Taft Quotes

We've searched our database for all the quotes and captions related to Taft. Here they are! All 100 of them:

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The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ would take the slums out of people, and then they would take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He can deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, and pour out peace.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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You are free to choose, but you are not free to alter the consequences of your decisions.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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It is the mark of a truly educated man to know what not to read.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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You cannot do wrong and feel right. It is impossible!
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Ezra Taft Benson
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some of the greatest battles will be fought within the silent chambers of your own soul.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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Nothing will surprise us more than when we get to heaven and see the Father and realize how well we know Him and how familiar His face is to us.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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Now, brethren, do not expect perfection in your choice of a mate. Do not be so particular that you overlook her most important qualities of having a strong testimony, living the principles of the gospel, loving home, wanting to be a mother in Zion, and supporting you in your priesthood responsibilities. Of course, she should be attractive to you.... And one good yardstick as to whether a person might be the right one for you is this: in her presence, do you think your noblest thoughts, do you aspire to your finest deeds, do you wish you were better than you are?
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Ezra Taft Benson
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True repentance involves a change of heart and not just a change of behavior.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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While you are going through your trial, you can recall your past victories and count the blessings that you do have with a sure hope of greater ones to allow if you are faithful.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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My young sisters, we have such hope for you. We have such great expectations for you. Don't settle for less than what the Lord wants you to be... Give me a young woman who loves home and family, who reads and ponders the scriptures daily, who has a burning testimony of the Book of Mormon... Give me a young woman who is virtuous and who has maintained her personal purity, who will not settle for less than a temple marriage, and I will give you a young woman who will perform miracles for the Lord now and throughout eternity.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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He who kneels before God, can stand before any man.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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God loves us. He's watching us, he wants us to succeed, and we'll know someday that he has not left one thing undone for the eternal welfare of each of us. If we only knew it, there are heavenly hosts pulling for us -- friends in heaven that we can't rememer now, who yearn for our victory.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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Do not make your mind a dumping ground for other people's garbage.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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The proud wish God would agree with them. They are not interested in changing their opinions to agree with God's.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar His face is to us.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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The great task of life is to learn the will of the Lord and then do it.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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Don't write so that you can be understood, write so that you can't be misunderstood.
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William Howard Taft
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Rights are either God-given as part of the divine plan, or they are granted by government as part of the political plan. If we accept the premise that human rights are granted by government, then we must be willing to accept the corollary that they can be denied by government.
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Ezra Taft Benson (The Constitution: A Heavenly Banner)
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Today the devil as a wolf in supposedly a new suit of sheep’s clothing is enticing some men to parrot his line by advocating planned government guaranteed security at the expense of our liberties.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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The devil knows that if the elders of Israel should ever wake up, they could step forth and help preserve freedom and extend the gospel. Therefore the devil has concentrated, and to a large extent successfully, in neutralizing much of the priesthood. He has reduced them to Sleeping Giants.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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It is a fundamental truth that the responsibilities of motherhood cannot be successfully delegated. No, not to day-care centers, not to schools, not to nurseries, not to babysitters. We become enamored with men’s theories such as the idea of preschool training outside the home for young children. Not only does this put added pressure on the budget, but it places young children in an environment away from mother’s influence. Too often the pressure for popularity, on children and teens, places an economic burden on the income of the father, so mother feels she must go to work to satisfy her children’s needs. That decision can be most shortsighted. It is mother’s influence during the crucial formative years that forms a child’s basic character. Home is the place where a child learns faith, feels love, and thereby learns from mother’s loving example to choose righteousness. How vital are mother’s influence and teaching in the homeβ€”and how apparent when neglected!
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Ezra Taft Benson
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The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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Most of us think of pride as self-centeredness, conceit, boastfulness, arrogance, or haughtiness. All of these are elements of the sin, but the heart, or core, is still missing. The central feature of pride is enmity – enmity towards God and enmity toward our fellowmen.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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One good yardstick as to whether a person might be the right one for you is this: in her presence, do you think your noblest thoughts, do you aspire to your finest deeds, do you wish you were better than you are?
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Ezra Taft Benson
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Today, with the abundance of books available, it is the mark of a truly educated man to know what not to read. … Feed only on the best. As John Wesley’s mother counseled him: β€˜Avoid whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes off your relish for spiritual things, … increases the authority of the body over the mind.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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A good name is still to be preferred over great riches. Especially it is to be preferred to the appearance of riches, aquired with nothing down and nothing to pay for 2 months.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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Unless education promotes character making, unless it helps men to be more moral, more just to their fellows, more law abiding, more discriminatingly patriotic and public spirited, it is not worth the trouble taken to furnish it.
