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Thomas S. Monson

Portrait of Thomas S. Monson
Portrait: Wikimedia Commons, public domain

AUTHOR PROFILE

Thomas S. Monson

Thomas S. Monson served as the sixteenth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 2008 to 2018. His counsel often moved from a broad principle to a particular person in need, reflecting decades of Church service that began while he was a young bishop. The quotes below are best read with their original talks and stories in view.

FEATURED QUOTE
“Your Heavenly Father loves you—each of you. That love never changes. It is not influenced by your appearance, by your possessions, or by the amount of money you have in your bank account. It is not changed by your talents and abilities. It is simply there. It is there for you when you are sad or happy, discouraged or hopeful. God’s love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve love. It is simply always there.”
— Thomas S. Monson

Biography at a glance

  • Born: August 21, 1927, in Salt Lake City, Utah
  • Died: January 2, 2018
  • Family: Married Frances Beverly Johnson in 1948
  • Church service: Apostle from 1963; counselor in the First Presidency from 1985; President of the Church from 2008
  • Recurring themes: Personal service, missionary work, and care for people who might otherwise be overlooked

Learning to serve one person at a time

Monson grew up in Salt Lake City, served in the United States Naval Reserve, and studied marketing. In his early twenties he was called as a bishop over a large ward that included many people living in difficult circumstances. His visits to widows became a lasting part of the way he understood ministry. The Church’s history overview follows those formative years and the later pattern of personal service in his leadership.

International ministry and Church leadership

Called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles at age 36, Monson traveled widely as the Church grew beyond its western United States roots. His assignments included work with Saints in the German Democratic Republic during the Cold War and a major effort to improve the Church’s editions of scripture. He later served as a counselor to three Church presidents before becoming president himself in February 2008.

Presidency and legacy

During Monson’s presidency, temple building and missionary work continued to expand. In 2012 he announced a lower minimum age for full-time missionary service, a change that reshaped many young members’ plans. LDS Flow’s look at missionary numbers places the resulting surge in a longer trend. Monson died in 2018, leaving a record of talks and stories that repeatedly ask readers to notice and help the person in front of them.

Related LDS Flow reading

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Sources and further reading

Quotes by Thomas S. Monson

80 quotes

“Courage is required to make an initial thrust toward one’s coveted goal, but even greater courage is called for when one stumbles and must make a second effort to achieve. Have the determination to make the effort, the single-mindedness to work toward a worthy goal, and the courage not only to face the challenges that inevitably come but also to make a second effort, should such be required. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, ‘I’ll try again tomorrow.’”

Living the Abundant Life.

— Thomas S. Monson

If we do not have a deep foundation of faith and a solid testimony of truth, we may have difficulty withstanding the harsh storms and icy winds of adversity which inevitably come to each of us. Mortality is a period of testing, a time to prove ourselves worthy to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father. In order for us to be tested, we must face challenges and difficulties. These can break us, and the surface of our souls may crack and crumble – that is, if our foundations of faith, our testimonies of truth are not deeply embedded within us.

“On Being Spiritually Prepared,” Ensign, February 2010, p. 5

— Thomas S. Monson

If only all children had loving parents, safe homes, and caring friends, what a wonderful world would be theirs. Unfortunately, not all children are so bounteously blessed. Some children witness their fathers savagely beating their mothers, while others are on the receiving end of such abuse. What cowardice, what depravity, what shame! Local hospitals everywhere receive these little ones, bruised and battered, accompanied by bald-faced lies that the child “ran into the door” or “fell down the stairs.” Liars, bullies who abuse children, they will one day reap the whirlwind of their foul deeds. The quiet, the hurt, the offended child victim of abuse, and at times incest, must receive help. A district judge, in a letter to me, declared, “Sexual abuse of children is one of the most depraved, destructive, and demoralizing crimes in civilized society. There is an alarming increase of reported physical, psychological, and sexual abuse of children. Our courts are becoming inundated with this repulsive behavior.” The Church does not condone such heinous and vile conduct. Rather, we condemn in the harshest of terms such treatment of God’s precious children. Let the child be rescued, nurtured, loved, and healed. Let the offender be brought to justice, to accountability, for his actions and receive professional treatment to curtail such wicked and devilish conduct. When you and I know of such conduct and fail to take action to eradicate it, we become part of the problem. We share part of the guilt. We experience part of the punishment.

