Boyd K. Packer Quotes

The choice of life is not between fame and fortune, nor wealth and poverty, but between good and evil.

Mature love has a bliss not even imagined by newlyweds.

True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior. Preoccupation with unworthy behavior can lead to unworthy behavior. That is why we stress so forcefully the study of the doctrines of the gospel.

The Word of Wisdom does not promise you perfect health, but it teaches how to keep the body you were born with in the best condition and your mind alert to delicate spiritual promptings.

Arms now empty will be filled and hearts now hurting from broken dreams and yearning will be healed.

There is a falsehood that some are born with an attraction to their own kind, with nothing they can do about it. They are just 'that way' and can only yield to those desires. That is a malicious and destructive lie. While it is a convincing idea to some, it is of the devil. No one is locked into that kind of life. From our premoral life we were directed into a physical body. There is no mismatching of bodies and spirits. Boys are to become men -masculine, manly men -ultimately to become husbands and fathers. No one is predestined to a perverted use of these powers.

Our whole social order could self-destruct over the obsession with freedom disconnected from responsibility; where choice is imagined to be somehow independent of consequences.

Moral standards cannot be changed by battle and cannot be changed by ballot.

Prayer is your personal key to heaven.

An unusual thing happened after that great first vision. The Prophet Joseph received no additional communication for three years. However, he did not wonder, he did not question, he did not doubt the Lord. The Prophet Joseph patiently waited. The Prophet Joseph taught us the principle of patience-by example.

If prayer is to leave the public schools, let the ridicule of prayer leave also.

I know that God is our Father. He introduced His Son, Jesus Christ, to Joseph Smith. I declare to you that I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that He lives. He was born in the meridian of time. He taught His gospel and was tried. He suffered and was crucified and resurrected on the third day. He, like His Father, has a body of flesh and bone. He made His Atonement. Of Him I bear witness. Of Him I am a witness.

His judgments are just; His mercy without limit; His power to compensate beyond any earthly comparison.

If you have seen one of the temples at night, fully lighted, you know what an impressive sight that can be. The house of the Lord, bathed in light, standing out in the darkness, becomes symbolic of the power and the inspiration of the gospel of Jesus Christ standing as a beacon in a world that sinks ever further into spiritual darkness.

Our children were allowed to help when they were little, urged to help when they grew a little older, and sometimes ordered to help when they were teenagers.

Music can set an atmosphere of worship which invites [the] spirit of revelation, of testimony.

When music is presented which, however appropriate for other occasions, does not fit the Sabbath, much is lost ... The Spirit does not ratify speech nor confirm music which lacks spiritual substance.

In all that we do in the Church, we need to provide the way, as leaders, for parents and children to have time together as families.

We accept the responsibility to preach the gospel to every person on earth. And if the question is asked, you mean you are out to convert the entire world? The answer is, 'yes'. We will try to reach every living soul.

The ultimate purpose of every teaching, every activity in the Church is that parents and their children are happy at home, sealed in an eternal marriage, and linked to their generations.

If you are burdened with depressing feelings of guilt or disappointment, of failure or shame, there is a cure.

The word discipline sometimes touches a slightly rebellious chord in our natures. Remember that it comes from the word disciple.

An organist who has the sensitivity to quietly play prelude music from the hymnbook tempers our feelings and causes us to go over in our minds the lyrics which teach the peaceable things of the kingdom. If we will listen, they are teaching the gospel, for the hymns of the Restoration are, in fact, a course in doctrine!

Some worry endlessly over missions that were missed, or marriages that did not turn out, or babies that did not arrive, or children that seem lost, or dreams unfulfilled, or because age limits what they can do. I do not think it pleases the Lord when we worry because we think we never do enough or that what we do is never good enough ... Some needlessly carry a heavy burden of guilt which could be removed through confession and repentance.

I often ask the Lord for direction from Him. I will not, however, willingly accept promptings from any unworthy source. I refuse them. I do not want them, and I say so.

If you understand the great plan of happiness and follow it, what goes on in the world will not determine your happiness.

We are able to feel and learn very quickly through music, through art, through poetry some spiritual things that we would otherwise learn very slowly.

The power of procreation is not an incidental part of the plan; it is the plan of happiness.

Joseph's vision of the Father and the Son opened this dispensation. Then came the Restoration of the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ with the same organization that existed in the primitive Church, built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets.

The Lord will bless us as we attend to the sacred ordinance work of the temples. Blessings there will not be limited to our temple service. We will be blessed in all of our affairs.

There is also an age-old excuse: 'The devil made me do it.' Not so! He can deceive you and mislead you, but he does not have the power to force you or anyone else to transgress or to keep you in transgression.

You parents and you families whose lives must be reordered because of a handicapped one, whose
resources and time must be devoted to them, are special heros. You are manifesting the works of God
with every thought, with every gesture of tenderness and care you extend to the handicapped loved one.
Never mind the tears nor the hours of regret and discouragement; never mind the times when you feel
you cannot stand another day of what is required. You are living the principles of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ in exceptional purity. And you perfect yourself in the process, 6 April 1991

Probably the greatest challenge and the most difficult thing you will face in mortal life is to learn to control your thoughts. In the Bible it says, as a man "thinketh in his heart, so is he." Those who can control their thoughts have conquered themselves.

