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Clayton M. Christensen

AUTHOR PROFILE

Clayton M. Christensen

Clayton M. Christensen is described in biographical records as an American academic and business consultant (1952–2020) (1952–2020). The selections gathered here touch on discipleship, obedience, home teaching. This profile brings the attributed quotations together with their available source information.

FEATURED QUOTE
“It’s easier to hold your principles 100 percent of the time than it is to hold them 98 percent of the time.”
— Clayton M. Christensen

Biography at a glance

  • Profile: American academic and business consultant (1952–2020)
  • Life: 1952–2020
  • Quotes in this collection: 6

Life and work

Biographical records connect Clayton M. Christensen with Brigham Young University and Harvard Business School. This collection includes 6 quotations credited to Clayton M. Christensen. Each quotation page preserves its own citation, when supplied, so readers can follow the passage back to its stated context.

Reading the quotations

The selections gathered here touch on discipleship, obedience, home teaching. These topic links make it easier to compare these words with other voices in the LDS Flow library. Citations are shown on the individual quotation pages where the source collection provided them.

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Sources and further reading

Quotes by Clayton M. Christensen

6 quotes

“As I looked at the extent to which I wanted to be involved in church, I realized that I didn’t know the Book of Mormon was true. I had read it several times but usually as an assignment—from my parents or a Brigham Young University instructor. But this time I desperately needed to know if the Book of Mormon was true. So I decided that I would commit every evening from 11:00 to 12:00 to reading the Book of Mormon to find out if it was true. I wondered if I dared spend that much time because I was in a very demanding academic program, studying applied econometrics. I was going to try to finish the program in two years, whereas most people in the program finished it in three. I didn’t know if I could afford allocating an hour a day to this effort. But nonetheless I did. I began at 11:00 by kneeling in prayer near a little heater in the stone wall, and I prayed out loud. I told God how desperate I was to find out if the Book of Mormon was true. I told Him that if He would reveal to me that it was true, I then intended to dedicate my life to building His kingdom. I told Him that if it wasn’t true, I needed to know that for certain too because then I would dedicate my life to finding out what was true. I read the first page of the Book of Mormon. When I got down to the bottom of the page, I stopped. I thought about what I had read on that page, and I asked myself, “Could this have been written by a charlatan who was trying to deceive people, or was this really written by a prophet of God? And what did it mean for me in my life?” Then I put the book down and knelt in prayer and asked God again, “Please tell me if this is a true book.” Then I sat in the chair, picked up the book, turned the page, read it, paused at the bottom, and did the same thing. I did this for an hour every night, night after night, in that cold, damp room at Oxford. One evening, by the time I got to the chapters at the end of 2 Nephi, I said my prayer, sat in my chair, and opened the book. All of a sudden there came into that room a beautiful, warm, loving Spirit that surrounded me and permeated my soul, enveloping me in a feeling of love that I had not imagined I could feel. I began to cry. As I looked through my tears at the words in the Book of Mormon, I could see truth in those words that I never imagined I could comprehend before. I could see the glories of eternity, and I could see what God had in store for me as one of His sons. That Spirit stayed with me the whole hour and every other evening as I prayed and read the Book of Mormon in my room. That same Spirit would always return, and it changed my heart and my life forever.”

"The Most Useful Piece of Knowledge"

— Clayton M. Christensen

“I thought to myself, is there any way that I could transform the calling of sacrament bread coordinator into a missionary calling? After a few minutes of thinking, I said to myself, ‘I hate to bake bread, right? Maybe I could make a list of women who are not active or not yet members of the church, who like to cook. I can tell them, I have this calling in the church, and I want to put my whole heart and soul into it. I don’t just want to bring bread. I want to make it myself. Could you teach me?”

The Power of Everyday Missionaries

— Clayton M. Christensen

“My purpose in writing this book is simply to offer my witness that being a member missionary can be a source of deep happiness. It need not be hard. You will pull wonderful friends into your life because they will be able to feel your love for them when you invite them to learn more about their Heavenly Father. And every time you take someone figuratively by the hand and introduce him or her to Jesus Christ, you will feel how deeply our Savior loves you and loves the person whose hand is in yours.”

The Power of Everyday Missionaries

— Clayton M. Christensen

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