Religious Leaders

"Whatever work I've done, whatever I have though, was praise with my body and praise hidden inside my head."

"In the region of the Absolute we know there are three different energies working, one of which is His ecstatic energy by which bliss is conferred on us, and He is found to be inebriated with the ecstatic explorations. The very Absolute indulges Himself in the ecstatic mood and He is delighted; and when we find that He is delighted, we, being more or less part and parcel of the transaction, get a share as well, we being not the mind but the soul proper. When He is delighted, we necessarily get the advantage of that delightful temper of the Absolute. When He is surcharged with all beatific phases, we are also endowed with a part as per our own eligibility; as per our affinity for serving Him, we enjoy a part. Here where we are passing through a non-absolute region, our enjoyment is nothing but depriving Him of His enjoyment. We should take proper care not to carry our defective ideas there. The passionate desires of this mundane world should not be carried to the Absolute region."

"The fullest development of the idea about Godship is in Shri Krishna. He reveals Himself to His devotees of different competences in three Forms. All these three are perfect conceptions, not like the partial one of Paramatma and the incomplete one of Brahman. These three perfect conceptions are full, fuller and fullest. These three are revealed in Dwaraka, Mathura and Vrindavana. At Dwaraka Krishna's manifestation is full, at Mathura it is fuller and in Braja (including Vrindavana) it is the fullest."

"We should seek for the Fountain-head of all knowledge. If we do not do so we find ourselves poorly supplied. Our capacity for retention of knowledge also leaves us when we choose to be conversant with local, temporary, apparent truths. The symbolical deceptive Knowledge is presented when we neglect to seek the connecting thread of all knowledge. A time comes when our physical equipment parts with all its seeming possessions."

"Of all the occupations the best one is to attend to the service of the Absolute."

"Try to rectify yourself rather than blaspheming the nature or activities of others. That is my instruction."

"We should trace the Fountain-Head, the Real Cause from Whom all these have emanated, not being content with the agnosticism that prevails more or less at present."

"He made the people follow the proper path, and ousted the enemy from . He removed the wicked tongues, and made justice shine forth like copper. That fathers should be feared and mothers respected, that sons should pay heed to the words of their fathers, and that mercy, compassion and pity should be shown, that one should provide even one's paternal grandparents with food and drink -- all this he established in Sumer and . Then she made Icme-Dagan, the son of Enlil, the en priest of Unug, into their guardian -- this is what Inana, the lady of heaven and earth, did; and the great An declared his consent."

"In , the royal city, Icme-Dagan, [...] for you in masterly fashion a fifty-headed battle-mace to destroy the rebel lands, chosen for your great power. For you he gave it fifty names."

"Icme-Dagan, provider of Nibru, constant attendant of Urim, he who is daily in the service of g; en priest of Unug, king of Isin."

"August Nibru! No deity excels like your lord and lady! They are powerful princes; they are brilliantly revealed deities. No deity excels like Enlil or Ninlil! They are powerful princes; they are lords who can decide destinies. In your midst they have given divine powers to king Enki. Nibru, your holy songs are exceptionally precious, surpassing all praise! I, Icme-Dagan, have placed them in everyone's mouths for all time."

"Uta-ulu, riding on fearsome radiance, [...] greatest amongt the great lords! [...] Ninurta, perfect in authority, caretaker of heaven and earth, [...] Lord who was given great strength by Nunamnir, confident in his strength, striding into battle!"

"Adviser, whose decisions cannot be countermanded! Ninurta, whose utterances are firm! Hero, lord, august son of Enlil! [...] Ninurta, prominent in the E-kur."

"Prince, you place justice in every mouth, and make propriety resplendent. Daily you make hearts content, daily you determine fates appropriately. [...] You brighten the night sky in the broad firmament, and illuminate the darkness. The Anuna gods stand by with prayers and supplications at your rising. The sweet sight of your resplendent crescent, full of loveliness, brings joy to the great lady of the Ki-ur, mother Ninli."

"Great hero, strongest in heaven and earth! Ninurta, who controls perfectly the fifty divine powers in the E-kur! Governor for his father, rising raging storm, who extends terror [...] towards the foreign countries. [...] Who casts fear upon the people, who has no rival! Ninurta, surpassing in vigour! [...] Great and majestic strength, [...] ornament of the august shrine!"

"Lord, the son of Enlil, who has come forth from the hills, and rides upon the numerous divine powers. [...] Great hero, surpassing dragon, perfect lord, [...] without rival! Great hero confident in his strength!"

"[O]n earth, on the day of the disappearance of the moon, as you have completed the month, you summon the people, lord; and then in the netherworld you decree great judgments, you decide sublime verdicts. Enki and Ninki, the great lords, the great princes, the lords who determine fates, await your utterances, father."

"What he orders is faithfully executed. [...] Endowed with beauty in the E-kur, [...] among the great gods, the great and august lord."

"Lord whose abode is the mountains, father Nanna, [...] fixes the months and the new moon according to a cord, establishes the year. [...] Who puts all the lands in order, [...] who makes the Tigris and the Euphrates bring flowing water."

"His words are precious, and what he says is true. Ninurta, lion raging against the disobedient! Authoritative one, who makes the foreign countries submit."

"Life for the multitude."

"Enlil, [...] first-born child of holy An, whose divine powers are untouchable"

"Nudimmud, lord who determines the fates, who strengthens the Land."

"Enki, great bull of Eridug, [...] greatly exalted among the Anuna."

"[The] foremost of the gods, omniscient [...] Enki, counsellor of holy An. [...] Adviser, whose statements cannot be countermanded. [...] Patient-hearted, who rides upon all the divine powers. [...] Lord imbued with fearsomeness, borne by An and Urac."

"May Ninurta look upon Icme-Dagan [...] with a life-giving gaze!"

"May he bestow a long life with vigorous days on Icme-Dagan, the son of Enlil! May father Enki bestow a long life with vigorous days on Icme-Dagan, the son of Enlil!"

"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."

"Wives and husbands are mostly foolish. A little love, respect, patience and to give and take, and occasionally a kiss and a cuddle, would make out of a hades a heaven."

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

"Remember to smile and to practice what you preach. It is better to live up to and preach a few things than to cram your mind with great volumes of goodness and make none of them work. Why not pick out a few good things and try them out?"

"I wonder sometimes when I look into the faces of some of these overworked people, if there is a sort of a sleeping potion taken just prior to going to Church, so they can rest in peace and not feel disturbed, but relax and forget they are alive."

"If you begin to run short of things to be thankful for, commence to pray for your enemies and you will be surprised how soon you will want to quit and say, Amen."

"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."

"I am inclined to believe that we do not hear straight, talk straight, see straight and think straight. We preach too long, talk too much and kill the very truth we want to put over."

"Almost everything now a days is standardized, staked out, fenced in, blue printed and so perfectly all planned and laid out that the Lord couldn’t get in a word edge-ways."

"I am not advocating humor at a church gathering, or at a funeral, but I do believe Mormon Elders ought to rise to the occasion either by inspiration or the use of good common sense. Being your own dear self and acting or speaking natural is at least refreshing if not entertaining."

"I claim not to raise the dead, but I can arouse the Saints who come to meetings to sleep and rest, but often am forced to use unseemly language to put it over."

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

""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."

"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!"

"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."

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

"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."

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

"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."