Say It Again 1,500 Times: Favorite Thoughts and Words of Wisdom

America.

PREFACE

Ihad a dream when I was about eight years old. I wrote it down. The dream and the writing were lost a long time ago, but the magic of writing it down remained. Since then, I have written letters, stories, poems, songs, and sayings.

Writing has strengthened my life, dragged me from doldrums, enhanced my imaginings, and created other worlds.

This small book is a portion of the sayings saved since I was eight. I hope you enjoy my accumulation. Maybe what is written here will stir some sleeping symbol within your own life.

A good listener is not only popular everywhere but after while, he knows something.

The average man's idea of a good sermon is one that goes over his head and hits his neighbor.

I have wept in the night

For the shortness of sight

To somebody's need I was blind;

But I never have yet

Felt a tinge of regret

For being a little too kind

And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire, a still small voice.

1 Kings 19:11-12

Abide With me fast falls the eventide,

The darkness deepens. Lord with me abide,

When other helpers fail and comforts flee,

Help of the helpless, abide with me.

Swift to it's close ebbs life's little day,

Earth's joys grow dim, it's glories pass away,

Change and decay, in all around I see,

O thou who changest not, abide with me.

I need thy presence every passing hour,

What but thy grace can foil the tempters power?

Who, like thyself, my guide and stay can be?

Thru cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

Words: Henry F. Lyte, Music: William H. Monk

Luke 24:29 John 15:4-12

Man's ability is measured by what he finishes, not by what he starts.

If absence makes the heart grow fonder, a lot of people ought to love their church more than they do.

Blessed is the man, who having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact.

G. Elliot

There are many things in life beyond the present power of anyone to alter or to answer or to understand. And what we cannot understand, we shall have to accept on faith—until we do understand. In any case, rebellion isn't the answer, but neither is hopeless resignation. Resignation may retreat too far. But somewhere between bitter rebellion and beaten resignation there is an effective fighting ground where a man can make the most of whatever is; where he can still face each day and do with it whatever can be done. And when life rides roughly over our best laid plans, the way to personal peace, to faith and effectiveness, to accomplishment and reconciliation, is to change what should be changed, if we can, and to make the most of whatever is, when we can't, for the moment change the facts we face.

Richard L. Evans

Our accountability begins with how we handle the evil thought immediately after it is presented. Like Jesus, we should positively and promptly terminate the temptation. We should not allow the devil to elaborate with all his insidious reasoning.

Even the band must face the music.

The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are; first, hard work; second, perseverance, and third, common sense.

Thomas A. Edison

A wedding is an event; but a marriage is an achievement.

Every right action and true thought sets the seal of its beauty on the person and his face.

People judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold, but so does a hard boiled egg.

Activity and sadness are eternal opposites.

Become aware of your situation, then you must become thoroughly fed up with your situation—hit rock bottom—the only way to go is up. However, most people stop there. They don't realize they can go up. They may be aware of their conditions and claim they would like to get out of it, but they aren't willing to make the right efforts. This is the old ‘ace up the sleeve’ phenomenon and is simply a state of self-deception. When it comes right down to it, most people are so completely addicted to their customary way of life and thinking that the thought of withdrawal (just like a junkie) alone is overwhelming. To be too quick to adjust to the ways of this world is to be maladjusted for the next.

Neal A. Maxwell

Adolescence is like a house on moving day—a temporary mess.

We are subtly changing the very goals of adult behavior. Relax has replaced try. Spend has replaced save. Be happy has replaced achieve something.

Within adversity is an equal or greater blessing.

Adversity doesn't build character, it merely reveals it.

The valiant adversity is a stepping stone to increased power.

He who knows his own strength has not met adversity.

Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many, not your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.     

Charles Dickens

We give advice by the bucket but take it by the grain.

William Alger

He asks for advice in vain who will not follow it.

I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.       

Harry S. Truman

Talk not of wasted affection. Affection was never wasted.

Henry Wadsworth

The purest affection the heart can hold is the honest love of a nine year old.

Let us so live that we will not be afraid to die and when we die, we are not afraid to live again.

It is not that I am afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens.

Age is a high price to pay for maturity.

Too much agreement kills a chat.

An aim in life is the only fortune worth finding.

A person who aims at nothing has a target he can't miss.

I ain't what I ought to be. I ain't what I am going to be; but at least I ain't what I was.

Science, after all (even though it is true and final and factual) is simply man's discovery of the things that God already knows, and controls, in his ordering of the universe.

O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it.

2 Nephi 9: 20

Even if life were a bed of roses, some people wouldn't be happy until they developed an allergy.

God will be as near to you as your life allows him to be.

Be able to be alone, lose not the advantage of solitude.

Sir Thomas Browne

Actually, our failure in every field is based on lack of effort, ambition, determination; a fighting heart and other characteristics of a good soldier.

It's so nice to have ‘Amen’ around the house.

Anyone can become angry. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way; That is not easy.       

Aristotle

Anger is not only inevitable, it is necessary. Its absence means indifference, the most disastrous of all human feelings.

The wind of anger blows out the lamp of intelligence.

Too much anti-heroism is a heroic support of the villainous.

Sarkis Atamian

I have a very strong feeling the opposite of love is not hate but apathy.

Don't apologize, your friends don't need it and your enemies won't believe you.

Now, there are certain things that we cannot do and remain faithful to the work of God. The first and foremost among these is speaking evil against others. It is one of the surest signs of apostasy. You may think that you have cause for this; you may see things in men and women that may appear to you wrong and to justify you in indulging in criticism and censoring remarks, and perhaps you may even feel justified in uttering words of condemnation; but let me say to you, that this cannot be done by any man or woman in this Church, great or small, without incurring the displeasure of the Almighty and without grieving the Spirit of God. Do not speak evil against your brothers and sisters; do not backbite them and seek to lessen their influence. Now, to all you mothers who are here today, as one who has an apostolic calling, I don't think I have ever done this before in a stake conference, but I feel to bless you as though my hands were on the head of every single mother here. I call down, out of heaven, blessings upon you. In your home, sweetness, so your children will be obedient and those who wander may find their way back home. I bless you that your husbands will be kind and thoughtful. I bless those with emotional and debilitating sicknesses, and diseases, and illnesses that nobody knows about. I call down blessings out of heaven upon you. I bless you as if my hands were upon your head, with every blessing, even for the silent quiet needs you have. God bless you, on this Mothers day, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

James E. Faust

Satisfying the appetite brings to end the pleasure of eating; and where food is partaken of chiefly to gratify the pleasure derived from eating, disease is engendered, and true misery springs out of unwise gratification.

Brigham Young

You cannot inherit eternal life, unless your appetites are brought in subjection to the spirit that lives within you, that spirit which our Heavenly Father gave.

Brigham Young

You can count the seeds in an apple but who can count the apples in a seed?

A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.

Mark Twain

When you argue with a fool, be sure he isn't similarly engaged.

The most important thing in an argument, next to being right, is to leave an escape hatch for your opponent, so that he can gracefully swing over to your side without too much apparent loss of face.

S. J. Harris

Articles of Faith

1: We believe in God the Eternal Father and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost

2: We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.

3: We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

4: We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are; first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

5: We believe that a man bust be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands, by those who are in authority to preach the gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.

6: We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church viz. Apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.

7: We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretations of tongues, and so forth.

8: We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. 9: We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

10: We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the ten tribes; that Zion (The New Jerusalem) will be built upon this the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and that the earth will be renewed and receive it paradisiacal glory.

11: We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men to same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

12: We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and