Dallin H. Oaks Quotes

We are all preparing for things to come. That is the purpose of mortal life. … We are all children of a Heavenly Father who has sent us to earth with the invitation to prepare for eternal life. Every choice, every experience, every repentance and reformation prepares us for what is to come.

When we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we must have trust in him. We must trust him enough that we are content to accept his will, knowing that he knows what is best for us.

Though we disagree, we should not be disagreeable.

When I was 66, my wife June died of cancer. Two years later–a year and a half ago–I married Kristen McMain, the eternal companion who now stands at my side.

My experiences taught me firsthand that when a person is not performing well, there are many possible reasons, some not of his own choosing.

Adversities are temporary. What is permanent is what we become by the way we react to them.

We need to remember the purpose of our service to one another. If it were only to accomplish some part of His work, God could dispatch ‘legions of angels.’ . . . But that would not achieve the purpose of the service He has prescribed. We serve God and our fellowmen in order to become the kind of children who can return to live with our heavenly parents.

The most effective missionsries always act out of love

It is not enough that we are under call or even that we are going in the right direction. The timing must be right.

In the acquisition of Sacred knowledge, scholarship and reason are not alternatives to revelation. They are a means to an end, and the end is revelation from God.

The ultimate defining fact for all of us is that we are children of Heavenly Parents, born on this earth for a purpose, and born with a divine destiny.

We feel great compassion for parents whose love and protective instincts for their challenged children have moved them to some positions that are adversary to the Church. I hope the Lord will be merciful to parents whose love for their children has caused them to get into such traps.