The April 1961 General Conference was awesome. It featured solid talks by well-known General Authorities like Bruce R. McConkie and David O. McKay, but also amazing talks by lesser-known General Authorities, like Eldred G. Smith’s address on the importance of forgiving others. Or Elder ElRay L. Christiansen on the time of testing we face in America and around the world. Overall, it was a fantastic conference that I highly recommend studying!
I hope you enjoy this twentieth installment of quotes from my studies of the General Conference Archives (If you want to read prior installments, click HERE). For the first installment and an explanation of the Conference Archives, see “55+ Powerful Quotes From My Study of the Oct. 1970 General Conference.” To read this conference report PDF from the Church History Catalog (click HERE), for the Archive.org PDF (with speech-to-text, click here). I hope you enjoy these quotes from my studies. But more than enjoying them, I hope they serve as a starting point for your own study of the Apr. 1961 General Conference! Use the page number and the above links to access the full talks. Enjoy!
60+ Quotes From My Study of the Apr. 1961 General Conference
“Mere attendance at Church and other acts of piety signify little if the person does not conform his acts and his speech to the principles of the gospel.”
David O. McKay
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 6
“What traits of character the child develops in the home, he takes with him into society. The selfish, morose nature, or his cheerful, kind, radiant soul developing in home environment goes with him when he joins the social group. If you want your child to be courteous in society, teach him to be courteous in the home.”
David O. McKay
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 6
“Into our schools and churches come too many children from homes where the fundamental virtues of true manhood and beautiful womanhood are seldom taught and more infrequently practiced.”
David O. McKay
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 6
“I cannot think that a Latter-day Saint will hold enmity in his heart if he will sincerely, in secret, pray God to remove from his heart all feelings of envy and malice toward any of his fellow men.”
David O. McKay
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 8
“In the Church, let us teach these students that if they want to succeed in their lessons, they should seek their God; that the greatest Teacher known to the world stands near to guide them. Once the student feels that he can approach the Lord through prayer, he will receive confidence that he can get his lessons, that he can write his speech, that he can stand up before his fellow students and deliver his message without fear of failure.”
David O. McKay
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 8
“Confidence comes through sincere prayer.”
David O. McKay
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 8
“There is danger in looking backward. One must keep his eyes ahead in order to cut a straight furrow. When the plowman commences to look backward, he cuts a crooked furrow, and his work is spoiled. We cannot continue to walk forward when at the same time we are looking backward. It makes no difference what object or occasion causes us to look backward, the backward glance commences the backward turning, and may be the beginning of our disendowment in the kingdom of God.”
Howard W. Hunter
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 18
“There is no more welcome voice to the honest in heart than the voice of the true messenger preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Harold B. Lee
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 18
“We will probably never be closer to heaven while we live in this life than when we are in the temple of the Lord.”
Bishop Carl W. Buehner
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 36
“It is the desire of the Lord to lift us up, to be prepared one day to live again with Him. It is Satan’s desire to reduce us to his level, to live with him in his kingdom.”
Bishop Carl W. Buehner
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 36
“This period is characterized by trial, suffering, sacrifice, and disappointment, as well as joy. All these experiences are dedicated to our progress and growth. During this life, we are our own judges. We judge ourselves continuously. We sentence ourselves to happiness through service or misery through sin.”
Bishop Carl W. Buehner
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 37
“We are laying the foundation for, and have already actually commenced, the greatest missionary undertaking ever destined to occur in any age of the earth’s history. We are going forth by command of Deity to carry the knowledge of God and of his saving truths to all nations, to preach the gospel to every creature, and to give in due course, in this life or in the next, every living soul the opportunity to hear and obey these saving principles.”
Bruce R. McConkie
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 38
“Since we are engaged in the greatest missionary undertaking that has ever been planned as part of Deity’s program, he has also placed in our hands the most effective, compelling, and persuasive missionary tool ever given to any people in any age. The name of this tool is the Book of Mormon.”
Bruce R. McConkie
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 38
“No one gets a testimony of the divinity of the Lord’s work unless he gains it from the Spirit—that is, unless it comes by the power of the Holy Ghost. But the Book of Mormon is the means, the tool, the way which has been ordained and given so that men can get their hearts and souls in a frame of mind, in a condition where they can hearken to the testimony of the Spirit.”
