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Gordon B. Hinckley

Portrait of Gordon B. Hinckley
Portrait: Wikimedia Commons, public domain

AUTHOR PROFILE

Gordon B. Hinckley

Gordon B. Hinckley served as the fifteenth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1995 to 2008. His ministry stretched from the rise of worldwide television news to an era when more Saints than ever lived far from a temple. He is remembered for bringing temple worship closer to families, speaking openly about faith, and encouraging members to care for one another.

FEATURED QUOTE
“Generally speaking, the most miserable people I know are those who are obsessed with themselves; the happiest people I know are those who lose themselves in the service of others…By and large, I have come to see that if we complain about life, it is because we are thinking only of ourselves.”
— Gordon B. Hinckley

Biography at a glance

  • Born: June 23, 1910, in Salt Lake City, Utah
  • Church service: Apostle beginning in 1961; President of the Church from 1995 to 2008
  • Family: Married Marjorie Pay in the Salt Lake Temple in 1937
  • Major emphases: Temples, missionary work, education, and strengthening faith at home

From missionary service to Church leadership

After studying English and journalism at the University of Utah, Hinckley served a mission in Great Britain. He returned to Church employment in 1935, helping with its radio, publicity, and missionary literature work. Those early assignments put communication at the center of his service. He was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1961 and later served in the First Presidency before becoming Church president in March 1995. The Church’s timeline of his life traces these assignments and their dates.

Making temple blessings more accessible

Temple building became a defining part of President Hinckley’s administration. Smaller temples helped make ordinances available to members who had previously faced long and costly journeys. The Church’s history overview describes that effort and the wider growth of the Church during his presidency. He also directed the creation of the Perpetual Education Fund to support young adults seeking education in places where opportunity was limited.

Faith and family

President Hinckley often connected broad Church growth with everyday discipleship. His counsel addressed parents, young adults, converts, and neighbors of other faiths. In 1995 he presented The Family: A Proclamation to the World at a general Relief Society meeting. LDS Flow has a separate account of the proclamation and its place in his legacy.

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Quotes by Gordon B. Hinckley

144 quotes

“One of my favorite newspaper columnists is Jenkin Lloyd Jones. In a recent article published in the News, he commented: ‘There seems to be a superstition among many thousands of our young who hold hands and smooch in the drive-ins that marriage is a cottage surrounded by perpetual hollyhocks, to which a perpetually young and handsome husband comes home to a perpetually young and ravishing wife. When the hollyhocks wither and boredom and bills appear, the divorce courts are jammed. Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he’s been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just ordinary people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. …Life is like an old-time rail journey — delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.’”

God Shall Give unto You Knowledge by His Holy Spirit

— Gordon B. Hinckley

“One of the grand errors we tend to make when we are young is supposing that a person is a bundle of qualities, and we add up the individual’s good and bad qualities, like a bookkeeper working on debits and credits. If the balance is favorable, we may decide to take the jump (into marriage). … The world is full of unhappy men and women who married because … it seemed to be a good investment. Love, however, is not an investment; it is an adventure. And when marriage turns out to be as dull and comfortable as a sound investment, the disgruntled party soon turns elsewhere. …Ignorant people are always saying, ‘I wonder what he sees in her [or him],’ not realizing that what he [or she] sees in her [or him] (and what no one else can see) is the secret essence of love.”

"And the Greatest of These Is Love"

— Gordon B. Hinckley

“Love is the very essence of life. It is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Yet it is not found only at the end of the rainbow. Love is at the beginning also, and from it springs the beauty that arched across the sky on a stormy day. Love is the security for which children weep, the yearning of youth, the adhesive that binds marriage, and the lubricant that prevents devastating friction in the home; it is the peace of old age, the sunlight of hope shining through death. How rich are those who enjoy it in their associations with family, friends, and neighbors! Love, like faith, is a gift of God. It is also the most enduring and most powerful virtue.”

Standing for Something: Ten Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes

— Gordon B. Hinckley

As I look to the future, I see little to feel enthusiastic about concerning the family in America and across the world. Drugs and alcohol are taking a terrible toll, which is not likely to decrease. Harsh language, one to another, indifference to the needs of one another—all seem to be increasing. There is so much of child abuse. There is so much of spouse abuse. There is growing abuse of the elderly. All of this will happen and get worse unless there is an underlying acknowledgment, yes, a strong and fervent conviction, concerning the fact that the family is an instrument of the Almighty. It is His creation. It is also the basic unit of society.

Look to the Future

— Gordon B. Hinckley

“These are the most reassuring words in all of human history [referencing (Matt. 28:1–2, 5–6)]. Death—universal and final—had now been conquered. Never had this occurred before. There had been only death without hope. Now there was life eternal. Only a God could have done this. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ was the great crowning event of His life and mission. It was the capstone of the Atonement. The sacrifice of His life for all mankind was not complete without His coming forth from the grave, with the certainty of the Resurrection for all who have walked the earth.”

“This Glorious Easter Morn”

— Gordon B. Hinckley

“It is so important that you young men and you young women get all of the education that you can. The Lord has said very plainly that His people are to gain knowledge of countries and kingdoms and of things of the world through the process of education, even by study and by faith. Education is the key which will unlock the door of opportunity for you. It is worth sacrificing for. It is worth working at, and if you educate your mind and your hands, you will be able to make a great contribution to the society of which you are a part, and you will be able to reflect honorably on the Church of which you are a member. My dear young brothers and sisters, take advantage of every educational opportunity that you can possibly afford, and you fathers and mothers, encourage your sons and daughters to gain an education, which will bless their lives.”

— Gordon B. Hinckley

Now, do not get me wrong. I am not here to say that if you pay an honest tithing you will realize your dream of a fine house, a Rolls Royce, and a condominium in Hawaii. The Lord will open the windows of heaven according to our need, and not according to our greed. If we are paying tithing to get rich, we are doing it for the wrong reason. The basic purpose for tithing is to provide the Church with the means needed to carry on His work. The blessing to the giver is an ancillary return, and that blessing may not be always in the form of financial or material benefit.

Tithing:An Opportunity to Prove Our Faithfulness

— Gordon B. Hinckley

The Sabbath of the Lord is becoming the play day of the people. It is a day of golf and football on television, of buying and selling in our stores and markets. Are we moving to mainstream America as some observers believe? In this I fear we are. What a telling thing it is to see the parking lots of the markets filled on Sunday in communities that are predominately LDS. Our strength for the future, our resolution to grow the Church across the world, will be weakened if we violate the will of the Lord in this important matter. He has so very clearly spoken anciently and again in modern revelation. We cannot disregard with impunity that which He has said.

Look to the Future

— Gordon B. Hinckley

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