Browsing Quotes By Neal A. Maxwell, page 1
-
“When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies? The great armistices made by military men or the peacemaking of women in homes and neighborhoods? Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in congresses? When the surf of the centuries has made the great pyramids so much sand, the everlasting family will still be standing, because it is a celestial institution, formed outside telestial time. The women of God know this.
Speaker: Neal A. MaxwellSource: Conference Report, Apr. 1978, pp. 13–15; or Ensign, May 1978, pp. 10–11Posted: 14 Mar 2013 at 8:39 AMComments: None... Be the first to comment! -
So often our sisters comfort others when their own needs are greater than those being comforted. That quality is like the generosity of Jesus on the cross. Empathy during agony is a portion of divinity!
Speaker: Neal A. MaxwellSource: Conference Report, Apr. 1978, pp. 13–15; or Ensign, May 1978, pp. 10–11Posted: 14 Mar 2013 at 8:37 AMComments: None... Be the first to comment! -
“The overwhelming majesty of the universe suggested a major communication problem God has with man. Our limited, finite minds could not contain many answers even if God chose to give them to us… Living by faith, then, is not simply a test, but a necessity—until we are ready to receive more divine data… When we often can’t frame the right question, and could not contain the answer if it were given, silence must be God’s only response at times.”
Speaker: Neal A. MaxwellSource: For the Power is in Them…, p. 29Posted: 09 Feb 2013 at 9:53 PMComments: None... Be the first to comment! -
Satan need not get everyone to be like Cain or Judas . . . He needs only to get able men . . . to see themselves as sophisticated neutrals.
Speaker: Neal A. MaxwellSource: Deposition of a Disciple (1976), 88Posted: 03 Jan 2013 at 7:38 AMComments: None... Be the first to comment! -
The same God that placed that star in a precise orbit millennia before it appeared over Bethlehem in celebration of the birth of the Babe has given at least equal attention to placement of each of us in precise human orbits so that we may, if we will, illuminate the landscape of our individual lives, so that our light may not only lead others but warm them as well.
Speaker: Neal A. MaxwellSource: That My Family Should Partake (1974), 86Posted: 03 Jan 2013 at 7:35 AMComments: None... Be the first to comment! -
It is not enough to reach a bland behavioral point when we no longer take pleasure in sin; we must hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Speaker: Neal A. MaxwellPosted: 23 Feb 2011 at 10:15 PMComments: None... Be the first to comment! -
The ancient Spartans left us a vision that is a more precise analogy than Massada. Outnumbered by the Persians, according to legend, the Spartans had to hold the pass at Thermopylae. After failing to take the pass, the Persians sent an emissary to the Spartans, who asked them to surrender and threatened them by saying that the Persians had so many archers they could “darken the sky with their arrows.” The Spartans replied: “So much the better, we shall fight in the shade.” We, too, may need to hold the pass in the shade of vexing circumstances; and we, too, need to be undaunted, but that is easier to do, if we carefully cultivate a realistic sense of destiny.
Speaker: Neal A. MaxwellSource: For the Power is Unto ThemPosted: 23 Feb 2011 at 1:57 PMComments: None... Be the first to comment! -
One of the ironies which is fostered, at times innocently, in the Church, is the feeling we have that the spirit of the law is superior to the letter of the law because for some reason it seems more permissive or less apt to offend others. The reverse is true. The spirit of the law is superior because it demands more of us that the letter of the law. The spirit of the law insists that we do more than merely comply superficially. It means, too, that we must give attention to the things that matter most and still not leave the others undone.
Speaker: Neal A. MaxwellSource: For the Power is Unto ThemPosted: 23 Feb 2011 at 1:53 PMComments: None... Be the first to comment! -
When we have congruency with Christ, it means we have to shed everything about us that is inconsistent with the pattern he has set for us. Once we have congruency with Christ, to comply with the standards of the Church is easy, in the sense that it is what we want to do, not what we must do; duty becomes a delight.