Bruce R. McConkie
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 38
“It was of this book that the Prophet said: ‘I told the Brethren [meaning the Twelve, with whom he had that day met] that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding its precepts, than by any other book’ (History of the Church, vol. 4, p. 461). This is precisely what we want people to do. We want them to get so near to the Lord that they will come down in the depths of humility, repent of their sins, and accept Christ for what he is, the Son of God. We want them to come to the truth, join the kingdom of God on earth, and have performed for them the ordinances of salvation and exaltation under the hands of those legal administrators whom the Lord has appointed in this day and generation.”
Bruce R. McConkie
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 38
“The Lord has given the Book of Mormon in this day as the absolute, sure, positive witness of the divinity of his work. We go out in the missionary cause, and we bear testimony in soberness and in truth, knowing the verity of what we say, that the heavens have been opened and that God has spoken again; that angels have ministered to men; that the gifts, powers, and graces had anciently have been restored anew; that the gospel and the plan of salvation are again on earth in all their ancient beauty and glory. But this witness which we bear is not left to stand alone. The Lord sends with us a written record, a means, a missionary tool, which can be used by any person to gain a knowledge of the divinity of the work.”
Bruce R. McConkie
CR, Apr. 1961 pp. 38-39
“The Prophet’s expression that ‘the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion’ means precisely what it says. The keystone is the central stone in the top of the arch. If that stone is removed, then the arch crumbles, which, in effect, means that Mormonism so-called—which actually is the gospel of Christ, restored anew in this day—stands or falls with the truth or the falsity of the Book of Mormon.”
Bruce R. McConkie
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 39
“Our message to the world centers around three great truths. The first, the divine Sonship of Christ; the second, that in this day the knowledge of Christ and his saving truths have been restored through the instrumentality of Joseph Smith; and the third, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the kingdom of God on earth, the organization through which salvation, hope, and peace are offered to all men.”
Bruce R. McConkie
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 39
“Before any person is prepared to join the Church, he must believe that Jesus Christ is literally the Son of God; that as such he worked out the infinite and eternal atonement whereby all men are raised in immortality, and those who believe and obey his laws gain the additional reward of eternal life; and that he has ordained and revealed a plan of salvation which enables men so to live as to gain peace here and the fulness of salvation hereafter.”
Bruce R. McConkie
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 39
“As one voice among thousands of others, I certify that I know by the promptings of the Spirit that the Book of Mormon is true. As a consequence I have in addition a personal knowledge, also born of the Spirit, of the divinity of Christ, of the divine mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and of all things incident to this great latter-day work which are essential for the salvation and exaltation of men.”
Bruce R. McConkie
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 40
“In the temple of the Lord a couple goes to be sealed or married for time and all eternity. Children born in that union will be the children of that father and mother not only in mortal life but in all eternity.”
Joseph Fielding Smith
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 49
“It is only because of transgression on the part of the wife or of the husband, or perhaps on the part of both, when a couple has been married in the temple of the Lord, and then separate. If they were true to their covenants, to the obligations that they have made to each other at the altar in the house of the Lord, they could not separate, and if they have children, they are not only committing a crime against themselves, but they are harming those children and robbing them of blessings that they were born entitled to receive.”
Joseph Fielding Smith
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 49
“The story of Christ’s work in ancient America is beautifully told in the Book of Mormon, and so that record proclaims the greatest event that ever occurred anciently on the Western Hemisphere.”
Milton R. Hunter
CR, Apr. 1961 pp. 53-54
“To become like God we must possess the powers of Godhood. For such preparation there are important covenants, obligations, and ordinances for mankind to receive beyond the requirement of baptism and the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost. Every person is to receive his or her endowments in the house of the Lord which permit them, if faithful and true, to pass by the angels who stand as sentinels guarding the way to eternal glory in the mansions of God”
Delbert L. Stapley
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 66
“The Father has promised his sons who receive the Holy Priesthood and faithfully abide by the conditions of its oath and covenant that they are to share in all that which the Father hath (D&C 84:33-38). The Father possesses kingdoms, thrones, principalities, powers, dominions, and exaltations.”
