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Education for Eternity

Quotes From General Authorities and Church Leaders

Hugh B. Brown

Brown, Hugh B. "What Is Man and What He May Become." BYU Speeches of the Year 1957-58, March 25, 1958.

We are very grateful in the Church and in this great university that the freedom, dignity, and integrity of the individual is basic in Church doctrine as well as in democracy. Here we are free to think and express our opinions. Fear will not stifle thought, as is the case in some areas which have not yet emerged from the dark ages. God himself refuses to trammel man's free agency even though its exercise sometimes teaches painful lessons. Both creative science and revealed religion find their fullest and truest expression in the climate of freedom.

As you proceed to make your individual "declarations of independence," I hope you will not become young radicals. I hope you will distinguish between liberty and license. I hope you will realize that freedom is only a blessing if it is accompanied by wisdom and intelligence. . . .

I hope that you will develop the questing spirit. Be unafraid of new ideas for they are as steppingstones to progress. You will, of course, respect the opinions of others but be unafraid to dissent--if you are informed. (pp. 2-3)

Brown, Hugh B. The Abundant Life (Salt Lake City, UT: Bookcraft, 1965).

[Speaking to BYU faculty members:] We would like you to know we are interested in academic research. You must go out on the research front and continue to explore the vast unknown. You should be in the forefront of learning in all fields, for revelation does not come only through the prophet of God nor only directly from heaven in visions or dreams. Revelation may come in the laboratory, out of the test tube, out of the thinking mind and the inquiring soul, out of search and research and prayer and inspiration. You must be unafraid to contend for what you are thinking, unafraid to dissent if you are informed and honest. We must combat error with truth in this divided and imperiled world and do it with the unfaltering faith that God is still in his heaven even though all is not well with the world. (pp. 87-88)

Henry B. Eyring

Eyring, Henry B. "Teaching is a Moral Act." Address given at the Annual University Conference, Brigham Young University, August 1991, pp. 17-24.

My guess is that what matters most, as you and I try to help our students, will not be so much whether they master a particular subject or pass our exam. That will matter some, but what will matter most is what they learn from us about who they really are and what they can really become. My guess is that they won't learn it so much from lectures. They will get it from feelings of who you are, who you think they are, and what you think they might become. (p. 18)

Eyring, Henry B. "Brave People: Soft Hearts." Devotional Address given at Ricks College, September 21, 1993.

A few days after the Teton Dam broke there was a meeting held at Ricks College. Attending were people who had lost their homes. They had come to the college and were housed and fed. President Spencer W. Kimball, then president of the Church, and Elder Boyd K. Packer came here. They came to talk to people who had a terrible misfortune come to them.

I've never forgotten what President Kimball said to the people that night. He said, "These aren't the hard times. The hard times will come later as you begin to put your lives back together." And then he described things that turned out to be prophetically true. Instead of saying the soft and easy words, he said the words he thought were true.

President Kimball, through much of his life, had many medical problems. It was at one of those stages when his heart problem was the most severe that he came here on an evening to speak at a fireside. I remember sitting next to him and seeing that he was not well. But he got up to give his talk and he spoke for about an hour. I could see the perspiration breaking out on his face and that he was straining to the point of risking his life for those students that night.

He gave the talk that is essentially his book The Miracle of Forgiveness. When he sat down I looked over at him and he took a medication of some kind. And I could see that he was literally in great distress. And I remember thinking: Do these students understand that a prophet of God risked his life to tell them the truth?

A short time later that night President Kimball and I were alone. He was standing next to me. He reached over and grabbed my arm and turned me towards him and said, "Hal, how was I?" Now, being like the world is, I said something like, "Wonderful!" He pulled me a little harder and said, "Don't do that. That's not what I want to hear. When I asked you how I did, I meant 'Do you think they could hear me? or was I too tough?'"

A prophet of God had risked his life to try to tell some young people to be morally clean but cared enough to say "Even if it was true, that's not enough for me. I've got to have done it in a way where it will not be so hard that they are unable to hear me."

James E. Faust

Faust, James E. "Enhancing Secular Knowledge Through Spiritual Knowledge and Faith." Address given at the Annual University Conference, Brigham Young University, August 1994, pp. 26-29.

Our youngest son, Robert, studied law at this university and took a class in trusts from a distinguished legal scholar, Dallin H. Oaks. My son told me that on the first day of the class the teacher said to the students, "As we begin this course, I want you to know where I am coming from. I believe that Jesus is the Christ and the Savior and the Redeemer of the world. I believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and restored the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness to the earth in our day. I believe that all of the presidents of the Church since Joseph Smith have been successors in interest, keys, and authority to that held by Joseph Smith. Now please open your books and we'll study trust law."

