Heber J. Grant Quotes for Latter-day Saints

Heber J. Grant was the seventh president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is known for talking about persistence, emphasizing the Word of Wisdom, and for overseeing the development of the Church’s welfare program. Similar to our Dallin H. Oaks quotes collection, this article highlights select quotations from the prophet.

As Elder B. H. Roberts summarized President Grant’s ministry:

It is no disparagement to say that President Grant is not a highly imaginative person; intellectually speculative, or a constructive theorist, or largely a doctrinaire. He is not likely to come to his people with such rhaphsodic visions as an Isaiah would bring. . . .

In a word, President Grant’s message to his people and to his times, judged by the temperament of him, and the sternly practical nature of him, is emphatically and is likely to continue to be, practical; and will reflect his oft repeated admonition:

“Latter-day Saints, keep the commandments of God.”
A Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1965), 6:485-486.

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Read more about Heber J. Grant in Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Heber J. Grant.

Heber J. Grant Quotes About the Church

Put What You Learn into Practice

There are some people that attend meetings year after year and listen to the servants of the Lord teach them in simplicity and humility the duties that devolve upon them, and they go away from those meetings and never put in practice what they hear; yet they take great credit to themselves for always going to meeting.

Now, my friends, if you always went to your dinner, sat down and took a good look at the food, and never partook of any of it, it would not be long till you died of starvation.

There are some Latter-day Saints that go to meeting, and they die of starvation spiritually because they do not receive and digest the spiritual food that is dispensed there. We should not be hearers of the word alone, but doers of it, too [see James 1:22].
“Being Doers of the Word,” Remarks at the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, on Sunday, November 6, 1892, Reported by Arthur Winter. Cited in Brian H. Stuy, comp., Collected Discourses Delivered by President Wilford Woodruff, His Two Counselors, the Twelve Apostles, and Others, 5 vols. (1987–92), 3:193–94.

A Marvelous Work and a Wonder

This Church is … a marvelous work and a wonder. There is nothing like it in all the world, because Jesus Christ, the Son of God established it, and is the head of it; because Jesus Christ manifested himself to the Prophet and Oliver Cowdery, and to others; and because God, in answer to prayer, has given to people all over the wide world where the Gospel has gone, an individual knowledge and testimony regarding the divinity of the work in which we are engaged.
In Conference Report, October 1924, 7.

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Heber J. Grant Quotes About Family

Gratitude for Ancestors

Never can I hear this song [“Come, Come Ye Saints”], never can I read it, but my heart goes out in gratitude to my father and to my mother, and to thousands of those noble men and women who journeyed over the plains. Many of them, time and time again, crossed the plains to help others, enduring the hardships cheerfully, carrying out, in very deed, the teachings of this inspired hymn! I can never think of them but I am full of admiration and gratitude, and utter a prayer to the Lord to help me, as one of the descendants of that noble band, to be loyal, to be true, to be faithful as they were!

In very deed, they were a band of men and women who, as the years come and go, will command greater and greater admiration and respect from the people of the world.
In Conference Report, Oct. 1919, 7.

Quotes by Heber J. Grant include a heartfelt appreciation for the hymn, “Come, Come Ye Saints.”

Heber J. Grant Quotes About the Holy Ghost

Individual Access to the Holy Spirit

I thank God that all the Saints are entitled to the whisperings of His holy spirit. I thank God that none of us are dependent upon others for the testimony of the gospel. I thank Him that each and all can obtain a testimony for themselves.
“Living Up to God’s Blessings,” discourse at the closing session of General Conference, Sunday afternoon, October 9, 1887. In Collected Discourses, 1:81.

What Gives Us the Spirit of God

It is not position, it is not education that gives the Spirit of God; but it is keeping the commandments of Almighty God and being lowly in heart and desiring to fulfill the commandments of God in our daily walk and conversation.
In Conference Report, April 1901: 64.

Priceless Gift

More priceless than all the wealth of all the world is to have the Holy Ghost as our constant companion.
In Conference Report, Oct. 1923, 159.

A Heber J. Grant quote that says, "More priceless than all the wealth of all the world is to have the Holy Ghost as our constant companion." — Heber J. Grant taught that the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost is more priceless than all the wealth of the world.

Attend to Spiritual Natures

Just as surely as failing to eat will cause our physical frames to shrink and die, just so sure neglect to supply our spiritual natures will bring death to them.
Deseret Evening News, (October 1, 1888): 2.

Heber J. Grant Quotes About Jesus Christ

Why Jesus Came

He came to teach us the character of God, and by example and precept pointed out the path which, if we walk in it, will lead us back into his presence. He came to break the bands of death with which man was bound, and made possible the resurrection by which the grave is robbed of its victory and death of its sting.
“Greetings from the First Presidency,” Deseret News, December 19, 1925.