Things we cannot solve, we must survive.

Those who will repent and forsake sin will find that His merciful arm is outstretched still. Those who listen to and heed His words and the words of His chosen servants will find peace and understanding even in the midst of great heartache and sorrow. The result of His sacrifice is to free us from the effects of sin, that all may have guilt erased and feel hope.

Justice can seem to be so very demanding. But we must learn that when we put everything as right as we can put it right, it is Justice who invokes the Atonement, orders the adversary off our property, and posts the notice that his agents will make no more collections from us. Our debt will have been paid in full by the only perfect pure person who ever lived.

Get to Know Yourself Once you start getting acquainted with yourselves, finding out who you are and where you belong and who your relatives are, spiritually speaking as well as in the earthly frame of reference, you come to the astounding, overwhelming realization that you are a child of God-that you belong to Him, that He is your Father. He is our Father.

If you stumble, rise up, go on.

Christ will step in and solve the problem you cannot solve, but you have to pay the price. It does not come without doing that. He is a very kind ruler in the sense that He will always pay the price necessary, but He wants you to do what you should, even if it is painful.

Do not ever disturb prelude music for others, for reverence is essential to revelation

The voice of the Spirit is described in the scriptures as being neither loud nor harsh, not a voice of thunder, neither a voice of great tumultuous noise, but rather as still and small, of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it can pierce even the very soul and cause the heart to burn. The Spirit does not get our attention by shouting.

Progression: you can start from where you are.

Take hold of your life and order yourself to be valiant.

At the temple the dust of distraction seems to settle out, the fog and the haze seem to lift, and we can 'see' things that we were not able to see before and find a way through our troubles that we had not previously known.

There are many things about living the gospel of Jesus Christ that cannot be measured by that which is counted or charted in records of attendance.

I hope to be judged as good a man as my father. Before I hear those words "well done" from my Heavenly Father, I hope to first hear them from my mortal father.

We are not free to break our covenants and escape the consequences.

Most of what we acquire materially is found to not be worth what we must pay spiritually.

The study of doctrine and the teaching of doctrine will change behavior more than the study of behavior will change behavior.

A testimony of the hope of redemption is something which cannot be measured or counted. Jesus Christ is the source of that hope.

If you have stumbled or even been lost for a time, you can move forward with faith and not wander to and fro in the world any longer.

The gift of the Holy Ghost operates equally with men, women, and even little children. It is within this wondrous gift and power that the spiritual remedy to any problem can be found.

It is not likely that you will ever have a personal encounter with the adversary; he does not show himself that way. But even if he came personally to you to test and tempt you, you have an advantage. You can assert your agency, and he will have to leave you alone.

There is a temptation for the writer or the teacher of church history to want to tell everything, whether it is worthy or faith promoting or not. Some things that are true are not very useful.

No one of us can survive in the world of today, much less what it will become, without personal inspiration.

How grateful we are for you, our youth.

Every soul confined to a concentration camp of sin and guilt has a key to the gate. The adversary cannot hold them if they know how to use it. The key is labeled Repentance.

Our purpose is to produce students who have that rare and precious combination of a superb secular education, complemented by faith in the Lord, a knowledge of the doctrines He has revealed, and a testimony that they are true.

One of the adversary's sharpest tools is to convince us that we are no longer worthy to pray. No matter who you are or what you may have done, you can always pray.

The rapid, sweeping deterioration of values is characterized by a preoccupation-even an obsession-with the procreative act. Abstinence before marriage and fidelity within it are openly scoffed at-marriage and parenthood ridiculed as burdensome, unnecessary. Modesty, a virtue of a refined individual or society, is all but gone.

Largely because of television, instead of looking over into that spacious building, we are, in effect, living inside of it. That is your fate in this generation. You are living in that great and spacious building.

Ordinances and covenants become our credentials for admission into His presence. To worthily receive them is the quest of a lifetime; to keep them thereafter is the challenge of mortality.

Happily ever after never happens in the second act.

The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ has the nourishing power to heal starving spirits of the world.

Do you realize how marvelous it is that you can call upon the Atonement? The Lord effected the Atonement for our sakes. And there isn't anything that you can't repent from and that you can't be rescued from if you will repent and be determined to make the decision.

Nowhere are the generosity and the kindness and mercy of God more manifest than in repentance.

If our view is limited to mortal life, some things become unbearable because they seem so unfair and so permanent.

Somewhere there is a message in the protest of the man who said, "You can't tell me that worry doesn't help. The things I worry about never happen."

Punctuality is an essential trait of the teacher. It is a foundation, not an embellishment.

Some suffer from real misfortunes. Sadly, others only imagine that they do.

The purest, most beautiful and appealing experiences of life: romance, love, marriage, and parenthood.