I believe that first day's instruction was more valuable to Robert, and more useful in his life, than the rules of trust law set forth in Ex Parte-Pye and other decisions, important as they are in the law of trusts. (p. 26)

. . .

When the ultimate spiritual power of heaven is fully invoked by the administration and faculty at this university, God can pour out his blessings upon all in a transcending way. He is the fountain of sure knowledge of all truth. As this spiritual competency increases, great and marvelous things will be accomplished by ordinary people.

I feel secure in my statement of this because the Lord has said that "By the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things" (Moroni 10:5) and "know all things." (see D&C 11:14) There can be a greater break-through of knowledge by the teacher and scholar at this university beyond imagination by tapping into the divine foundations of truth. (p. 28)

. . .

I believe the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ are more important than any professional disciplines at this university. The interests of the Church have to be paramount over the interests of the university so that the university may qualify for that added spiritual power which it must receive to rise to its full potential. By this I mean there should be a loyalty to the sponsoring institution and a willingness to subordinate reason to revelation. (p. 28)

Elaine L. Jack

Jack, Elaine L. "Seek, and Ye Shall Find." Ensign 24(11), November, 1994, pp. 89-91.

The Lord has counseled us directly in this dispensation to seek the Spirit--to learn much--that we might "lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better." (D&C 25:10) I feel strongly that this is a clarion call for the women of this church at this time. For us to stand firm and faithful, we must be clearly focused on seeking the Lord.

Seeking implies so much more than merely looking. Seek means energy, direction, passion, purpose. To seek requires all our "heart, might, mind and strength" (D&C 4:2). We sisters are good at using our hearts and our hands in the Lord's work. But we must also use our minds. More than one hundred years ago, Relief Society President Emmeline B. Wells said, I believe in women, especially thinking women." ("Why, Ah! Why" Woman's Exponent, vol. 3, Oct. 1, 1874, p. 67) So do I. (p. 90)

. . .

The Lord has given us a lifetime to learn. This process is part of our eternal progression. President Brigham Young emphasized its importance when he said: "When shall we cease to learn? . . . Never, never." (in Journal of Discourses, 3:203) (p. 91)

Neal A. Maxwell

Maxwell, Neal A. Speech Given at the Graduate Students' Banquet, March, 1, 1973.

The gospel of Jesus Christ clearly says to us as far as the world of truth and fact is concerned, there's nothing out there to be afraid of. The Latter-day Saint leans into learning with a gusto, or should. There's no hostility to the life of the mind, but we don't try to deal with the life of the mind apart from everything else, which unfortunately the world often does. (p. 1)

. . .

You're entering a world in which the way of truth will be evil spoken of and there will be inevitable misunderstandings. And part of the challenge you face, graduate students, is that you'll be at home, or should be at home, in the jargon, and in the expertise that you will command and you will have to bring to the attention of your fellow scholars (who are not members of the Church) the great congruency between the gospel of Jesus Christ and what the world of learning uncovers for us when it's at its best. You will have to speak to these men and women, your brothers and sisters, after the manner of their understanding. You will have to bridge for them the world of scholarship and research that they know and the world of the gospel, which do converge in time and space. (p. 2)

. . .

Orthodoxy is superior to unorthodoxy because unorthodoxy, a non-gospel approach to human problems, is too dogmatic and it's too simple. It does not take into account all the casual factors, all the graduations of truth. ('For there is no democracy of facts') and the variety in consequences. It's really the orthodox approach that is less confining when one views human problems. . . . Any view that isn't the gospel view is too narrow, and it's orthodoxy that's broad, it's orthodoxy that can cope with variety, it's orthodoxy that's honest and reverent about human life; and unorthodoxy that really is too confining, too simple and too dogmatic. (p. 3)

. . .

The world has a marvelous way of giving primary attention to the less weighty matters and then leaving the weighty matters undone. Part of what a generation of rising Latter-day Saint scholars can do (both those who come from this institution and elsewhere) is to be able to show the convergence and the congruence in research and gospel values. (p. 3)

Maxwell, Neal A. "Why a University in the Kingdom? Ensign 5:10 (October 1975), pp. 6-9

If Brigham Young University did only that which other universities do, and in the same way, there would be little reason for the Church to operate it. The traditional roles a university plays (such as transmitting accumulated knowledge from generation to generation, discovering new knowledge through research, and providing various forms of service to mankind) should be, and are, much in evidence at BYU. BYU must continue to do these things well enough to meet the reasonable standards of the academic world, for as Brigham Young urged, "We should be a people of profound learning pertaining to the things of the world," (Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 254) but without being tainted by "pernicious, atheistic influences."