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William Howard Taft
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She reached up and curled her fingers into mine. β€œHe should take you to dinner.” To say that the mere thought horrified me would have been a grievous understatement. I threw up a little in my mouth then swallowed hard. I told Taft when I recovered, β€œJust please, for the love of God, find a girl good enough to take home to your mother. And do it soon.” β€œAnd stop dating skanks.
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Darynda Jones (Second Grave on the Left (Charley Davidson, #2))
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Salvador [Dali] was brought up in Spain, a country colored by the legends of Hannibal, El Greco, and Cervantes. I was brought up in Ohio, a region steeped in the tradition of Coxey's Army, the Anti-Saloon League, and William Howard Taft.
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James Thurber
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One of the marks of an educated man today is to know what not to read--what not to see or what not to listen to.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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There could not be a restoration of the gospel without freedom. God provided this country as the base of his operations in these the last days, a place where there would be freedom, where he could restore his gospel.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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There are times when you simply have to righteous hang on and outlast the devil.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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The moment you begin a serious study of the scriptures, you will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the straight and narrow path.... When you begin to hunger & thirst after those words, you will find life in greater abundance.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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...we are an overfed and undernourished nation digging an early grave with our teeth...
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Ezra Taft Benson (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson)
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Just as a man does not desire food until he is hungry, so does he not desire the salvation of Christ until he knows why he needs Christ.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in….The world would mold men by changing their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ would change human nature.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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The tenth plank in Karl Marx's Manifesto for destroying our kind of civilization advocated the establishment of "free education for all children in public schools." There were several reasons why Marx wanted government to run the schools.…one of them [was that] β€˜It is capable of exact demonstration that if every party in the State has the right of excluding from public schools whatever he does not believe to be true, then he that believes most must give way to him that believes least, and then he that believes least must give way to him that believes absolutely nothing, no matter in how small a minority the atheists or agnostics may be.’ It is self-evident that on this scheme, if it is consistently and persistently carried out in all parts of the country, the United States system of national popular education will be the most efficient and widespread instrument for the propagation of atheism which the world has ever seen.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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Man…need not stand alone. Prayer will open doors; prayer will remove barriers; prayer will ease pressures; prayer will give inner peace and comfort during times of strain and stress and difficulty.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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God bless this encyclopedic Mr. Google, whoever he was.
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Jason Heller (Taft 2012)
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Was it not through pride that the devil became the devil? Christ wanted to serve. The devil wanted to rule. Christ wanted to bring men to where He was. The devil wanted to be above men.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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The antidote for pride is humility; meekness; submissiveness... Let us choose to be humble. We can choose to humble ourselves by conquering enmity toward our brothers and sisters, esteeming them as ourselves, and lifting them as high or higher than we are... We can choose to humble ourselves by receiving counsel and chastisement... We can choose to humble ourselves by forgiving those who have offended us... We can choose to humble ourselves by rendering selfless service... We can chose to humble ourselves by going on missions and preaching the word that can humble others... We can choose to humble ourselves by getting to the temple more frequently... We can choose to humble ourselves by confessing and forsaking our sins and being born of God... We can choose to humble ourselves by loving God, submitting our will to His, and putting Him first in our lives
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Ezra Taft Benson
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Secret combinations lusting for power, gain, and glory are flourishing. A secret combination that seeks to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries is increasing its evil influence and control over America and the entire world.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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When President Howard Taft was campaigning for office, someone threw a cabbage at him, and he quipped, "I see one of my adversaries has lost his head." BAM! You just got Taft-ed. Take a seat cabbage head.
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Colin Jost (A Very Punchable Face)
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It is surprising,” Roosevelt explained, β€œhow much reading a man can do in time usually wasted.
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Doris Kearns Goodwin (The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism)
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Presidents come and go, but the Supreme Court goes on forever.
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William Howard Taft
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If we do not feel like praying, then we should pray until we do feel like praying.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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Having second thoughts, Taft?" "Sawyer doesn't have second thoughts!" Sadie-Grace insisted from the golf cart behind us, loyal to the bone. "Sometimes, she doesn't even have first thoughts!" Thank you, Sadie-Grace.