Delbert L. Stapley
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 67
“It is natural for a father to share his estate with his children. Our Heavenly Father is no exception.”
Delbert L. Stapley
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 67
“If somehow we could view with clarity the impressive picture of the life hereafter resulting from obeying every gospel principle and ordinance while here, perhaps we would plan our lives in mortality differently and see to it that all our daily actions are motivated by truth and righteousness and good works. Life then would have sincere purpose and would earn rewarding values for the soul.”
Delbert L. Stapley
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 67
“A most important quality in love is forgiveness. If we truly love our neighbor, we will always be willing and ready to forgive”
Eldred G. Smith
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 68
“How can we as mortals fully judge another? We do not know how much knowledge another has received, for he receives knowledge through the Spirit. We cannot measure that which another receives through the Spirit.”
Eldred G. Smith
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 68
“We must be willing to forgive and forget. Most of us have a natural ability to forget, especially the things we are supposed to remember. Most of us work diligently to increase our power to remember. However, in forgiving, we should increase or attempt to increase and work diligently to increase our power to forget.”
Eldred G. Smith
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 68
“When you have ill feelings toward anyone, you have an uneasiness in his presence. You will go out of your way to avoid him. You become to a degree, mentally ill. A contentious spirit prevails within you.”
Eldred G. Smith
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 69
“It is as beneficial to forgive as to be forgiven.”
Eldred G. Smith
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 69
“Forgiveness does not undo what has already been done. It enables us to accept what has been done and go on from there.”
Eldred G. Smith
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 69
“It is only through forgiveness of our mistakes that we gain the freedom to learn from experience, but forgiving [ourselves for] our shortcomings does not mean denying that they exist. On the contrary, it means facing them honestly, realistically. Forgiving brings a peace of mind, a pleasant assuredness, and freedom.”
Eldred G. Smith
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 69
“One who hates is his own tormentor. Unless you forgive, you cannot love. Without love, life has little or no meaning. Love thy neighbor as thyself, forgive and forget, let no ill feelings exist between you and any member of your family or a neighbor or friend or anyone, for we are all God’s children—sons and daughters of our Father in heaven and brothers and sisters in the spirit of our Savior Jesus Christ.”
Eldred G. Smith
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 69
“At least two civilizations have previously occupied the land of America. They became a great people, a truly great people, who, like the people of today, found favor with God, but it is sad to read that both of these civilizations brought destruction upon themselves through disobedience and iniquity—actually because they rebelled against God… So it is with us today. We, too, are well-taught, but many, too many of us, in the Church and out of the Church, are led away by crafty men whom the Adversary uses as tools, from the standards and the ideals the Lord has set for our happiness and our security. Will history repeat itself? Shall we in this beloved land again lose our freedom because of disobedience?”
ElRay L. Christiansen
CR, Apr. 1961 pp. 73-74
“This is indeed a day of testing, not only the testing of rockets and missiles, but also the testing of our allegiance to God, the testing of our beliefs in God.”
ElRay L. Christiansen
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 74
“Nothing ever does itself. Nothing ever memorizes itself. Nothing ever accomplishes itself—without the requisite effort. Carlyle said, “Men do less than they ought, unless they do all that they can.” It is not enough just to try; we have to succeed. The Lord expects us to see things through.”
Richard L. Evans
CR, Apr. 1961 pp. 75-76
“Be patient. There may be some seeming discrepancies. Do not worry about them. Eternity is a long time. I have a great respect for learning, for academic endeavor and the university atmosphere. I have spent many years of my life in one way or another going to or in being associated with some great institutions of learning. I have a great respect for science and scientists and for the search for truth. But remember this: science after all (even when it is true and final and factual) is simply man’s discovering of a few things that God already knows and controls in his ordering of the universe. We are, after all, a bit like Newton who said of himself that he was like a child handling a few pebbles on the shore while the great, limitless, eternal sea was before him. God has not told us all he knows. We believe in continuous revelation. Be patient. Keep humble and balanced in all things.”