But BYU must do even more: it must also meet the higher standards of the kingdom of God. Clearly, therefore, BYU parallels, but is not in, the secular stream of American universities; it is instead a unique tributary to mankind that springs from the fountain of the gospel. This paralleling separateness is important to maintain, not only for the Church's sake, but for the sake of society as well, for to imitate the world indiscriminately is not to provide needed leaven for the world. (p. 6)

Maxwell, Neal A. "Of Every Kind." Address given at the Annual University Conference, Brigham Young University, August 1982, pp. 25-28.

If this were not Brigham Young University, and if you were not the kind of individuals you are, such an occasion as this might well produce some understandable humor about "Here we go again" or "It's a job, isn't it?" Such is not your attitude, as the past two days demonstrate, but those are attitudes which can develop in us if we are not careful. In the fatiguing work of the Lord, yawns of weariness are understandable, but yawns of boredom are not permissible. (p. 25)

. . .

God's purposes for us in mortality do underscore the constancy of certain principles to which we should strive to adhere--in all our relationships with one another and in our attitudes toward life. We must see every enterprise of which we are a part in the context of God's plan of salvation. Just as President Brigham Young said of these mountain valleys of Zion, "This is the place"--so, in like manner, we need to remind and reassure ourselves and others regarding the plan of salvation, especially in the midst of adversity, that "This is the process!" "This is the process!" (p. 26)

Maxwell, Neal A. "Teaching by Spirit Encourages Students' Intellectual Honesty." Church News, September 14, 1991, p. 12.

[Complete text:]

Teaching by the Spirit may and does occur of course in large congregations. But just as important, teaching by the Spirit can occur in the quiet conversation between only two people.

We live and teach among such a wide variety of individual personalities. Only the Spirit can compensate for such differences. Only the Spirit can part so many layers often intertwined in the curtains of our understanding.

I'm not surprised, therefore, that the Lord has told us that the sword of the Spirit is the penetrating word of God and the word of God can facilitate communication as nothing else. Thus, holy scriptures and the words of living prophets occupy a privileged position. They are the key to teaching by the Spirit, as well as to communicating [by] what the Prophet Joseph Smith called "the language of inspiration."

The Spirit not only informs and increases mutual understanding. It has an even more powerful role than increasing understanding. It convinces.

Yet, I worry sometimes when we speak of teaching by the Spirit if we seem to suggest it as some sort of mystical process. Teaching by the Spirit does not remove responsibility from the teacher for prayerful and pondering preparation. Studying out something in our own minds involves the Spirit just as much in our preparations as in our presentations.

It seems to me that seeking the Spirit is best done when we ask the Lord to take the lead of an already informed mind in which things have been studied out. Additionally, if we are already caring deeply about those we teach, it is so much easier for the Lord to inspire us to give any needed customized counsel and emphasis.

Isn't it interesting that one of the most powerful roles of the Spirit is to bring things to our remembrance. Often we do not need to be taught as much as to be reminded. When the Spirit stimulates such pondering . . . , it does something that's incredibly important. It encourages . . . intellectual honesty.

Fortunately, as well, the Spirit ties students to the Lord directly. Our loyalties and our perspectives are correlated in a way that cannot happen otherwise. Parents, teachers like you, drop off soon enough geographically and generationally, but the Spirit continues to minister.

Some suggestions for teaching by the Spirit are:

  • Do focus on the teaching moment by becoming settled and serene in your own heart.
  • Do be meek and " . . . I will tell you in your mind . . . " (D&C 8:2)
  • Don't try to impress in order to be heard or seen of men.
  • Do have some eye contact and listen to the students.
  • Don't be so busy presenting that either listening to the Spirit or to the students is simply not possible.
  • Don't expect the class to listen to you when you are not listening to the Spirit.
  • Do know the substance of what is being presented and ponder and pray over what its appropriate focus should be.
  • Don't answer questions no one is asking.
  • Do ask inspired questions.
  • Don't be afraid to ponder openly in front of students.
  • Don't be afraid of inspired silences.
  • Do bear your testimony appropriately and specifically.

Most important, the teacher's life should be that of one who is striving to become the man or woman of Christ. When one has such authority of example, it is easy for the Spirit to guide and to inspire. One's life must be aligned spiritually to be inspired.

Maxwell, Neal A. "Discipleship and Scholarship." BYU Studies 32(3), Summer 1992, pp. 5-9.

I have come to thank and to offer a few words of encouragement and guidance to scholars, whose work collectively has been used, is being used, and hopefully always will be used to protect and to build up the Kingdom.