Testimony of Jesus Essential

Any individual who does not acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world, has no business to be associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In Conference Report, October 1924, 7.

Heber J. Grant Quotes About Joseph Smith

The most glorious thing that has ever happened in the history of the world since the Savior Himself lived on earth, is that God Himself saw fit to visit the earth with His beloved, only begotten Son, our Redeemer and Savior, and to appear to the boy Joseph.
Improvement Era, Vol. 42, No. 7 (July 1939): 42:393.

Joseph Smith: As Seen by Historians

Heber J. Grant Quotes About Kindness and Love

Banish Hate

We earnestly implore all members of the Church to love their brethren and sisters, and all peoples whoever and wherever they are; to banish hate from their lives, to fill their hearts with charity, patience, long-suffering, and forgiveness.
Message from the First Presidency, in Conference Report, October 1939, 8; read by President Heber J. Grant.

A Motto

Make a motto in life: always try and assist someone else to carry his burden. The true key to happiness in life is to labor for the happiness of others.
Improvement Era, Vol. 5, No. 4 (February 1902): 290.

Heber J. Grant Quotes About Missionary Work

Testify by Example

May each and every Latter-day Saint live the gospel so that its truth will be proclaimed by his example.
Deseret News, 18 Feb. 1928, Church section, V.

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The Greatest Preacher

The greatest and the most wonderful preacher among the Latter-day Saints is the man or the woman who lives the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Conference Report, October 1922: 185.

Heber J. Grant Quotes About Money

Live Within Your Means

If there is any one thing that will bring peace and contentment into the human heart, and into the family, it is to live within our means. And if there is any one thing that is grinding and discouraging and disheartening, it is to have debts and obligations that one cannot meet.
Relief Society Magazine, Vol. 19, No. 5 (May 1932): 302.

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Giving is Better than Accumulating

Assuredly there is more blessing [that] comes to us from giving than in accumulating; there is no question of this in my mind.
In Conference Report, October 1907, 23.

Heber J. Grant Quotes About Mortal Life

Try Your Best

It has been said … that we are not doing all we can. I do not believe that any man lives up to his ideals, but if we are striving, if we are working, if we are trying, to the best of our ability, to improve day by day, then we are in the line of our duty.

If we are seeking to remedy our own defects, if we are so living that we can ask God for light, for knowledge, for intelligence, and above all for His Spirit, that we may overcome our weaknesses, then, I can tell you, we are in the straight and narrow path that leads to life eternal; then we need have no fear.
In Conference Report, April 1909, 111.

Constant Effort

I realize that it requires a constant effort on the part of each and every one of us to make a success of our lives. It requires no effort at all to roll down the hill, but it does require an effort to climb the hill to the summit. It needs no effort to walk in the broad way that leads to destruction; but it needs an effort to keep in the straight and narrow path that leads to life eternal.
In Conference Report, October 1900: 33.

Music and Hymns

Worship through Singing

Singing is a very splendid part of the worship of the Latter-day Saints.
“Sing Only What We Believe,” Improvement Era, Vol. 15, No. 9 (July 1912): 786.

Singing is Powerful

The singing of our sacred hymns, written by the servants of God, has a powerful effect in converting people to the principles of the gospel and in promoting peace and spiritual growth. Singing is a prayer to the Lord, as He has said: “For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.” [D&C 25:12.]
“Songs of the Heart,” Improvement Era, Vol 43, No. 9 (September 1940): 522.

Heavenly Influence

I am confident that the hymns of Zion, when sung with the proper spirit, bring a peaceful and heavenly influence into our homes, and also aid in preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“Learning to Sing,” Improvement Era, Vol. 3, No. 12 (October 1900): 894.

Music in the Home

There is nothing more pleasing and inspiring than music in the home, and since I learned to sing, we generally have a hymn at our house each morning before family prayer. There certainly is a delightful influence which attends the singing of the songs of Zion, and it is my opinion that the Saints should make singing part of their family worship.
“Learning to Sing,” Improvement Era, Vol. 3, No. 12 (October 1900): 892.

Sing with the Spirit

I say that the singing of the songs of Zion, though imperfectly, with the inspiration of God, will touch the hearts of the honest more effectively than if sung well without the Spirit of God. Sing with the Spirit of God. Love the words that you sing. I love the songs of Zion.
“Farewell Address,” Improvement Era, Vol. 4, No. 9 (July 1901): 686.

President Grant Quotes About Obedience

When God Commands

No obstacles are insurmountable when God commands and we obey.
In Conference Report, Oct. 1899, 18.

Becoming Like God

As we keep the commandments of God and live god-like lives, we become full of charity, long-suffering and love for our fellows, and we grow and increase in all those things that go to make us noble and god-like. We also gain the love and confidence of those by whom we are surrounded. It is by the performance of the plain, simple, everyday duties that devolve upon us that we will grow in the spirit of God.
In Conference Report, April 1900, 22.