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Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Deadly Little Scandals (Debutantes, #2))
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The central issue in that pre-mortal council was: Shall the children of God have untrammeled agency to choose the course they should follow, whether good or evil, or shall they be coerced and forced to be obedient? Christ and all who followed Him stood for the former propositionβ€”freedom of choice; Satan stood for the latterβ€”coercion and force. The war that began in heaven over this issue is not yet over. The conflict continues on the battlefield of mortality. And one of Lucifer’s primary strategies has been to restrict our agency through the power of earthly governments.” (BYU devotional held Tuesday, 16 September 1986, President Ezra Taft Benson)
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Ezra Taft Benson
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Men and women who turn their lives over to God will find out that he can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour our peace. Whoever will lose his life in God will find he has eternal life.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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Too many people don’t care what happens so long as it doesn’t happen to them.
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William Howard Taft
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Our Heavenly Father is always near. … Thank God we can reach out and tap that unseen power, without which no man can do his best.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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If they will play fair I will play fair, but if they won't then I reserve all my rights to do anything I find myself able to do.
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William Howard Taft
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We urge you to do all within your talent and means to build the kingdom of God on Earth. Always strive to sustain, support and do what is best for the kingdom of God.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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All through my life the counsel to depend on prayer has been prized above almost any other advice I have ever received. It has become an integral part of me, an anchor, a constant source of strength and the basis of my knowledge of things divine.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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There is, however, a far more common ailment among usβ€”and that is pride from the bottom looking up. It is manifest in so many ways, such as faultfinding, gossiping, backbiting, and murmuring, living beyond our means, envying, coveting, withholding gratitude and praise that might lift another, and being unforgiving and jealous.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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I do not like hardness of heart, but neither do I like softness of head.
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Doris Kearns Goodwin (The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism)
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A man never knows exactly how the child of his brain will strike other people.
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William Howard Taft
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When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes a quest, in that movement God endows us with power.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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I'll be damned if I am not getting tired of this. It seems to be the profession of a President simply to hear other people talk.
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William Howard Taft
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Book of Mormon There is a power in the book of which will begin to flow into our lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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The Declaration of Independence . . . is much more than a political document. It constitutes a spiritual manifestoβ€”revelation, if you willβ€”declaring not for this nation only, but for all nations, the source of man's rights. Nephi, a Book of Mormon prophet, foresaw over 2,300 years ago that this event would transpire. The colonies he saw would break with Great Britain and that 'the power of the Lord was with [the colonists],' that they 'were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations' (1 Nephi 13:16, 19). "The Declaration of Independence was to set forth the moral justification of a rebellion against a long-recognized political traditionβ€”the divine right of kings. At issue was the fundamental question of whether men's rights were God-given or whether these rights were to be dispensed by governments to their subjects. This document proclaimed that all men have certain inalienable rights. In other words, these rights came from God.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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Homer Wells, listening to Big Dot Taft, felt like her voice – dulled. Wally was away, Candy was away, and the anatomy of a rabbit was, after Clara, no challenge; the migrants, whom he’d so eagerly anticipated, were just plain hard workers; life was just a job. He had grown up without noticing when? Was there nothing remarkable in the transition?
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John Irving (The Cider House Rules)
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A category of government activity which, today, not only requires the closest scrutiny, but which also poses a grave danger to our continued freedom, is the activity NOT within the proper sphere of government. No one has the authority to grant such powers, as welfare programs, schemes for re-distributing the wealth, and activities which coerce people into acting in accordance with a prescribed code of social planning. There is one simple test. Do I as an individual have a right to use force upon my neighbor to accomplish this goal? If I do have such a right, then I may delegate that power to my government to exercise on my behalf. If I do not have that right as an individual, then I cannot delegate it to government, and I cannot ask my government to perform the act for me…In reply to the argument that a little bit of socialism is good so long as it doesn't go too far, it is tempting to say that, in like fashion, just a little bit of theft or a little bit of cancer is all right, too! History proves that the growth of the welfare state is difficult to check before it comes to its full flower of dictatorship. But let us hope that this time around, the trend can be reversed. If not then we will see the inevitability of complete socialism, probably within our lifetime.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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Think of the repentance that could take place with lives changed, marriages preserved, and homes strengthened, if pride did not keep us from confessing our sins and forsaking them.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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I am a vague, conjectural personality, more made up of opinions and academic prepossessions than of human traits and red corpuscles.