Richard L. Evans
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 76
“Our lives are not our own. So much of others has gone into the making of all of us, into teaching, into training, into all that we have inherited, into all that God has given, and especially above all, the gospel. Earnestly we have an obligation to share it with others.”
Richard L. Evans
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 76
“Would you look wisely toward your choices in marriage and remember that there is nothing that a good marriage so much needs as it needs character and common convictions? Respect and character and common convictions will compensate for many other things; nothing else will compensate for these. Love will not last long without respect and character and common convictions. Remember this, and make no hasty or shortsighted decisions”
Richard L. Evans
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 76
“May I suggest that you go all the way with the gospel, keeping all the commandments, for they all came from the same source. I do not know who in mortality, among men, would have the wisdom to choose one commandment, or several, and set aside some others. This would be presuming to set our wisdom against that which God has given. Go with his way all the way.”
Richard L. Evans
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 76
“When we sing, “We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet,” my beloved friends, it is not just for a prophet of the past, but with a great gratitude in our hearts for the prophet of God that he has given us in this day.”
Richard L. Evans
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 77
“We realized it is not so important to know whether Mt. Hermon or Mt. Tabor was the transfiguration place but to know that on the summit of a high mountain was held a great conference of mortal and immortal beings where unspeakable things were said and authoritative keys were delivered and approval was given of the life and works of his only Begotten Son when the voice of the Father in the overshadowing cloud said: “This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 17:5)
Not so important to know upon which great stone the Master leaned in agonizing decision-prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane, as to know that he did in that area conclude to accept voluntarily crucifixion for our sakes. Not so needful to know on which hill his cross was planted nor in what tomb his body lay nor in which garden he met Mary, but that he did hang in voluntary physical and mental agony; that his lifeless, bloodless body did lie in the tomb into the third day as prophesied, and above all that he did emerge a resurrected perfected one—the first fruits of all men (1 Cor. 15:20) in resurrection and the author of the gospel which could give eternal life to obedient man.
Not so important to know where he was born and died and resurrected but to know for a certainty that the Eternal, Living Father came to approve his Son in his baptism and later in his ministry, that the Son of God broke the bands of death and established the exaltation, the way of life, and that we may grow like him in knowledge and perfected eternal life. And this I know, and give my solemn witness, in the name of Jesus Christ.”
Spencer W. Kimball
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 81
“I think many of us realize that we could do it, but we lack the desire. Let every man single out another, a friend. Let him get on his knees and pray to the Lord to help him bring that man into the Church. I am as satisfied as I am of anything that with that kind of prayerful, conscientious, directed effort, there isn’t a man in this Church who could not convert another.”
Gordon B. Hinckley
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 88
“Great and magnificent as is the work of the more than 15,000 missionaries who have been set apart, I am convinced that we have a far greater force for teaching the gospel to the world in the membership of the Church—”every man a missionary”—as has been said here so convincingly tonight. ‘Every man a missionary!’”
Gordon B. Hinckley
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 89
“Anyone can do this, whether you’re rich or poor, whether you’re bond or free. I think every member of the Church has the capacity to teach the gospel to nonmembers.”
Gordon B. Hinckley
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 89
“I have sometimes thought as I have heard some of the stories I have listened to that we almost had established an Iron Curtain in some areas. There can be no Iron Curtains in this Church. When the people are brought into the Church, we must receive them, and we must do more than merely shake hands with them and say, “How do you do.” We must make them a part of our organizations. They must fit into our program. We must assign them activities. They must learn early to help build the kingdom.”
Mark E. Petersen
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 91
“Some may ask the question as to how we convert others to the truth. The answer is, we do not. Conversion comes from above. Our part in this work is to plant the seeds of truth. These seeds are born of our conviction when we testify of the divine mission of Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God, who offered himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. We rely upon the gift and power of the Holy Ghost to carry our message into the hearts of our listeners and witness unto them the truthfulness of our stated conviction”
Henry D. Moyle
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 101
“At times when the wonderful representatives of the press, who have been such a help, have said, ‘Surely, you must hate these people who criticize you,’ I have usually replied, ‘I do not hate any living soul. I love all of our Father’s children. True, I love some more than others.’ But honestly, my brethren and sisters, I have had no feeling of bitterness or hatred in my heart, for which I am deeply grateful because I have prayed—we have prayed as a family—that we could avoid any spirit of hatred or bitterness. I love our Father’s children.”
