More Quotes from
Church Leaders
Womanhood
"My young sisters, we have such hope for you.
We have such great expectations for you. Don't settle for less than
what the Lord wants you to be....
"Give me a young woman who loves home
and family, who reads and ponders the scriptures daily, who has a burning
testimony of the Book of Mormon.... Give me a young woman who is virtuous
and who has maintained her personal purity, who will not settle for less
than a temple marriage, and I will give you a young woman who will perform
miracles for the Lord now and throughout eternity."
-President Ezra Taft Benson
“Anyone who would say apologetically,
‘I am only a homemaker,’ has not fully appreciated the importance and intricacy
of her profession. Some of the attributes required to be successful
are an unlimited amount of love and patience, unselfishness, and endurance.
“A woman should be skilled in child training,
in psychology and sociology, in economics and management, in nutrition
and nursing.”
-Camilla Kimball
"I tell young women... that they should
do all in their power to make themselves attractive physically in dress
and grooming, mentally in being knowledgeable on many subjects, spiritually
in being responsive, emotionally in being genuine and worthy."
-Spencer W. Kimball
"No matter what you read or
hear, no matter what the differences of circumstances you observe in the
lives of women about you, it is important for you Latter-day Saint women
to understand that the Lord holds motherhood and mothers sacred and in
the highest esteem. He has entrusted to his daughters the great responsibility
of bearing and nurturing children.
"This is the great, irreplaceable work
of women. Life cannot go on if women cease to bear children. Mortal life
is a privilege and a necessary step in eternal progression. Mother Eve
understood that. You must also understand it....
"Much is said about the drudgery and the
confinement of the woman's role in the home. In the perspective of the
gospel it is not so. There is divinity in each new life. There is challenge
in creating the environment in which a child can grow and develop. There
is partnership between the man and woman in building a family which can
last throughout the eternities"
Spencer W. Kimball
"To mothers, daughters, and women everywhere,
let me stress the fact that because of your great potential and influence
for good in the lives of all of us, Satan is determined to destroy you.
You cannot compromise with him. You must have the courage, the strength,
the desire, and the determination to live as the Lord would have you live
– good clean lives. Girls, keep yourselves virtuous and worthy of a fine
young man who has likewise kept himself clean, so that together you can
go to the House of the Lord to be sealed in the holy bonds of matrimony
for time and all eternity, and prepare a home where God will be pleased
to send his spirit children."
N. Eldon Tanner
"It is time to give ourselves to the Master
and allow him to lead us into fruitful fields where we can enrich a world
filled with darkness and misery."
Mary Ellen Smoot
…
A woman led by the Lord knows where to turn for answers and for peace.
She can make difficult decisions and face problems with confidence because
she takes her counsel from the Spirit.
Sheri
L. Dew
"Sisters,
you were not born at this time and place by chance. You are here because
this is where the Lord wants you to be....
"... Strong women
are needed, women who will stay morally clean when all about them do not,
women who will establish homes that are a little bit of heaven and where
the family is upheld and little children are cared for and given love and
attention by their own mothers, women who will shun pornography – not just
older women, but young women too, who will seek personal and social refinement,
who will strive to become more cultured, who will respect the authority
of the home and the priesthood. As the Church grows, there will be a need
for more women who are leaders, for more women everywhere who have the
courage to proclaim their testimony of Jesus Christ, women who will pray
and study to find out what the Lord requires of them and who will then
make right choices and put themselves in the hands of the Lord."
Betty E. Brown
My dear
sisters, I wish to tell you at the outset how much we appreciate the women
of this church. You are an essential part of it, a most important part
of it. It could not function properly without you.
You provide inspiration.
You provide balance. You constitute a vast reservoir of faith and good
works. You are an anchor of devotion and loyalty and accomplishment. No
one can gainsay the great part you play in the onward rolling of this work
across the earth. You teach in the organizations and do it so very well.
Your preparation is an example to all of us. Each of you is a part of this
vast enterprise, the Relief Society, a great family of sisters, more than
four million strong. In your worldwide membership lies the power to accomplish
incalculable good.
You are the keeper
of the homes. You give encouragement to your husbands. You teach and nurture
your children in Faith. For some of you life is difficult and even bitter.
But you complain so very little and do so very much. How deeply indebted
we are to you!
Speaking of the Relief
Society, President Joseph F. Smith said on one occasion: "This Organization
is divinely made, divinely ordained of God to minister for the salvation
of the souls of women and of men. Therefore there is not any organization
that can compare with it... that can ever occupy the same stand and platform
that this can... "Make Relief Society first, make it foremost, make it
the highest, the best and the deepest of any organization in existence
in the world. You are called by the voice of the Prophet of God to do it,
to be uppermost, to be the greatest and the best, the purest and the most
devoted to the right."
Gordon B. Hinckley
There is indeed
no privileged class or sex within the true Church of Christ; and in reality
there can be no discrimination between the sexes only as human beings make
it or permit it. Men have their work to do and their powers to exercise
for the benefit of all the members of the Church regardless of sex or age.
"So with woman: Her special gifts are to be exercised for the benefit and
uplift of the race. This equally shared responsibility makes men and women
real 'team-mates' in that which makes for human progress. Each one is a
complement to the other and neither sex alone may function completely in
the world's work.
John A. Widtsoe
Never in history
have women enjoyed the freedom of thought and action accorded the women
of this Church. From the day of its restoration women have been accorded
their full religious franchise, and in the temples of the restored Gospel
a man may not partake of the highest ordinances without his wife by his
side. In all life pursuits she is given her entire independence.
This gives to woman
a mighty responsibility which, if she honors and uses, will be increased
in power upon her; but if she ignores it or treats it lightly or fails
to magnify it, she may lose that which she now possesses and thereby forfeit
her birthright. For this great privilege women of this Church should be
eternally grateful and willing to use and cherish this precious and
priceless relationship. Where much is given, much is expected.
Leah D. Widtsoe
To help another
human being reach one's celestial potential is part of the divine mission
of woman. As mother, teacher, or nurturing Saint, she molds living clay
to the shape of her hopes. In partnership with God, her divine mission
is to help spirits live and souls be lifted. This is the measure of her
creation. It is ennobling, edifying, and exalting.
Russell M.
Nelson
It is according
to our natures, Sisters, to have feelings of charity and benevolence. It
isn’t always easy to put these feelings into action. But as women, we should
pray for charitable desires and opportunities and then work to foster these
godlike attributes.
Barbara W.
Winder
Selflessness is a key to happiness and
effectiveness; it is precious and must be preserved as a virtue which guarantees
so many other virtues. There are so many things in the world which reinforce
our natural selfishness, and neither our men nor women should be partakers
thereof. We have grown strong as a people because our women have been so
selfless. That ennobling quality must not be lost, even though some of
the people of the world may try to persuade otherwise.
Spencer W. Kimball