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Quick Quotes on Agency
"If we fail, we, and we alone, are
responsible for the failure, because God endows His servants, from the President
of the Church down to the humblest member, with all the ability, all the
knowledge, all the power that is necessary, faithfully, diligently, and properly
to discharge every duty and every obligation that rests upon them, and we, and
we alone, will have to answer if we fail in this regard."
-Heber J. Grant
"Are we not the framers of our own destiny? Are we
not the arbitrators of our fate? . . . It is our privilege to determine
our own exaltation or degradation; it is our privilege to determine our
own happiness or misery in the world to come." -John Taylor, in Teachings
of Presidents of the Church: John Taylor [2001], 141
"Agency is the power to think, choose, and act
for ourselves. It comes with endless opportunities, accompanied by
responsibility and consequences. It is a blessing and a burden. Using this
gift of agency wisely is critical today because never in the world's history
have God's children been so blessed or so blatantly confronted with so many
choices."
-Sharon G. Larsen , Second Counselor in the
Young Women General Presidency
"We cannot control what others choose to do, and so we cannot force our children to heaven,
but we can determine what we will do. And we can decide that we will do all we
can to bring down the powers of heaven into that family we want so much to have forever."
-Elder
Henry B. Eyring; Ensign, February 1998
"If pain
and sorrow and total punishment immediately followed the doing of evil, no
soul would repeat a misdeed. If joy and peace and rewards were instantaneously
given the doer of good, there could be no evil—all would do good and not
because of the rightness of doing good. There would be no test of strength, no
development of character, no growth of powers, no free agency. . . . There
would also be an absence of joy, success, resurrection, eternal life, and
godhood."
-Spencer W. Kimball
"Our Heavenly Father never
gives up on us. . . . But we must have the desire to open the door, even if it
shakes the very foundation of our past beliefs and way of life. . . . Our
Father in Heaven will never take away our agency. We must seek after or desire
to know our Father and His Son, Jesus Christ."
-Elder Ronald T. Halverson, "I Stand at the Door, and Knock," Ensign, November
2004, 32
"We have been given
agency, we have been given the blessings of the priesthood, and we have
been given the Light of Christ and the Holy Ghost for a reason. That
reason is our growth and happiness in this world and eternal life in the
world to come. Today I ask, have we received that Spirit? Are we following
on the strait and narrow path that leads to God and eternal life? Are we
holding onto the iron rod, or are we going another way? I testify that how
we choose to feel and think and act every day is the way we get on the
path, and stay on it, until we reach our eternal destination." -Robert D.
Hales, "To Act for Ourselves: The Gift and Power of Agency" Ensign, May
2006, 6
“There is a still small
voice telling us what is right, and if we listen to that still small
voice, we shall grow and increase in strength and power, in testimony and
in ability not only to live the gospel but to inspire others to do so.
My most earnest prayer is that every man and every woman will get it into
his and her heart that they are in very deed the architects of their
lives.”
-President Heber J. Grant
“Next to the bestowal
of life itself, the right to direct that life is God’s greatest gift to
man… Freedom of choice is more to be treasured than any possession earth
can give.” -President David O. McKay
“You are free to choose
exactly what you want to do, as long as it does not restrict or impose on
the rights and liberties of others, but you must be responsible for your
acts and prepared to take the consequences.” -N. Eldon Tanner
"All the laws of God and
the laws of nature and the laws of the land are made for the benefit of
man, for his comfort, enjoyment, safety, and well-being; and it is up to
the individual to learn these laws and to determine whether or not he will
enjoy these benefits by obeying the law and by keeping the commandments."
-N. Eldon Tanner
"Some of the
greatest battles you will face will be fought within the silent chambers
of your own soul." -President Ezra Taft Benson
"Life gives to all
the choice. You can satisfy yourself with mediocrity if you wish. You can
be common, ordinary, dull, colorless; or you can channel your life so that
it will be clean, vibrant, progressive, useful, colorful, rich. You can
soil your record, defile your soul, trample underfoot virtue, honor, and.
goodness, and thus forfeit an exaltation in the kingdom of God. Or you can
be righteous, commanding the respect and admiration of your associates in
all walks of life, and enjoying the love of the Lord. Your destiny is in
your hands and your all-important decisions are your own to make.”
-President Spencer W. Kimball
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