Do not underestimate the importance of what you do as articulators. In praising C. S. Lewis, Austin Farrer wrote:

Though argument does not create conviction, lack of it destroys belief. What seems to be proved may not be embraced; but what no one shows that ability to defend is quickly abandoned. Rational argument does not create belief, but it maintains a climate in which belief may flourish. [Austin Farrer, "Grete Clerk," in Jocelyn Gibb, comp. Light on C. S. Lewis (New York: Harcourt and Brace, 1965), 26]

I am thankful to those who help to provide the needed "climate." (p. 5)

. . .

[According to the scholarship of the world] If one is a superb scholar in a narrow discipline, such is considered enough. One so gifted can then be as bohemian in behavior as one likes. But it is not so in the Kingdom, is it?

Of course we all enjoy certain of the fruits of the labors of secular geniuses who may be visibly or significantly flawed in some respects. Nor would we desire to detract from their important contributions. A just God will surely credit them. However, God will excuse neither them nor us from keeping his commandments, including the requirement given to us by him and his Son to become more like them. (pp. 6-7)

. . .

Whatever our particular fields of scholarship, the real test is individual discipleship, not scholarship. But how good it is when these two can company together, blending meekness with brightness and articulateness with righteousness. Such outcomes only occur, however, when there is commitment bordering on consecration. (p. 7)

. . .

There are so many ways in which one can hold back a portion. For instance, one might be giving as to money and also serving as to time and yet hold back a significant portion of himself or herself. One might share many talents but retain a pet grievance, thereby keeping it from resolution.

Scholars might hold back differently than would a businessman or a politician. A few hold back a portion of themselves merely to please a particular gallery of peers. Another might hold back a spiritual insight from which many could profit, simply wishing to have his or her "ownership" established. Some hold back by not appearing overly committed to the Kingdom, lest they incur the disapproval of particular peers who might disdain such consecration. In various ways, some give of themselves, even extensively, but not fully and unreservedly.

While these patterns are a clear form of selfishness, I am inclined to think that holding back can also reflect a mistaken understanding regarding our individuality. Some presume we will lose our identity if we are totally "swallowed up." Of course, our individuality is actually enhanced by submissiveness and by righteousness. It is sin which grinds us down to sameness--to a monotonous, single plane.

In any case, there is no lasting place in the Kingdom for unanchored and unconsecrated brilliance. Fortunately, those of you whom I know are both committed and contributive. In any case, ready or not, you serve as mentors and models for the rising generation of Latter-day Saint scholars and students. Let them learn, among many other things, submissiveness and consecration from the eloquence of your examples. (p. 8)

Maxwell, Neal A. "Out of the Best Faculty." Address given at the Annual University Conference, Brigham Young University, August 1993, pp. 34-38.

Only an excellent university can really help the Church much. Mediocrity won't do either academically or spiritually. A unique Church deserves a unique university! (p. 34)

. . .

What finally matters, brothers and sisters, is what we have become. There will be no puffed vitas circulating in the next world. They stay here--in the files. What we will take with us--to the degree we have developed them--will be the cardinal qualities that Jesus has perfected; these are eternal and portable. (p. 38)

Thomas S. Monson

Monson, Thomas S. "Installation of and Charge to the President." Addresses delivered at the inauguration of President Rex Edwin Lee, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, October 27, 1989 (Provo, Utah : Brigham Young University, 1989), pp. 4-6.

The great influencing factor, Rex, in the classroom is the teacher: his personality, what he thinks--not just what he says, but what he is, really and truly, in his heart. This is what influences his students. Indeed, you teach what you are.

"What manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am," said the Lord. (3 Nephi 27:27) Remember that he "increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man." (Luke 2:52) As we pursue the quest for knowledge, let us not neglect the need for wisdom. (p. 5)

Full Text.

Chieko N. Okazaki

Okazaki, Chieko N. "Rowing Your Boat." Ensign 24(11), November, 1994, pp. 92-94.

Each year it becomes increasingly important for women to improve their abilities to take care of themselves and their children economically, if circumstances should require it. Elder Howard W. Hunter, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, addressed this point specifically in 1975: "There are impelling reasons for our sisters to plan toward employment also. We want them to obtain all the education and vocational training possible before marriage. If they become widowed or divorced and need to work, we want them to have dignified and rewarding employment. If a sister does not marry, she has every right to engage in a profession that allows her to magnify her talents and gifts." If anything, his counsel has become even more relevant in the almost twenty years that have passed as the national economy has made it increasingly difficult for one wage to support a family, as more mothers are left alone to raise their children, and as more women spend lengthy portions of their lives single. (p. 93)

Glenn L. Pace

Pace, Glenn L. "The Elusive Balance." BYU 1985-86 Devotional and Fireside Speeches. BYU University Publications, 1983, pp. 108-112.