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Doris Kearns Goodwin (The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism)
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Enthusiasm for a cause sometimes warps judgement.
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William Howard Taft
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To find the best authors,” he boasted, β€œis like being able to tell good wine without the labels.
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Doris Kearns Goodwin (The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism)
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Contention in our families drives the Spirit of the Lord away. It also drives many of our family members away. Contention ranges from a hostile spoken word to worldwide conflicts.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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The answer is simple: it’s not the world that is boring and repetitive, it’s your mind that is boring and repetitive. Your
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Michael Taft (The Mindful Geek: Mindfulness Meditation for Secular Skeptics)
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We are all imperfect. We can not expect perfect government.
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William Howard Taft
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Lending war equipment is a good deal like lending chewing gum. You don't want it back.
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Robert A. Taft
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The U.S. Senate presented the most powerful obstacle to any progressive reform.
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Doris Kearns Goodwin (The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism)
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We once knew well our Elder Brother and our Father in Heaven. We rejoiced at the prospects of earth life that could make it possible for us to have a fullness of joy. We could hardly wait to demonstrate to our Father and our Brother, the Lord, how much we loved them and how we would be obedient to them in spite of the earthly opposition of the evil one. Now we are here. Our memories are veiled. We are showing God and ourselves what we can do. Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar His face is to us.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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Right and wrong as moral principles do not change. They are applicable and reliable determinants whether the situations with which we deal are simple or complicated. There is always a right and wrong to every question which requires our solution.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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What about the lame, the sick and the destitute?” Is an often-voiced question. Most other countries in the world have attempted to use the power of government to meet this need. Yet, in every case, the improvement has been marginal at best and has resulted in the long run creating more misery, more poverty, and certainly less freedom than when government first stepped in. Most of the major ills of the world have been caused by well-meaning people who ignored the principle of individual freedom, except as applied to themselves, and were obsessed with fanatical zeal to improve the lot of man kind-in-the-mass through some pet formula of their own… The harm dome by ordinary criminals, murderers, gangsters, and thieves is negligible in comparison with the agony inflicted upon human beings by the professional β€˜do-gooder,’ who attempt to set themselves up as gods on earth and who would ruthlessly force their views on all othersβ€”with the abiding assurance that the end justifies the means.”(The Proper Role of Government, Ezra T. Benson)
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Ezra Taft Benson
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The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature. EZRA TAFT BENSON,
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Stephen R. Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change)
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Study the scriptures and study the mortals who have been most consistently accurate about the most important things. When your freedom and your eternal welfare are at stake, your information best be accurate.
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Ezra Taft Benson (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson)
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I would like to have an ample fund to spread the light of Republicanism, but I am willing to undergo the disadvantage to make certain that in the future we shall reduce the power of money in politics for unworthy purposes.
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William Howard Taft
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The Holy Ghost causes out feelings to be more tender. We feel more charitable and compassionate. We are calmer. We have a greater capacity to love. People want to be around us because our very countenances radiate the influence of the Spirit. We are more godly in character. As a result, we are more sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Ghost and thus able to comprehend spiritual things.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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The consumption of food was a sacrament of success. A man who carried a great stomach before him was thought to be in his prime. Women went into hospitals to die of burst bladders, collapsed lungs, overtaxed hearts and meningitis of the spine. There was a heavy traffic to the spas and sulphur springs, where the purgative was valued as an inducement to the appetite. America was a great farting country. All this began to change when Taft moved into the White House. His accession to the one mythic office in the American imagination weighed everyone down. His great figure immediately expressed the apotheosis of that style of man. Thereafter fashion would go the other way and only poor people would be stout.
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E.L. Doctorow (Ragtime)
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Since God created man with certain unalienable rights, and man, in turn, created government to help secure and safeguard those rights, it follows that man is superior to the creature which he created. Man is superior to government and should remain master over it, not the other way around. Even the non-believer can appreciate the logic of this relationship.
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Ezra Taft Benson
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My reading was always a kind of living,” he explained later, β€œa longing to know some man or men stronger, braver, wiser, wittier, more amusing, or more desperately wicked, than I was, whom I could come to know well and sometimes be friends with.
