in any period of time. Once again, we need to know that heritage. We need to teach it, we need to be proud of it, and we need to preserve it.

Regarding Fasting: Have the faith to bind the Lord.

One of the greatest weaknesses in most of us is our lack of faith in ourselves. One of our common failings is to depreciate our tremendous worth.

Have more confidence in yourself than allowing your decisions to happen just by chance.

Start now to create a plan if you don't already have one, or update your present plan. Watch for best buys that will fit into your year's supply. We are not in a situation that requires panic buying, but we do need to be careful in purchasing and rotating the storage that we're putting away. The instability in the world today makes it imperative that we take heed of the counsel and prepare for the future.

We must not pick and choose which commandments we think are important to keep but acknowledge all of God’s commandments. We must stand firm and steadfast, having perfect confidence in the Lord’s consistency and perfect trust in His promises.

We declare to the world that the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth. . . . We invite all to listen to the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ from us. Then you can compare the glorious message with what you may hear from others, and you can determine which is from God and which is from man.