On one side of the spectrum is the person within or without the Church who sees very little need to call upon the Lord because this person is a scholar. . . . The other end of the spectrum is just as dangerous and is probably a greater threat to the majority of this audience. A person on this end of the spectrum thinks like this: "I know the Church is true and I have received the gift of the Holy Ghost. I am a worthy member of the Church and, therefore, have access to the Spirit." When faced with a problem he will pray for an answer, and the first thought that comes to mind is canonized. I would propose that an idea or solution that comes without appropriate reasoning is nothing better than a hunch. There are times of instant inspiration, but they are rare and usually involve an emergency.

There is a sentence used in Church circles that sends a chill up my spine. It's a perfectly good sentence that packs a spiritual wallop when used by someone who has been acted upon by the Spirit, but unfortunately is too often used by those who have wandered off-center in the spectrum. I've heard it said in my ward, at Church headquarters, and I have said it myself. The sentence that turns me cold is this: "I feel real good about it." Every time I hear it, I see a red flag go up. It's a perfectly good way of expressing a feeling of the Spirit, but far too often the literal translation is "I haven't done my homework." Some very bad decisions have been made by people who "feel really good" about something they have failed to reason out in their minds.

With those two extremes in mind, I would now like to give some examples that might help us inch our way into the center of the spectrum or toward that elusive balance.

Approximately five years ago I learned a great lesson while laboring as the new managing director of the Welfare Services Department of the Church. We were at a critical stage in the history of welfare. It was time to go through an agonizing reappraisal of the program in light of current world conditions. The specifics are irrelevant to this discussion except to say I was beside myself with worry and concern.

After praying for a solution, I had a terrific thought: "Glenn, you have access to the Quorum of the Twelve and to a member of the First Presidency." What a resource! I called for appointments and met one-on-one with these great men. I poured out my concerns and added my feelings that we were at a stage where further revelation on the subject was necessary. Then I sat back with my yellow notepad and Cross pen and waited for pearls of wisdom.

I received a total of one pearl from all of those interviews: "Brother Pace, I commend you for your concern and conscientiousness in finding solutions to these weighty matters. I, too, have some deep concerns and anxieties, and you are absolutely right, we do need revelation. Now, go get it!"

Who, me? I was an employee of the Church, not a General Authority, but I had the responsibility to bring forth well thought-out recommendations to the Brethren that could be confirmed, modified, or rejected in the appropriate forums. It was my obligation and right to receive inspiration, but it came with intense, agonizing study, research, and meditation. (pp. 109-110)

    Boyd K. Packer

    Packer, Boyd K. "'I Say Unto You, Be One'" BYU 1990-91 Devotional and Fireside Speeches. BYU University Publications, 1991, pp. 81-91.

    In recent years, the board of education of the Church and the board of trustees for Church colleges and universities has been the First Presidency, six members of the Quorum of the Twelve, a member of the Presiding Bishopric, and the presidents of the Relief Society and the Young Women of the Church.

    I can best tell you how you are governed today, how the board of trustees functions, by explaining the principles and procedures we follow in the meetings of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. These procedures protect the work from the individual weaknesses apparent in all of us. . . .

    It is clear from the revelations that the decisions of the presiding quorums "must be by the unanimous voice of the same. . . . Unless this is the case, their decisions are not entitled to the same blessings." (D&C 107:27, 29) In order to ensure that to be the case, matters of consequence are seldom decided in the meeting where they are proposed. And, if the proposal is a part of a larger issue, sufficient time is taken to "bring us all along" so that it is clear that each of us has either a clear understanding of the issue, or, as is often the case, has a very clear feeling about it. . . .

    It would be unthinkable to deliberately present an issue in such a way that approval depended upon how it was maneuvered through channels, who was presenting it, or who was present or absent when it was presented. . . .

    There is rule we follow: A matter is not settled until there is a minute entry to evidence that all of the Brethren in council assembled (not just one of us, not just a committee) have come to a unity of feeling. Approval of a matter in principle is not considered authority to act until a minute entry records the action taken--usually when the minutes are approved in the next meeting.

    Sometimes an afterthought keeps one of us restless over a decision. That is never dismissed lightly. It cannot be assumed that that restless spirit is not in fact the Spirit of Revelation.

    That is how we function--in council assembled. That provides safety for the Church and a high comfort level for each of us who is personally accountable. Under the plan, men of very ordinary capacity may be guided through counsel and inspiration to accomplish extraordinary things.

    Even with the best of intentions, it does not always work the way it should. Human nature may express itself on occasion, but not to the permanent injury of the work. I have a deep, even a sacred, regard for councils; inspiration is evident in them. . . .

