BYU Speeches
Chronological Bibliography

The promises of the Book of Mormon found in Alma and 2 Nephi are being fulfilled and the Lamanites are bearing witness of its truthfulness.

Discusses the establishment of Zion on the American Continent. The descendants of Joseph, through the lineage of Lehi, will be the builders of Zion with the assistance of the Gentiles. Several Book of Mormon scriptures show the role of the Lamanites in building Zion.

It is during our Abrahamic tests, our moments of excruciating trial, that we prove to ourselves how strong our conviction really is and receive our rewards.

An admonitional speech encouraging individuals to regard the Book of Mormon with resolution. The stories relating Alma’s encounter with Korihor and Alma’s parting words to his three sons are recalled. The Book of Mormon is vital to our spiritual condition.

The key to conversion and gaining a testimony of the mission and glory of Jesus Christ and the restoration of his gospel is found in the Book of Mormon.

If you desire to find the true spirit of Christmas and partake of the sweetness of it, let me make this suggestion to you. During the hurry of the festive occasion of this Christmas season, find time to turn your heart to God.

It is our obligation to go to work on our problems and then counsel with the Lord and get the ratifying seal of the Holy Spirit on the conclusions that we’ve reached; and that ratifying seal is the spirit of revelation.

The successful temple marriage begins when two people want God’s blessings in the way he has ordained. Then our Father in heaven can promise these two everything that he has and deliver it.

Thank the Lord for revelation to his servants today. Living prophets give counsel to a living church. If you will listen and heed the counsel, you will live and live eternally.

Good work habits are essential to success. This applies to everything we do—from earning a living to the work we do at home, at school, or in church.

If I can, I should like to challenge those who attend this institution to broaden their vision, rather than to limit it, so that there might be no lost horizons for any of the graduates of this great university.

You Latter-day Saints, the youth of the noble birthright, if you can say, as Martha said, “Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world”—if you can say that and know that he is in his heaven, and you believe that with all your soul, you will not be trapped in the pitfalls of life.

This nation has a spiritual foundation—a prophetic history.

The family is the tilt point for a vast number of souls who can go either way—to alienation and anger or to sweetness and service.

Today I should like to distill and discuss the essence of these experiences and entitle that essence “Four Lessons from One Life”—the life I have lived thus far.

I believe with all my heart, I believe as certainly as I stand here, that—if we can repent of our sins, if we can be charitable with the sins of others, if we can take courage toward our circumstances and want to do something about them—there is a power, a living Father of us all who will reach down and, in the scriptural term, “bear us as on eagles’ wings.”

The catalyst of prayer helped Jesus to cope with suffering, and by his suffering he emancipated all men from death and made possible eternal life. This cardinal fact about the central act of human history, the Atonement, ought to give us pause, therefore, as we face our challenges individually.

Perfection is a long, hard journey with many pitfalls. It’s not attainable overnight. Eternal vigilance is the price of victory. Eternal vigilance is required in the subduing of enemies and in becoming the master of oneself. It cannot be accomplished in little spurts and disconnected efforts. There must be constant and valiant, purposeful living—righteous living. The glory of the Lord can be had only through correct and worthy marriage and living a clean, worthy life.

We Latter-day Saints must realize that the restoration of the gospel was a mighty drama, the first steps having been taken long before Joseph Smith. If God was going to restore the gospel in the last days, where would it take place and under what conditions?

My dear young friends, don’t partake of the spirit of our times. Look for the good and build on it. Don’t be a “pickle sucker.” There is so much of the sweet and the decent and the good to build on.

Joseph’s well-adjusted nature was infectious. Those brought up in the strict, long-faced, pious tradition soon found themselves liberated so they could fulfill their foreordained roles of being leaders of the Saints.

“Look to tomorrow with happy expectancy, realizing that with God’s help you can do all things.”

Every ordinance in the gospel is a channel of power to us if, as we function in those ordinances, we develop in an ever-increasing way a personal relationship with the Lord.

The Prophet Joseph Smith taught us how to serve the Lord as the Lord would have us serve him. In fact, he said if we aren’t drawing near the Lord in principle, we are going from him and drawing towards the devil.

As previous First Presidencies have said, and we say again to you, we expect (we do not simply hope) that Brigham Young University will “become a leader among the great universities of the world.” To that expectation I would add, “Become a unique university in all of the world.”

Thus, there are certain mortal moments and minutes that matter—certain hinge points in the history of each human. Some seconds are so decisive they shrink the soul, while other seconds are spent so as to stretch the soul.

“I presume if there were no repentance there would be no revelation received.”

“Indeed there is a connection between freedom of the press and freedom of religion. For the sake of everything we hold dear in this country, may we keep both of these institutions free.”

Go to, then, you who are gifted; cultivate your gift. Develop it in any of the arts and in every worthy example of them.

“It is my prayer that each of us will accept the goal that our Heavenly Father has set as our guiding and overall goal—immortality and eternal life with him.”

“America is the great ongoing dream of democracy. America deserves the commitment of our lives to maintain this dream.”

“Let us all show justice, kindness, and charity toward our fellowmen. Let us demonstrate the love and reverence we should exhibit toward our Almighty God.”

“The Lord wants and needs all of you to be strong, to be believers, to be an example of goodness to all the world.”

“As we develop our talents, we should develop the spirit of sharing or giving—not only with those who are closest to us, but also with all of God’s children.”

“With the charge divinely given, with blessings divinely promised, we shall go forward, my brethren and sisters, and the Lord will open the way before us.”

“The ultimate in maturity is being able to feel and express appreciation, being fully aware of value and importance, and showing gratitude for it.”

In God’s economy, America is now and has always been a choice and favored land. God has decreed for her a final, great, and glorious destiny.

“May you seek after happiness by following the Lord.”

“Act the role of the Latter-day Saint, be that noble bearer of the priesthood, and do all that’s necessary in order to measure up to your Father in heaven’s expectations.”

“We must fight the good fight. We must finish our course. We must keep the faith.”

“The gospel is true in that it will yield to us from those principles, according to the way we think and act and feel, those things which have been promised to us.”

“I believe, as you study the scriptures, you’ll come to really know, not of the Savior, but really know him.”

Repentance means that we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that we forsake our sins, that we come into the church and kingdom of God on earth and receive the Holy Ghost.

If two people love the Lord more than their own lives and then love each other more than their own lives, working together in total harmony with the gospel program as their basic structure they are sure to have this great happiness.

“We all count. Everyone matters. We have a name and it’s recorded and we need to remember that here. No one must get lost.”

Few men have been privileged to see God the Father and Christ while in mortal life as did the Prophet Joseph Smith. Few have been so honored with the many manifestations as he was.

Generally speaking, the most miserable people I know are those obsessed with themselves; the happiest people I know are those who lose themselves in the service of others.

The celestial kingdom, residence of God, our Eternal Father, is comprised of men and women who have complied with divine law and who were not deceived by the craftiness of men or the doctrines of devils.

God’s existence is a reality. Immortality is a reality. These realities will not go away simply because we have different opinions about them. These realities will not be dissolved just because some have doubts about them.