Harold B. Lee

The most important of all the commandments of God is that one that you’re having the most difficulty keeping. Today is the day for you to work…until you’ve been able to conquer that weakness. Then you start on the next one that’s most difficult for you to keep.

Church News, May 5, 1973, p. 3

— Harold B. Lee

“During the Great Depression, Harold B. Lee, serving then as a stake president, was asked by the Brethren to find an answer to the oppressive poverty, sorrow, and hunger that were so widespread across the world at that time. He struggled to find a solution and took the matter to the Lord and asked, “What kind of an organization will we have … to do this?”…And “it was as though the Lord had said [to him]: ‘Look, son. You don’t need any other organization. I have given you the greatest organization there is on the face of the earth. Nothing is greater than the priesthood organization. All in the world you need to do is to put the priesthood to work. That’s all.’”

transcript of welfare agricultural meeting, Oct. 3, 1970, 20.

— Harold B. Lee

“Nothing is so much calculated to lead people to forsake sin as to take them by the hand and watch over them with tenderness.”

— Harold B. Lee

Mark well those who speak evil of the Lord’s anointed, for they speak from impure hearts. Only the “pure in heart” see the “God” or the divine in man and accept our leaders and accept them as prophets of the Living God. . . . I want to bear you my testimony that the experience I have had has taught me that those who criticize the leaders of this Church are showing signs of a spiritual sickness which, unless curbed, will bring about eventually spiritual death. I want to bear my testimony as well that those who in public seek by their criticism to belittle our leaders or bring them into disrepute, will bring upon themselves more hurt than upon those whom they seek thus to malign. I have watched over the years, and I have read of the history of many of those who fell away from this Church, and I want to bear testimony that no apostate who ever left this Church ever prospered as an influence in his community thereafter.

Conference Report, October 1947, p. 67

— Harold B. Lee

“There is an urgent need for leaders of the Church at all levels to spiritualize their leadership more so that our overarching purposes are not lost in the mechanics of meetings, organizations.”

— Harold B. Lee

“When your heart begins to tell you things that your mind does not, then you are getting the Spirit of the Lord.”

“When Your Heart Tells You Things Your Mind Does Not Know,” New Era, Feb. 1971, 3.

— Harold B. Lee

“If the time comes when you have done all that you can to repent of your sins, and have made amends and restitution to the best of your ability; if it be something that will affect your standing in the church and you have gone through the proper authorities, then you will want that confirming answer as to whether or not the Lord has accepted of you. In your soul searching, if you seek for and you find that peace of conscience, by that token you may know that the Lord has accepted your repentance.”

— Harold B. Lee

“The most important thing you can do is to learn to talk to God. Talk to Him as you would talk to your father, for He is your Father, and He wants you to talk to Him. He wants you to cultivate ears to listen, when He gives you the impressions of the Spirit to tell you what to do.”

“Pres. Lee Gives Solemn Witness,” Church News, 3 Mar. 1973, 3.

— Harold B. Lee

“When there come to you things that your mind does not know, when you have a sudden thought that comes to your mind, if you will learn to give heed to these things that come from the Lord, you will learn to walk by the spirit of revelation.”

In Conference Report of the First Mexico and Central America Area General Conference, 1972, 49.

— Harold B. Lee

Sunday is more than a day of rest from the ordinary occupations of the week. It is not to be considered as merely a day of lazy indolence and idleness or for physical pleasures and indulgences. It is a feastday for your spirit bodies. The place of spiritual feasting is in the house of worship. . . .You who make the violation of the Sabbath a habit, by your failure to “keep it holy,” are losing s soul full of joy in return for a thimble full of pleasure.

Teachings of the Presidents of the Church, Harold B. Lee, p. 178

— Harold B. Lee

“My boy, you must learn to walk to the edge of the light, and perhaps a few steps into the darkness, and you will find that the light will appear and move ahead of you.”

Counsel given by Elder Harold B. Lee to Boyd K. Packer, The Holy Temple, pp. 184-86

— Harold B. Lee

The Sabbath breaker shows early the signs of his weakening in the faith by neglecting his daily family prayers, by fault-finding, by failing to pay his tithes and his offerings; and such a one whose mind begins to be darkened because of spiritual starvation soon begins also to have doubts and fears that make him unfit for spiritual learning or advancement in righteousness. These are the signs of spiritual decay and spiritual sickness that may only be cured by proper spiritual feeding.

Teachings of the Presidents of the Church, Harold B. Lee, p. 179

— Harold B. Lee

Brethren, these are some of the writings with which you should concern yourselves, rather than commentaries that may come from those whose information may not be the most reliable and whose motives may be subject to question. And may I say, parenthetically, most of such writers are not handicapped by having any authentic information on their writings.

Conference Report, October 1972, p. 128

— Harold B. Lee

“Today we are being tested and tried by another kind of test that I might call the ‘test of gold’—the test of plenty, affluence, ease—more than perhaps the youth of any generation have passed through, at least in this Church.”

Sweet Are the Uses of Adversity …, Brigham Young University Speeches of the Year, Provo, 7 Feb. 1962, p. 3.

— Harold B. Lee

“Let me promise you here today that if the Latter-day Saints will honestly and conscientiously from this day forth, as a people, keep the monthly fast and pay into the hands of their bishops the actual amount that they would have spent for food for the two meals from which they have refrained . . . we would have all the money necessary to take care of all the idle and all the poor.”

Teachings of the Presidents of the Church, Harold B. Lee, p. 182

— Harold B. Lee

“Never must we allow supposed mercy to the unrepentant sinner to rob the justice by which the true repentance from sinful practices is predicated.”

Strengthening the Home, 1973, p. 5.

— Harold B. Lee

“I say to you Latter-day Saint mothers and fathers, if you will rise to the responsibility of teaching your children in the home—priesthood quorums preparing the fathers, the Relief Society the mothers—the day will soon be dawning when the whole world will come to our doors and will say, ‘Show us your way that we may walk in your path’”

The Teachings of Harold B. Lee

— Harold B. Lee