J. Golden Kimball

“I am ready to confess that I am keyed up to a pretty high tension, and the only thing I am afraid of is that I will say just what I think, which would be unwise, no doubt.”

“Construction is very difficult, destruction is easy.”

“It is considered a good thing to look wise, especially when not over burdened with information.”

“Any man who tries to do the right thing and continues to try, is not a failure in the sight of God.”

“Some of us don't get the spirit of repentance and see things right until our hair is gray. Brethren, let us be tolerant; let us be kind and considerate.”

“It takes lots of courage to say always what you think. The trouble is, we think things sometimes we ought not to say.”

“When I look over this body of men, I do not discover that you are very distinguished in appearance. Why, you are no better looking than I am, and I look pretty bad.”

“I do not know just where I am going, but I know mighty well I am on my way.”

“I tell you, God can do nothing with a "half-way man."”

“"Rock-a-bye baby in the tree top" won't work out our problems. There is no use crying "All is well in Zion," because it is not true.”

“I know what I want, and I begin to find out what it will cost.”

“I realize, my brethren and sisters, that, during the past thirty years I may have said some foolish things. I have in my own way, given the people a good deal of chaff to get them to take a little wheat, but some of them haven't got sense enough to pick the wheat out from the chaff.”

“I think of what Elbert Hubbard said. It struck me rather strangely the other day. He said: "If you are going to reform the world you had better begin with yourself, and there will be one rogue less in the world." Of course, I did not want to apply that to myself, but I would not object to applying it to you.”

“I guess there is a reporter here isn't there? I am always afraid of those "blooming reporters;" they always get things down as I say it, but it don't sound well. It sounds all right when I deliver it, but it doesn't read well in print.”

“If I have ever been vain—and no doubt I have been—I think men are really more vain than women, and that is a hard blow!”

“I feel more like saying, this morning, "Cheer up, the worst is to come."”

“Is this secular education which we receive in our public schools an essential part of our education? Most assuredly. If we have any rational idea of God we must conceive that he is a great scholar, a scientist, an inventor, a discoverer, with full knowledge of the forces of the universe, a chemist, a mathematician. He who framed the universe is surely educated along all these lines.”

“It's harder for a man to be spiritual-minded now than it was in the early days. In those days there wasn’t anything else to do but be spiritual and try to raise a crop so you wouldn’t starve. And when you’re hungry, how you can pray. Today we have to chase the almighty dollar and it’s pretty hard to keep your mind on anything else.”

“We are one and all God's children. He created us and he never created a failure, and he created you.”

“I am very glad that I am not so old as I feel.”

“Some people say a person receives a position in this church through revelation, and others say they get it through inspiration, but I say they get it through relation. If I hadn't been related to Heber C. Kimball I wouldn't have been a damn thing in this church.”