    These checks and balances that the Lord intended to operate in his Church are, after all, the safe course. If we are to meet the great challenges now facing this university, we must respect these principles. The Lord said, "I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine." (D&C 38:27) (pp. 83-85)

    . . .

    Now listen carefully! It is crucial that you understand what I tell you now. There is danger! Church-sponsored universities are an endangered species--nearly extinct now. Recently the administration of Baylor University announced that it was severing ties with the Baptist Church, which founded it 145 years ago. Other Baptist schools--Furman, Mercer, and Wake Forest--are going through the same process. They join Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Chicago, Columbia, and a long, long list of others--other universities that have severed ties from the churches that founded and financed them.

    Last month's journal of the New York-based Institute on Religion in Public Life was devoted to the de-Christianizing of American universities. I quote from their editorial entitled "The Death of Religious Higher Education."

    The beginning of wisdom on this subject is to recognize that the road to the unhappy present was indeed paved with good intentions. To be sure, there were relevant parties who made no secret of their hostility to religion. But, for the most part, the schools that lost, or are losing, their sense of religious purpose, sincerely sought nothing more than a greater measure of "excellence." The problem is that they accepted, uncritically, definitions of excellence that were indifferent to, or even implicitly hostile to, the great concerns of religion. Few university presidents or department chairmen up and decided one day that they wanted to rid their institutions of the embarrassment of religion. It may reasonably be surmised that most believed that they were advancing a religious mission by helping their schools become like other schools--or at least more like the "best" of other schools. The language of academic excellence is powerfully seductive. ["The Death of Religious Higher Education," First Things, January 1991, p. 80]

    If we succeed in keeping BYU in faith with the founders, we will do something very few others have done. Our best protection is to ensure that the prerogatives of this unique board of trustees are neither diluted or ignored. Boards of education, trustees, and regents are venerable and indispensable institutions in education in the free world. They are not to be taken lightly. Theirs, and theirs alone, is the right to establish policies and set standards under which administrators, faculties, and students are to function--standards of both conduct and of excellence. (p. 88)

    Packer, Boyd K. "The Snow-White Birds." Address given at the Annual University Conference, Brigham Young University, August 1995, pp. 1-12.

    If students are going to partake of the fruit that is "desirable to make one happy," yea, "desirable above all other fruit," which Lehi saw in his vision, they had better have their ladder leaning against the right tree. And they had better hold onto the iron rod while they are working their way toward it.

    Now, in an absolutely remarkable consensus, leaders in politics, government, law enforcement, medicine, social agencies, and the courts recognize that the breakdown of the family is the most dangerous and frightening development of our time, perhaps in all human history. They are casting around for answers.

    There is a desperate need for stable families and teachers who know how to teach values. Were we not better equipped a generation ago to produce them? Have some among us measured themselves against the world and its sophisticated intellectual standard? Have they "cast their eyes about as if they were ashamed" and let go of the iron rod of Lehi's vision?

    The prophet Jacob spoke of wasting one's time by following those who, "when they are learned they think they are wise." "To be learned is good," he further said, "if they hearken unto the counsels of God."

    Your faculty committees are now at work on the self-evaluation of the university. We have heard good reports of their progress. Those committees might well look thoughtfully and long and prayerfully at these issues. (pp. 8-9)

    L. Tom Perry

    Perry, L. Tom, CES Fireside, BYU, March 5, 1995

    Talk about accelerated learning programs. Do not underestimate the Lord's power and His willingness to bless your lives if you ask with a sincere heart and real intent. He has instructional designs and learning theories that the world's educational psychologists haven't even imagined yet.

    Rex D. Pinegar

    Pinegar, Rex D. "Approaching a School in Zion." Proceedings of the Second Annual Laying the Foundations Symposium (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University, 1992), pp. 1-9.

    To me, a faculty member who works at BYU needs to have a personal commitment to the establishment of the cause of Zion before that commitment can be transferred to the student.

    Elder S. Dilworth Young once gave a definition of a leader. He said, "You can always tell which person is a leader, because he leads." This brief statement may seem rather innocuous at first. As one ponders this truth, however, the perspective of looking at the quality of the leader from the end result becomes apparent. It is clear that to lead means to be in the forefront of the column. It is obvious then that the mentor of students at BYU needs to possess a pure conversion to the purposes and desirability of Zion (and a Zion education).

    Pure conversion to a Zion education implies a commitment on the part of faculty members to look at their disciplines from an eternal perspective. Those things that are to be learned will be taught in true relationship to each other. Things of the earth have eternal significance in that they teach us of that which is to come. The patterns of the Lord are evident in his earth creations and systems. The fact that some of them may be only temporary should not disturb us. (p. 7)

    Stephen L. Richards

    Richards, Stephen L. "The Charge." Addresses delivered at the inauguration of Ernest Wilkinson, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, October 8, 1951, pp. 14-16. In BYU Inaugural Speeches and Responses, Brigham Young University Archives.