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Doris Kearns Goodwin (The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism)
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So, to recap," Lily said, sounding calm, but not entirely apathetic, "Campbell isn't your half sister. She's mine, because my daddy's mistress, who had Campbell's daddy's baby way back when, is actually my biological mother, and that baby was me. Victoria is my great-aunt, and technically, so is Lillian, because my adoptive mama is actually Lillian's identical twin sister's daughter. The real Liv Taft was killed twenty-five years ago in what might β€” or might not β€” have been an accident, involving practically every adult I know." Lily paused. "Does that about sum things up?
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Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Deadly Little Scandals (Debutantes, #2))
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God does hear and answer prayers. I have never doubted that fact. From childhood, at my mother's knee where I first learned to pray; as a young man in my teens; as a missionary in foreign lands; as a father; as a Church leader; as a government official, I know without question that it is possible for men and women to reach out in humility and prayer and tap that Unseen Power; to have prayers answered. "Man does not stand along, or, at least, he need not stand alone. Prayer will open doors; prayer will remove barriers; prayer will ease pressures; prayer will give inner peace and comfort during times of strain and stress and difficult. Thank God for prayer
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Ezra Taft Benson
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A National Government cannot create good times. It cannot make the rain to fall, the sun to shine, or the crops to grow, but it can, by pursuing a meddlesome policy, attempting to change economic conditions, and frightening the investment of capital, prevent a prosperity and a revival of business which might otherwise have taken place.
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William Howard Taft
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So who told you that you had a chip on your shoulder?" "Never mind." I shoved a piece of lasagna int my mouth so I couldn't answer. "It was a cute guy, wasn't it?" Kelly said. "Those types pf statements only bother you if cute guys say them." I didn't answer, and I didn't look at them. "Must have been a really cute guy." Aleeta said. Kelly leaned forward. "Who was it, and do you like him?" I took another bite of lasagna. "She likes him." Aleeta said with a smile. "Ryan Geno?" Kelly asked. "Arnold Carrillo?" "Colton Taft." Aleeta said as though sure she was right. Kelly nodded. "Which means we're really talking about Bryant, aren't we?" Aleeta leaned closer to the table and lowered her voice. "Charlotte likes Bryant?" "No," I said quickly. "No," Kelly repeated, "She doesn't like him, which is why Colton thinks she has a chip on her shoulder." She turned to me then, wearing a triumphant smile. "I'm right, aren't I?" I shuffled pieces of lasagna around my plate. "I should stop hanging out with smart people.
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Janette Rallison (It's a Mall World After All)
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I am sure many of you know that the veil can be very thin-that there are people over there who are pulling for us-people who have faith in us and who have great hopes for us, who are hoping and praying that we will measure up-our loved ones who have passed on
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Ezra Taft Benson (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson)
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We are fast approaching that moment prophesied by Joseph Smith when he said: 'Even this nation will be on the very verge of crumbling to pieces and tumbling to the ground, and when the Constitution is upon the brink of ruin, this people will be on the staff upon which the nation shall lean, and they shall bear the Constitution away from the verge of destruction.
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Ezra Taft Benson (The Constitution: A Heavenly Banner)
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For nearly six thousand years, God has held you in reserve to make your appearance in the final days before the Second Coming of the Lord. . . . God has saved for the final inning some of His strongest and most valiant children, who will help bear off the kingdom triumphantly. That is where you come in, for you are the generation that must be prepared to meet your God. . . .
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Ezra Taft Benson
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Increasing numbers of Americans are subscribing to the myth that you can get something for nothingβ€”as long as the government is footing the bill. In fact, they believe it is the duty of government to take care of them, from the womb to the tomb. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Everything we get from the government, we pay for in debilitating taxes. Everything the government gives to the people, it must first take from the people. This is something few Americans appear to understand.
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Ezra Taft Benson (This Nation Shall Endure)
β€œ
Taft explained that the great issue in this campaign is "creeping socialism." Now that is the patented trademark of the special interest lobbies. Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years. Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called social security. Socialism is what they called farm price supports. Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance. Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations. Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people. When the Republican candidate inscribes the slogan "Down With Socialism" on the banner of his "great crusade," that is really not what he means at all. What he really means is, "Down with Progress--down with Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal," and "down with Harry Truman's fair Deal." That is what he means. (Rear Platform and Other Informal Remarks in SYRACUSE, NEW YORK (Near station, 1:25 p.m. October 10, 1952 ) trumanlibrary dot org publicpapers
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Harry Truman
β€œ
We must each of us do our home work. 'My people are destroyed,' said Hosea, 'for lack of knowledge.' We must be wise as serpents; for as the Apostle Paul said, We wrestle against the rulers of darkness, against spiritual wickedness in high places. We are going through what J. Reuben Clark once termed the greatest propaganda campaign of all time. We cannot believe all we read, and what we can believe is not all of genuine value. We must sift. We must learn by study and prayer. Study the scriptures and study the mortals who have been most consistently accurate about the most important things. When your freedom is at stake, your information best be accurate.