Ezra Taft Benson
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 112
“The world needs, as it needs no other thing, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the people of the world want what the gospel will give, but they do not realize it. They want the anchor which the gospel provides, which gives them the answers to the problems that face them; that brings them a feeling of security and a feeling of inner peace. The gospel is the only answer to the problems of the world.”
Ezra Taft Benson
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 113
“The gospel is the only answer to the problems of the world, my brethren and sisters. We may cry peace. We may hold peace conferences. And I have nothing but commendation for those who work for peace. But it is my conviction that peace must come from within. It cannot be imposed by state mandate. It can come only by following the teachings and the example of the Prince of Peace.”
Ezra Taft Benson
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 113
“Latter-day Saints have or should have been taught to regard work as honorable and to dignify it by performing an honest day’s work for a fair day’s pay.”
Henry D. Taylor
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 124
“Then there are those who look forward with anticipation to age sixty-five as the time of retirement from all work and labor. Much to their sorrow, many discover that too much leisure time may create problems not anticipated and brings disillusionment and unhappiness. They learn the important truth that work is a great blessing and can result in joy and happiness to themselves and to mankind. They also discover that doing nothing is one of the hardest of all jobs. When you get tired, you can’t rest. You are in bondage when you refuse to work.”
Henry D. Taylor
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 124
“In our Church in this day and age, when education is becoming more and more popular and more and more necessary, there is grave danger of intellectual apostasy. …What causes intellectual apostasy? Why do some learned men and women turn from the faith? It is not learning, for there are hundreds of us, thousands of us, equally well-trained. It isn’t being exposed to different ideas, for we too were exposed to these ideas in the finest universities of the land. Why, then, do they lose their testimony? Principally out of vanity and pride.”
Theodore M. Burton
CR, Apr. 1961 pp. 128-129
“America seems to have forgotten that true religion is the very source of its freedom and strength.”
Mark E. Petersen
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 35
“Communism is rooted in the irreligious. It is anti-religion and anti-Christ. Do we want Communism in America? When nearly half of our population is irreligious are you not frightened by the fact that Communism is based upon a rejection of religion? Living the Gospel of Christ is our strongest antidote to Communism.”
Mark E. Petersen
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 135
“America may well remember that it is in Godless countries where people are slaves. It is in Godless countries where dictators reign, and where iron curtains shut out all freedom and opportunity for the average individual. In such countries worship of God is punished in many subtle ways because dictators know from past history that there is power and strength in religion, while it is their plan to keep their people weak and subdued.”
Mark E. Petersen
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 135
“Not one among us, if we gave it any thought, would purposely and with design nurture in the hearts of our children the seeds of failure and crime. Yet these seeds grow in a lack of faith in God, a rejection of church activity, a neglect of the simple habits which make parents and children a family, and which make a house a home.”
Mark E. Petersen
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 135
“We must learn to become better parents. We must build better homes. We can do this by showing our children the attention they deserve. We can provide them with the companionship they need, and set before them good examples in our own lives.”
Mark E. Petersen
CR, Apr. 1961 pp. 135-136
“Each child should have his own definite duties assigned to him, whether it be to help mother with the housework, or wash the car, or lend a hand with the yard work. Regularity of work responsibilities is vital to the development of children.”
Mark E. Petersen
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 136
“Let us be willing to face the fact that we really are the custodians and the guardians of our little ones, and that if we neglect that guardianship we do them irreparable harm.”
Mark E. Petersen
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 136
“We must not surrender our guardianship. Both the law of the land and the law of God make us the heads of our homes. Let us take the leadership there, assert our position and lead our children in love and kindness, but with firm and intelligent discipline, into the paths of right.”
Mark E. Petersen
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 136
“For the love of our children, for the sake of their future development, for their happiness and well being, let us restore family life and the true worship of God to our homes. Let us keep faith with our families. Their destiny is in our hands.”
Mark E. Petersen
CR, Apr. 1961 p. 136
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