    We have found that there is but one sure way to acquire truth, and that is by living it. We have learned that all of God's truth is clean and wholesome and beautiful, and we have learned that only those whose lives are clean and wholesome can acquire the beauty of the truth. Any departure from true virtue will becloud divine concepts and retard the acquisition of truth. (p. 16)

    Marion G. Romney

    We here at Brigham Young University are serving in a temple; a temple of learning, conceived and maintained for the purpose of preparing those who come under our charge, for success in this life not only but also for exaltation in the life to come.

    Geared to this objective, BYU is destined to be as peculiarly different from and to excel other universities to the same degree that "the Church" differs from other churches and is destined to excel them.

    This premise is not a mere hypothesis; it is a fact. The Lord said that this Church is "the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth with which I, the Lord, am well pleased." (D&C 1:30) and this University is a part of the Church. (Quoted in Ernest L. Wilkinson. "The Unique Role of BYU Among Universities of America." BYU Devotional Address, February 5, 1970, p. 12)

    . . .

    If you will, by complying with these requirements, come into possession of and cultivate the gifts of the Holy Ghost, the spirit of revelation, which is the learning process by which truth is divined, and if you will search the scriptures until you become acquainted with the store of divine knowledge recorded in them, you will possess the key by which the conclusions of men may be tested to see if they comport with that truth which is knowledge of things as they are, as they were, and as they are to come. ("Baccalaureate Address.," p. 6)

    Romney, Marion G. "A Temple of Learning," Pre-school conference address given at Brigham Young University, 13 September 1966.

    We are not only to teach purely gospel subjects by the power of the Spirit. We are also to teach secular subjects by the power of the Spirit, and we are obligated to interpret the content of secular subjects in the light of revealed truth. This purpose is the only sufficient justification for spending Church money to maintain this institution.

    Romney, Marion G. "The Beginning of Wisdom."

    BYU Speeches

    , February 11, 1964.

    As I think about the world situation -- our great learning, our progress in material things, our unsolved problems and our declining morality -- I come to the conclusion that our troubles are in large measure due to our own stupidity. That is not a nice word, is it? But I am convinced that our stupidity is not due so much to a lack of facts as it is to a want of wisdom. What we desperately need is to recognize and acquire that quality which converts knowledge into wisdom. To do this and to foster wisdom is the mission of this University. Webster identifies that quality in his definition of wisdom. Distinguishing it from "knowledge -- which [according to him] denotes acquaintance with, or clear perception of, facts, and from science," which he says, "is exact, organized, and classified knowledge, especially in relation to the physical world," and third, from information, which he defines as "knowledge communicated or acquired, especially by reading or observation"; wisdom as distinguished from these, he says, "... is the capacity of judging soundly and dealing broadly with facts, especially in their practical relations to life and conduct." It is for want of this capacity that our generation is deteriorating. The development of this capacity, which converts knowledge into wisdom, is, I repeat, the mission of this great University. (p. 6)

    . . .

    The first step men must take to obtain that wisdom which will rescue the world is to seek the Lord, "to establish his righteousness." Men must come to a realization that they are inadequate in and of themselves. They must get down off their self-sufficient hobby horses and humble themselves before the Lord. They must in unalloyed sincerity call upon Him with full purpose of heart. "Seek, and ye shall find" (Matthew 7:7; Luke 11:9) has ever been and is now the pattern. "If with all your hearts ye truly seek me, ye shall ever surely find me," has always been and is now the promise. Doing this, men may -- and it is the only way they can -- be led to a knowledge of God from which springs that "profound reverence" declared by the Psalmist to be the beginning of wisdom. (p. 8)

    . . .

    To guide men to this means of escape, God revealed Himself and His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, anew in this dispensation. And of comparable importance to us, He also revealed the way in which men must walk if they would know Him. First, they must seek Him in the manner He prescribed -- namely, by prayer and by studying the word of God, modern and ancient, but particularly modern. Such prayer and study leads to faith in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ. The next step is repentance. Such faith and true repentance is followed by baptism and the reception of the Holy Ghost. Accepting and obeying these first basic principles and ordinances, as they are prescribed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and then continuing to conform to the commandments of God, gives men not only an intellectual concept of God, but a personal knowledge from which is derived that "profound reverence" which is the beginning of wisdom -- wisdom which will not only lead to a solution of the problems facing this generation, but which will also lead men on to eternal life.