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Ezra Taft Benson
β€œ
In reply to the argument that a little socialism is good so long as it doesn't go too far. It is tempting to say that, in like fashion, just a little bit of theft or a little bit of cancer is alright, too! History proves that the growth of the welfare state is difficult to check before it comes to it's full flower of dictatorship. But let us hope that this time around, the trend can be reversed. If not then we will see the inevitability of complete socialism, probably within our lifetime.
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Ezra Taft Benson
β€œ
To all who have discerning eyes, it is apparent that the republican form of government established by our noble forefathers cannot long endure once fundamental principles are abandoned. Momentum is gathering for another conflict-a repetition of of the crisis two hundred years ago. This collision of ideas is worldwide. Another monumental moment is soon to be born. The issue is the same that precipitated the great premortal conflict-will men be free to determine their own course of action or must they be coerced?
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Ezra Taft Benson (The Constitution: A Heavenly Banner)
β€œ
Latter-day Saints are far from being the only ones who call Jesus the Savior. I have known people from many denominations who say those words with great feeling and deep emotion. After hearing one such passionate declaration from a devoutly Christian friend, I asked, β€œFrom what did Jesus save us?” My friend was taken aback by the question, and struggled to answer. He spoke of having a personal relationship with Jesus and being born again. He spoke of his intense love and endless gratitude for the Savior, but he still never gave a clear answer to the question. I contrast that experience with a visit to an LDS Primary where I asked the same question: β€œIf a Savior saves, from what did Jesus save us?” One child answered, β€œFrom the bad guys.” Another said, β€œHe saved us from getting really, really, hurt really, really bad.” Still another added, β€œHe opened up the door so we can live again after we die and go back to heaven.” Then one bright future missionary explained, β€œWell, it’s like thisβ€”there are two deaths, see, physical and spiritual, and Jesus, well, he just beat the pants off both of them.” Although their language was far from refined, these children showed a clear understanding of how their Savior has saved them. Jesus did indeed overcome the two deaths that came in consequence of the Fall of Adam and Eve. Because Jesus Christ β€œhath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light” (2 Timothy 1:10), we will all overcome physical death by being resurrected and obtaining immortality. Because Jesus overcame spiritual death caused by sinβ€”Adam’s and our ownβ€”we all have the opportunity to repent, be cleansed, and live with our Heavenly Father and other loved ones eternally. β€œThough your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18). To Latter-day Saints this knowledge is basic and fundamentalβ€”a lesson learned in Primary. We are blessed to have such an understanding. I remember a man in Chile who scoffed, β€œWho needs a Savior?” Apparently he didn’t yet understand the precariousness and limited duration of his present state. President Ezra Taft Benson wrote: β€œJust as a man does not really desire food until he is hungry, so he does not desire the salvation of Christ until he knows why he needs Christ. No one adequately and properly knows why he needs Christ until he understands and accepts the doctrine of the Fall and its effects upon all mankind” (β€œBook of Mormon,” 85). Perhaps the man who asked, β€œWho needs a Savior?” would ask President Benson, β€œWho believes in Adam and Eve?” Like many who deny significant historical events, perhaps he thinks Adam and Eve are only part of a folktale. Perhaps he has never heard of them before. Regardless of whether or not this man accepts the Fall, he still faces its effects. If this man has not yet felt the sting of death and sin, he will. Sooner or later someone close to him will die, and he will know the awful emptiness and pain of feeling as if part of his soul is being buried right along with the body of his loved one. On that day, he will hurt in a way he has not yet experienced. He will need a Savior. Similarly, sooner or later, he will feel guilt, remorse, and shame for his sins. He will finally run out of escape routes and have to face himself in the mirror knowing full well that his selfish choices have affected others as well as himself. On that day, he will hurt in a profound and desperate way. He will need a Savior. And Christ will be there to save from both the sting of death and the stain of sin.
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Brad Wilcox (The Continuous Atonement)