Speaker: Neal A. MaxwellSource: For the Power is Unto ThemPosted: 23 Feb 2011 at 1:49 PMComments: None... Be the first to comment! -
So often we feel, implicitly, that we are doing God a favor if we do his work, that we are helping him along when, in fact, our performance properly undertaken is for the welfare of our soul, not his! It is our happiness and our growth he seeks! How wonderful it could be to pray that what we do would be mindstretching and soul-expanding. Such genuine, prayerful forethought could also reduce the less-than-necessary tasks we do that are trivial and could lessen the number of right things we do for the wrong reasons.
Speaker: Neal A. MaxwellSource: For the Power is Unto ThemPosted: 23 Feb 2011 at 1:34 PMComments: None... Be the first to comment! -
Living by faith, then, is not simply a test, but a necessity until we are ready to receive more divine data. Meanwhile, we often go on asking God, as C. S. Lewis observed, questions even He cannot answer because they are the equivalent of: “How big is Yellow?” When we often can’t frame the right question, and could not contain the answer if it were given, silence must be God’s only response at times.
Speaker: Neal A. MaxwellSource: For the Power is Unto ThemPosted: 23 Feb 2011 at 1:13 PMComments: None... Be the first to comment! -
The aloneness of the atonement in its final hours symbolized how we must, at times, do what needs to be done, even if no mortal understands or appreciates what is being done. In fact, the atonement with its awful arithmetic (the billions who would benefit from the exquisite agony of Christ as he somehow bore thousands of sins for each of us) was the last appreciated but most beneficial act in human history!
Speaker: Neal A. MaxwellSource: For the Power is Unto ThemPosted: 23 Feb 2011 at 1:10 PMComments: None... Be the first to comment! -
How wet some people must have been before Noah’s ark suddenly seemed the only sane act in an insane, bewildering situation!
Speaker: Neal A. MaxwellSource: For the Power is Unto ThemPosted: 23 Feb 2011 at 1:04 PMComments: None... Be the first to comment! -
“If we really believe in eternity, why are we in such a hurry?
And why are we too busy for things that would be appropriate for those who have the special perspective of the Gospel?”Speaker: Neal A. MaxwellSource: For the Power is Unto ThemPosted: 23 Feb 2011 at 12:53 PMComments: None... Be the first to comment! -
It is the moments and the little acts that make the sum of the life of a man. We may pass the major exam but flunk the daily quizzes. Every moment’s actions are important. Discipleship is very local.
Speaker: Neal A. MaxwellPosted: 13 Jan 2009 at 1:33 PMComments: None... Be the first to comment! -
The Lord doesn’t ask about our inabilities or abilities. He only asks about our availabilities. If we show our dependability, He will help us in our capability.
Speaker: Neal A. MaxwellPosted: 21 Aug 2008 at 2:44 PMComments: None... Be the first to comment! -
It is very important that we do not assume the perspective of morality in making decisions that bear on eternity.
Speaker: Neal A. MaxwellPosted: 21 Aug 2008 at 1:15 PMComments: None... Be the first to comment! -
The Plan always points the way, but it doesn’t always smooth the way.
Speaker: Neal A. MaxwellPosted: 21 Aug 2008 at 12:33 PMComments: None... Be the first to comment! -
As you submit your wills to God, you are giving Him the only thing you can actually give Him that is really yours to give. Don’t wait too long to find the alter or to begin to place the gift of your wills upon it! No need to wait for a receipt; the Lord has His own special ways of acknowledging.
Speaker: Neal A. MaxwellPosted: 21 Aug 2008 at 9:37 AMComments: None... Be the first to comment! -
…Do not expect the world’s solutions to the world’s problems to be very effective. Such solutions often resemble… those who go dashing back and forth with fire extinguishers in times of flood. Only the Gospel is constantly relevant, and the substitute things won’t work.
Speaker: Neal A. MaxwellPosted: 21 Aug 2008 at 9:36 AMComments: None... Be the first to comment!