Teaching some things that are true, prematurely or at the wrong time, can invite sorrow and heartbreak instead of the joy intended to accompany learning ... The scriptures teach emphatically that we must give milk before meat. The Lord made it very clear that some things are to be taught selectively and some things are to be given only to those who are worthy.

Parents now are concerned about the moral and spiritual diseases. These can have terrible complications when standards and values are abandoned. We must all take protective measures.

Seek worthy companions. Attend church faithfully. Never fail daily to seek for help through prayer. And I promise you that the way will be easier and you shall have a composure of mind and a confident attitude toward life and the future. You shall be warned of dangers and shall be guided through the whisperings of the Holy Spirit.

Our competition in life is solely with our old self.

Temple. One other word is equal in importance to a Latter-day Saint. Home. Put the words holy temple and home together, and you have described the house of the Lord!

The Atonement has practical, personal, everyday value; apply it in your life. It can be activated with so simple a beginning as prayer.

Perhaps the single greatest thing I learned from reading the Book of Mormon is that the voice of the Spirit comes as a feeling rather than a sound. You will learn, as I have learned, to "listen" for that voice that is felt rather than heard.

You have your agency, and inspiration does not - perhaps cannot - flow unless you ask for it, or someone asks for you. No message in scripture is repeated more often than the invitation, even the command, to pray - to ask.

The Restoration began with the prayer of a 14-year-old boy and a vision of the Father and the Son. The dispensation of the fulness of times was ushered in.The Restoration of the gospel brought knowledge of the premortal existence. From the scriptures, we know of the Council in Heaven and the decision to send the sons and daughters of God into mortality to receive a body and to be tested (see D&C 138:56; see also Romans 8:16). We are children of God. We have a spirit body housed, for now, in an earthly tabernacle of flesh. The scriptures say, 'Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?' (1 Corinthians 3:16).

Repentance is the key with which we can unlock the prison from inside. We hold that key within our hands, and agency is ours to use it.

Reverence invites Revelation

It is in the ordinances of the temple that we are placed under covenant to Him ... .[If] we will enter into our covenants without reservation or apology, the Lord will protect us. We will receive inspiration sufficient for the challenges of life.

I bear witness of the power of the priesthood given to the Church to protect us and guide us. And because we have that, we have no fear of the future. Fear is the opposite of faith. We move forward, certain that the Lord will watch over us, particularly in the family.

I have come to know that faith is a real power, not just an expression of belief.

Young men speak about the future because they have no past, and old men speak of the past because they have no future.

We were given our agency. We must use it wisely and remain close to the Spirit; otherwise, we foolishly find ourselves yielding to the enticements of the adversary.

Everyone is tested. One might think it is unfair to be singled out and subjected to a particular temptation, but this is the purpose of mortal life - to be tested. And the answer is the same for everyone: we must, and we can, resist temptations of any kind.

The priesthood holds consummate power. It can protect you from the plague of pornography-and it is a plague-if you are succumbing to its influence. If one is obedient, the priesthood can show how to break a habit and even erase an addiction. Holders of the priesthood have that authority and should employ it to combat evil influences.

If you need a transfusion of spiritual strength then just ask for it. We call that Prayer. Prayer is powerful spiritual medicine.

No pain will last forever. It is not easy, but life was never meant to be either easy or fair. Repentance and the lasting hope that forgiveness brings will always be worth the effort.

Our lives are made up of thousands of everyday choices. Over the years these little choices will be bundled together and show clearly what we value.

This great circle of sisters will be a protection for each of you and for your families. The Relief Society might be likened to a refuge- the place of safety and protection- the sanctuary of ancient times. You will be safe within it. It encircles each sister like a protecting wall.

The flow of revelation depends on your faith.
As you test gospel principles by believing
without knowing, the Spirit will begin to teach
you. Gradually your faith will be replaced with knowledge.

Our meetinghouses are designed so that we may enjoy socials, dancing, drama, even sports. All of these are important. But these auxiliary activities should be subdued when compared with what the world is doing.

With thoughtless and impatient hands We tangle up the plans The Lord hath wrought. And when we cry in pain He saith, "Be quiet, man, while I untie the knot." (Author unknown, in Jack M. Lyon et al., Best-Loved Poems of the LDS People [1996], 304)

I do not think it pleases the Lord when we worry because we think we never do enough or that what we do is never good enough.

In recent years we might be compared to a team of doctors issuing prescriptions to cure or to immunize our members against spiritual diseases. Each time some moral or spiritual ailment was diagnosed, we have rushed to the pharmacy to concoct another remedy, encapsulate it as a program and send it out with pages of directions for use... Over medication, over-programming is a critically serious problem.

I have a hard time with historians because they idolize the truth. The truth is not uplifting; it destroys. I could tell most of the secretaries in the church office building that they are ugly and fat. That would be the truth, but it would hurt and destroy them. Historians should tell only that part of the truth that is inspiring and uplifting.

Christ's mercy is the mighty healer; even to the wounded innocent.