“But how are we to be made happy? There is one course—love the Giver more than the gift.”

Brigham Young | JD 9:31, Brigham Young, The Gifts of God, Etc.

Topics: Charity, Christmas, Inspirational Quotes, Kindness, Service, Short Quotes

“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 | “Whosoever Will Save His Life”

Topics: Charity, Humility, Missionary Work & Preparation, Service

“Education is the difference between wishing you could help other people and being able to help them.”

Russell M. Nelson

Topics: Education, Service, Wisdom

“In the end, the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness, but the number of prayers we answer may be of even greater importance.”

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Topics: Home Teaching, Prayer, Service, Work

“He who lives only unto himself withers and dies, while he who forgets himself in the service of others grows and blossoms in this life and in eternity.”

Gordon B. Hinckley

Topics: Being Called & Callings, Leadership, Potential, Purpose, Service

“A man filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race.”

Joseph Smith

Topics: Being Called & Callings, Leadership, Missionary Work & Preparation, Sacrifice, Service

“The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired. One of the great ironies of life is this: He or she who serves almost always benefits more than he or she who is served.”

Gordon B. Hinckley | Standing for Something: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes

Topics: Missionary Work & Preparation, Service, Work

“Education is the power to think clearly, the power to act well in the world’s work, and the power to appreciate life.”

Brigham Young

Topics: Education, Service, Wisdom, Work

“God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we serve each other in the kingdom.”

Spencer W. Kimball | “Small Acts of Service,” Ensign, December 1974, 5.

Topics: Home Teaching, Prayer, Service

“In the performance of our responsibilities, I have learned that when we heed a silent prompting and act upon it without delay, our Heavenly Father will guide our footsteps and bless our lives and the lives of others. I know of no experience more sweet or feelings more precious than to heed a prompting, only to discover that the Lord has answered another’s prayer through you.”

Thomas S. Monson | General Conference, October 5, 2002

Topics: Holy Ghost, Leadership, Personal Revelation, Revelation, Service

“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Topics: Being Called & Callings, Inspirational Quotes, Leadership, Motivational Quotes, Potential, Purpose, Service

“No, the Lord doesn’t really need us to take care of the poor, but we need this experience; for it is only through our learning how to take care of each other that we develop within us the Christlike love and disposition necessary to qualify us to return to his presence.”

Marion G. Romney | “Living Welfare Principles,” General Conference, October 1981

Topics: Charity, Service

“A friend is a priceless possession because a true friend is one who is willing to take us the way we are but is able to leave us better than he found us. We are poor when we lose friends because generally they are willing to reprove, admonish, love, encourage, and guide for our best good. A friend lifts the heavy heart, says the encouraging word, and assists in supplying our daily needs. As friends we will make ourselves available without delay to those who need us.”

Marvin J. Ashton | BYU Speeches, 30 March 1982

Topics: Friendship, Service

Perhaps you don’t consider yourself all that useful; perhaps you don’t consider yourself a blessing in somebody’s life. Often, when we look at ourselves, we see only our limitations and deficiencies. We might think we have to be “more” of something for God to use us–more intelligent, more wealthy, more charismatic, more talented, more spiritual. Blessings will come not so much because of your abilities but because of your choices. And the God of the universe will work within and through you, magnifying your humble efforts for His purposes.

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf | A Yearning for Home

Topics: Blessings, Potential, Service

“We humans have a lamentable tendency to spend more time theorizing reasons behind human suffering, than working to alleviate human suffering, and in imagining a heaven above, than creating a heaven in our homes and communities.”

Terryl and Fiona Givens | The God Who Weeps

Topics: Being Called & Callings, Leadership, Potential, Purpose, Service

“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.’”

Harold B. Lee | transcript of welfare agricultural meeting, Oct. 3, 1970, 20.

Topics: Being Called & Callings, Church Organization, Melchizedek Priesthood, Priesthood, Service

“The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we ‘give’… are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | “Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father,” Ensign, Nov. 1995, 24.

Topics: Eternal Life, Sacrifice, Salvation, Service

“We go to the temple to make covenants, but we go home to keep the covenants that we have made. The home is the testing ground. The home is the place where we learn to be more Christlike. The home is the place where we learn to overcome selfishness and give ourselves in service to others.”

J. Ballard Washburn | Ensign, May 1995, p. 12

Topics: Covenants, Ordinances, Service, Temples

“Indolent and unworthy the beggar may be—but that is not your concern: It is better, said Joseph Smith, to feed ten impostors than to run the risk of turning away one honest petition.”

Hugh Nibley | Approaching Zion

Topics: Charity, Service

“Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.”

Thomas S. Monson | "Finding Joy in the Journey," Conference October 2008

Topics: Charity, Love, Service

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else.”

Charles Dickens

Topics: Friendship, Service

In modeling our ministering after Jesus Christ, it is important to remember that His efforts to love, lift, serve, and bless had a higher goal than meeting the immediate need. He clearly knew of their day-to-day needs and had compassion on their current suffering as He healed, fed, forgave, and taught. But He wanted to do more than take care of today. He wanted those around Him to follow Him, to know Him, and to reach their divine potential.

W. Christopher Waddell | Just as He Did

Topics: General Conference 2019, Ministering, Service

Simply stated, we minister because we love our Heavenly Father and His children. Our ministering efforts will be more successful if we keep our ministering simple. The most joy comes from the simple things of life, so we need to be careful not to think that more needs to be added to any of the adjustments we have received to build faith and strong testimonies in the hearts of God’s children.

Elder M. Russell Ballard | The True, Pure, and Simple Gospel of Jesus Christ

Topics: General Conference 2019, Ministering, Service

Nikolai Berdyaev taught the same principle: “A false interpretation of ‘good works’ leads to a complete perversion of Christianity. ‘Good works’ are regarded not as an expression of love for God and man, not as a manifestation of the gracious source that gives life to others, but as a means of salvation and justification for oneself, as a way of realizing the abstract idea of the Good and receiving a reward in the future life. ‘Good works,’ done not for the good of others, but for the good of one’s own soul, are not good at all. Where there is no love, there is no goodness. Love does not require or expect any reward, it is reward in itself, it is a ray of paradise illuminating and transfiguring reality.”

Terryl and Fiona Givens | "The Christ Who Heals"

Topics: Integrity, Service, Work