Precious Children—A Gift from God

— Thomas S. Monson

“[When we do temple work] for those who have gone beyond the veil…we expect no thanks, nor do we have the assurance that they will accept that which we offer. However, we serve, and in that process we attain that which comes of no other effort: we literally become Saviors on mount Zion. As our Savior gave His life as a vicarious sacrifice for us, so we, in some small measure do the same when we perform proxy work in the temple for those who have no means of moving forward unless something is done for them by those of us here on the earth”

Until We Meet Again

— Thomas S. Monson

“Some foolish persons turn their backs on the wisdom of God and follow the allurement of fickle fashion, the attraction of false popularity, and the thrill of the moment. Their course of conduct so resembles the disastrous experience of Esau, who exchanged his birthright for a mess of pottage. “To illustrate, may I share with you the results of a survey conducted by a reputable organization and reported in a national magazine.2 The survey was entitled, “Would You, for Ten Million Dollars?” Let me ask you the same questions which were asked in the survey: For 10 million dollars in cash, would you leave your family permanently? Would you marry someone you didn’t love? Would you give up all your friends permanently? Would you serve a year’s jail term on a framed charge? Would you take off your clothes in public? Would you take a dangerous job in which you had a 1-in-10 chance of losing your life? Would you become a beggar for a year? “Of the people polled, 1 percent would leave their families, 10 percent would marry lovelessly, 11 percent would give up friends, 12 percent would undress in public, 13 percent would go to jail for a year, 14 percent would take the risky job, and 21 percent would beg for a year. “Where money, rather than morality, dictates one’s actions, one is inclined away from God. Turning away from God brings broken covenants, shattered dreams, vanished ambitions, unfulfilled expectations, crushed hopes, and ruined lives.”

"Decisions Determine Destiny"

— Thomas S. Monson

“I hope that you are not afraid of tough classes. I never did have a ‘cinch’ class. … You simply have to apply yourself. I hope that you want to be so well equipped that you can compete in this competitive world. I hope that you will learn to take responsibility for your decisions, whether they be in your courses of study which you elect to take, or whether they be in the direction of the academic attainments which you strive to achieve. “My young brothers and sisters, don’t take counsel of your fears. Don’t say to yourselves, ‘I’m not wise enough, or I can’t apply myself sufficiently well to study this difficult subject or in this difficult field, so I shall choose the easier way.’ I plead with you to tax your talent, and our Heavenly Father will make you equal to those decisions.”

— Thomas S. Monson

“In our day the spirit of giving gifts plays a large role in commemorating the Christmas season. I wonder if we might profit by asking ourselves, What gifts would the Lord have me give to him or to others at this precious season of the year? “May I suggest that our Heavenly Father would want each of us to render to him and to his Son the gift of obedience. …In this marvelous dispensation of the fulness of times, our opportunities to love and give of ourselves are indeed limitless, but they are also perishable. Today there are hearts to gladden, kind words to say, deeds to be done and souls to be saved.”

"Rediscovering the Christmas Spirit"

— Thomas S. Monson

“There is no better time than now, this very Christmas season, for all of us to rededicate ourselves to the principles taught by Jesus the Christ. It is the time to love the Lord, our God, with all our heart — and our neighbors as ourselves. It is well to remember that he who gives money gives much; he who gives time gives more; but he who gives of himself gives all. “Let us make Christmas real. It isn’t just tinsel and ribbon, unless we have made it so in our lives. Christmas is the spirit of giving without a thought of getting. It is happiness because we see joy in people. It is forgetting self and finding time for others. It is discarding the meaningless and stressing the true values. It is peace because we have found peace in the Savior’s teachings. It is the time we realize most deeply that the more love is expended, the more there is of it for others.”

"Christmas is Love"

— Thomas S. Monson

With the decline of religion in our society, many people have come to feel that they are sufficient unto themselves and have no need of a higher power. Wrong. A loss of religious faith implies a loss of faith in anyone greater than oneself. . . . It can at times be easy to fall into the erroneous thinking that we ourselves are capable of handling anything that comes our way, that we have all the answers, and that there is no need for assistance from a higher power. When we realize, as one person put it, that “we are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience,” we come to understand where our main emphasis should be and on whom we are reliant.

“Be a Light to the World,” BYU Devotional, November 1, 2011

— Thomas S. Monson

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