Heber C. Kimball

“ Well, let us think of these things, and not get angry. I know that I am a stronger man when the Spirit of God is resting upon me than I am at ordinary times; and I know, when I get angry, that it makes me weak—it takes away my strength. ”

“ This is the way you feel; for that Spirit makes you mighty and powerful, and fear leaves you. Fear has torment, and torment makes a person weak, and vexes him, and perplexes him, because it is the principle of death. ”

“ You probably recollect what Jesus said to his disciples when Peter took up the sword and cut off the fellow's ear: he designed to cut off his head, but missed it. Jesus said, "Those that take up the sword shall perish by the sword. If my kingdom was of this world, then my servants would fight." Let me tell you, the kingdom that we are in is of this world and also of the world to come, and will stand for ever; and we will fight, if our enemies come upon us to slay us,—not only the men, but the women and the children. ”

“ It is the duty of the Bishops to plan for the people in their Wards. Let every Bishop take a course to design for his people. This is the way for them to do, and this is their calling; and in so doing they will be blest, and this whole people will be sustained, and God will bless us and will hold our enemies; yes, he will hold them a great deal easier and far more secure than you can hold a horse with the Spanish bits. He is not going to let this people be overcome, if we do as we are told from time to time. ”

“ It is better to bend than to break.
Let us make our passions bend, and become one with our head as every limb and branch pertaining to a tree becomes one with its head, and with the roots from which it springs. ”

“ There are seven Presidents of the Seventies; then there is one man that presides over the six. Are the six to be subject to the first of their number? They are; for he is the head of that limb; and if the six reject that man they reject the authority or the pipe that conveys light to them. ”

“ When that gas is conveyed to a city, it gives light. It is so also with the Holy Spirit. There is sufficient of it to be conveyed to every man and woman according to their necessity; for Jesus says that every son and daughter that cometh into the world receiveth of his light, and it proceeds from head-quarters. ”

“ There is no man who has not, at some periods, eccentric feelings. These feelings correspond with the feelings of this people; and I believe and know that they control me in my speaking, or else I should not say a great many things that I do. I have heard brother Brigham say a great many times, "Why, I have spoken thus and so, and I believe that the people feel as I have spoken." ”

“ To be eccentric in speaking means to occasionally depart from the point of argument—to run off to the east and then come back—to run off to the north, to the south, to the west, and return again to the centre. This feeling is in every man at times, and the Elders who speak from this stand have to speak so as to answer the queries and dispositions of the people, otherwise they would talk right in a bee-line. ”

“ If the Quorums of the Seventies reject their limbs or Presidents, who are, even to the seventieth Seventy, connected to the main limb of the Seventies, they also shut off the light which would flow to them: Whom are the Seventies amenable to? They are amenable to the men that preside over them ”

“ Suppose I yield to the practice of drinking liquor, one draught gives me a greater thirst for another; my appetite increases as I nourish it, till by-and-by, I will want it regularly, and I am finally overcome. Let a man do an evil to-day, and the temptation will be stronger for him to do it to-morrow. ”

“ Brethren, let us take a course to keep the commandments of God, and do just as we are told from this time henceforth, and never cease our operations in everything that is good. Never let us cease our mechanical operations, and let us be diligent in cultivating the earth and accumulating everything we can think of that will be useful. ”

“ There is no coffee, factory, calico, satins, silks, thread, needles, bonnets, nor any luxuries; and I am glad of it.
Have we needle-makers here? Yes we have men here who can make the finest needles as well as the largest and the best, and every kind of cutlery, and every kind of satin, just as good as there is in the world.
Can we make linen? Yes. Why can we not make linen just as well as they can in England? I have seen some of the sisters now before me in the old countries, throwing the shuttle, weaving cotton, linen, silks, satins, ginghams, woollen plaids, &c., &c. ”

“ Keep the Spirit of the Lord and learn to govern your tempers, just as a smith when he goes to work to make a knife or any other kind of edged tool. When he takes it from the fire, he almost always makes it harder than he wants, it ”

“ The ideas advanced by brother Brigham about the manufacture and conducting of gas afford a good illustration of the operations of the Holy Ghost through the Priesthood. The place where the gas is manufactured may be called the fountain head ”