David O. McKay Quotes

President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1873-1970)

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David Oman McKay (September 8, 1873 – January 18, 1970) was an American religious leader and educator who served as the ninth president of w:the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1951 until his death in 1970. Ordained an apostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1906, McKay was an active general authority for nearly 64 years, longer than anyone else in LDS Church history.

Bio from: Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Birth Name: David Oman MacKay

Alternative Names: David Oman McKay • President David O. McKay • Elder David O. McKay

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Let sincere men and women the world over unite in earnest effort to supplant feelings of selfishness, hatred, animosity, greed, by the law of service to others, and thereby promote the peace and happiness of mankind.

In choosing a companion, it is necessary to study the disposition, the inheritance, and training of the one with whom you are contemplating making life’s journey.

Let us realize that: the privilege to work is a gift, the power to work is a blessing, the love of work is success!

The purpose of the gospel is to make bad men good and good men better, and to change human nature.

"No thing worth while is obtained in this life without sacrificing, without putting forth effort. The evil one thrusts things upon us but God asks us to reach out and get that which he offers. "Teach self-denial," says Walter Scott, "and make it pleasurable, and you create for the world a destiny more sublime than ever issued from the brain of the wildest dreamer.

Generally there is in man a divinity which strives to push him onward and upward. We believe that this power within him is the spirit that comes from God. Man lived before he came to this earth, and he is here now to strive to perfect the spirit within. At sometime in his life, every man is conscious of a desire to come in touch with the Infinite. His spirit reaches out for God. This sense of feeling is universal, and all men ought to be, in deepest truth, engaged in the same great work — the search for and the development of spiritual peace and freedom.

Next to life we express gratitude for the gift of free agency. When thou didst create man, thou placed within him part of thine omnipotence and bade him choose for himself. Liberty and conscience thus became a sacred part of human nature. Freedom not only to think, but to speak and act is a God-given privilege.

The purpose of the church is to make bad men good and good men better.

Next to be in one with worshiping God, there is nothing in this world upon which this church should be more united than in upholding and defending the constitution of the United States.

Wisdom is the right application of knowledge; and true education...is the application of knowledge to the development of a noble and Godlike character.

An essential virtue is humility. … The principle of humility and prayer leads one to feel a need of divine guidance. Self-reliance is a virtue, but with it should go a consciousness of the need of superior help — a consciousness that as you walk firmly in the pathway of duty, there is a possibility of your making a misstep; and with that consciousness is a prayer, a pleading that God will inspire you to avoid that false step

Freedom of choice is more to be treasured than any possession earth can give.

You cannot think of any greater gift that could come to a man or woman than the freedom of choice.

Music is truly the universal language, and when it is excellently expressed how deeply it moves our souls

"Appreciation is a great virtue, and if husbands and wives expressed it more frequently in our homes, wives would be happier, and husbands would probably be more kind" (Gospel Ideals, p. 475).