    My whole desire in making these remarks has been to impress upon the minds and souls of you students that to foster wisdom is the central purpose of Brigham Young University. If you fail to understand and appreciate the importance of the wisdom which comes through inspiration from the Lord, you will have missed the pearl of great price here to be attained. God grant that you may not miss it. All members of the faculty and non-academic personnel should be imbued with it and its significance. It should permeate every course, activity, and class period.

    That each of you, while here at Brigham Young University, will gain an understanding and full appreciation of the Psalmist's declaration that a profound reverence for "the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," and that you will live all the days of your lives under the guidance and protection of the inspiration of Him whose wisdom is based upon a knowledge of all things, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. (p. 9)

    Eliza R. Snow

    Snow, Eliza R. Woman's Exponent, vol. 7, no. 11, 1 November 1878.

    There certainly must be a grand and holy purpose at the foundation of our creation, else why this innate longing and thirst for knowledge--this perpetual desire for improvement and advancement. I have reflected upon this, and feel that our Heavenly Father has implanted these feelings and desires in our hearts, that this earthly probation may not be in vain. And the object of this life must be to test us, to try us in all things, and to make us more perfect, even as our Father in Heaven is perfect. (p. 81)

    Barbara W. Winder

    Winder, Barbara W. "Education: Unlocking Opportunity." BYU 1988-89 Devotional and Fireside Speeches. BYU University Publications, 1989, pp. 1-9.

    Never before have we had so many opportunities to be educated in the learning of the world. Our weakness seems to be our inability to apply with wisdom the knowledge we have in its practical relationship to life and its problems. The development of the capacity to convert knowledge into wisdom is a blessing that comes from the Holy Spirit as we gain profound reverence for the Lord and hearken to his counsels. As we seek learning by study and by faith, we are taught that we will receive the fullness of the Holy Ghost and be organized according to his laws and be prepared to obtain every needful thing. (p. 5)

    . . .

    It is, after all, not so much what we know but what we are willing to share that makes the difference. This is the challenge for each of us here today.

    We have come to seek knowledge, both spiritual and temporal, to help those around us respond to life's challenges. The usefulness of this learning comes in wise application as we become better able to fill our responsibilities to serve, that we might get a little closer to our destination . . .

    Here we are in these beautiful temples of learning with qualified teachers, countless books, and resources. All of this and the Spirit, too. Yes, "Because [we] have been given much, [we] too must give." ("Because I have Been Given Much," Hymns, 1985, no. 219) (p. 9)

    Orson F. Whitney

    Whitney, Orson F. Contributor, 9:299-300, June 1888.

    Above all things, we must be original. The Holy Ghost is the genius of "Mormon" literature. Not Jupiter, nor Mars, Minerva, nor Mercury. No fabled gods and goddesses; no Mount Olympus; no "sister nine," no "blue-eyed maid of heaven;" no invoking of mythical muses that "did never yet one mortal song inspire." No pouring of new wine in old bottles. Not patterning after the dead forms of antiquity. Our literature must live and breathe for itself. Our mission is diverse from all others; our literature must also be. The odes of Anacreon, the satires of Horace and Juvenal, the epics of Homer, Virgil, Dante and Milton, the sublime tragedies of Shakespeare; these are all excellent, all well enough in their way; but we must not attempt to copy them. They cannot be reproduced. We may read, we may gather sweets from all these flowers, but we must build our own hive and honeycomb after God's supreme design.

    Whitney, Orson F. Conference Report, April 1915.

    We have no right to take the theories of men, however scholarly, however learned, and set them up as a standard, and try to make the Gospel bow down to them; making of them an iron bedstead upon which God's truth, if not long enough, must be stretched out, or if too long, must be chopped off--anything to make it fit into the system of men's thoughts and theories! On the contrary, we should hold up the Gospel as the standard of truth, and measure thereby the theories and opinions of men. What God has revealed, what the prophets have spoken, what the servants of the Lord proclaim when inspired by the Holy Ghost, can be depended upon, for these are the utterances of a spirit that cannot lie and that does not make mistakes; while the teachings of men are often based upon sophistry and founded upon false reasoning. Uninspired men are prone to judge by outward appearances, and to allow prejudice and plausibilities to usurp the place of divine truth as God has made it known. (p. 100)

    Whitney, Orson F. Cited in Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1972), p. 98.

    No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God . . . and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven.

    John A. Widtoe

    Widtsoe, John A. Rational Theology (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret News, 1915).

    The whole of life is education. . . . No wonder, therefore, that in the correct philosophy of life, schools and other devices for the training of man's powers are foremost. Education is and must be carried onward fully and abundantly in the church of Christ. The support of education is, indeed, one test of the true church. (p. 174)