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Why Commandments Are Given

If we examine the plan of life and salvation, if we examine the commandments that are given to us as members of the Church of God, we will find that each and every one of those commandments has been given for the express purpose that we may be benefitted, that we may be educated, that we may be qualified and prepared to go back and dwell in the presence of our Heavenly Father.

These duties and obligations are calculated to make us godlike in our dispositions. They are calculated to make Gods of us, and to fit and qualify us that we may become, as it is promised that we can become, joint heirs with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and dwell with Him in the presence of God the Eternal Father throughout all the countless ages of eternity.
“Disposition of a True Latter-day Saint,” discourse at the General Conference of the Church, held in the Tabernacle, Friday, October 4th, 1895. Cited in Collected Discourses, 4:355–56.

Willingness to Listen

There are many people who, if the servants of the Lord preach to them year after year, what is said has no particular effect upon them. But these same people, if they receive advice of some man of worldly wisdom, immediately follow it.

I remember … preaching a sermon upon the Word of Wisdom. Subsequently I learned that a good sister who heard my sermon was taken sick and wired for a doctor to come from Salt Lake City, by special engine, and it cost her several hundred dollars to learn from this doctor that she was drinking too much tea, and unless she quit, would be sure to die. She accepted his advice and got well. Had she listened to my advice which would have cost her nothing, she would have saved several hundred dollars, to say nothing about being in perfect harmony with the teachings of the Lord, as revealed in the Word of Wisdom.
In Conference Report, April 1914, 70.

Quotes by Heber J. Grant About Being Offended

I did some work for a man once, and he sent me a check for five hundred dollars with a letter apologizing for not sending me a thousand. Subsequently, I did for another individual some work which was ten times harder, involved ten times more labor and a great deal more time; and he sent me a check for one hundred fifty dollars, and told his friends he had rewarded me handsomely. …

Subsequently, I showed that check to a dear friend of mine, first explaining the work I had done and asking how much it was worth. He said: “Ten thousand, three hundred dollars.”

I pulled the check out of the drawer and handed it to him. I said: “It is only ten thousand, one hundred fifty dollars short.” …

Then he said: “Did that man intend to insult you?”

I said: “No. He told my friends he had rewarded me handsomely.”

To this he replied: “A man’s a fool who takes an insult that isn’t intended.”
“Self Judgment,” Improvement Era, Vol. 44, No. 3 (March 1941): 137.

A Heber J. Grant quote that says, "A man's a fool who takes an insult that isn't intended." — A quote by Heber J. Grant recounts a personal story that warns of the dangers of taking offense.

President Grant Quotes About Persistence
Improve Our Talents

I believe that we can accomplish any object that we make up our minds to, and no boy or girl ought to sit down and say, because they cannot do as well as somebody else, that they will not do anything. God has given to some people ten talents; to others, he has given one; but they who improve the one talent will live to see the day when they will far outshine those who have ten talents but fail to improve them.
Improvement Era, Vol. 4, No. 9 (July 1901): 684–85.

Winning Qualities

Trustworthiness, stick-to-it-iveness, and determination are the qualities that will help you to win the battle of life.
Address by President Heber J. Grant to The Deseret News Carriers during Their Annual Roundup (pamphlet, 15 Aug. 1921), 6.

Persist and Work

I know of no easy formula to success. Persist, persist, PERSIST; work, work, WORK—is what counts in the battle of life.
Northwestern Commerce, Oct. 1939, 4.

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Baseball

When I joined a base ball club, the boys of my own age, and a little older, played in the first nine, those younger than myself played in the second, and those still younger in the third and I played with them. One of the reasons for this was that I could not throw the ball from one base to the other; another reason was that I lacked physical strength to run or bat well. When I picked up a ball, the boys would generally shout, “Throw it here, sissy!” So much fun was engendered on my account by my youthful companions that I solemnly vowed that I would play baseball in the nine that would win the championship of the Territory of Utah.

My mother was keeping boarders at the time for a living, and I shined their boots until I saved a dollar, which I invested in a baseball. I spent hours and hours throwing the ball at a neighbor’s barn, (Edwin D. Woolley’s,) which caused him to refer to me as the laziest boy in the Thirteenth Ward. Often my arm would ache so that I could scarcely go to sleep at night. But I kept on practicing, and finally succeeded in getting into the second nine of our club. Subsequently I joined a better club, and eventually played in the nine that won the championship of the Territory. Having thus made good my promise to myself, I retired from the baseball arena.
“Work and Keep Your Promises,” Improvement Era Vol. 3, No. 3 (January 1900):196–197.

Learn more about how the early life of Heber J. Grant influenced his later teachings and quotations.

Singing

I have, all the days of my life, enjoyed singing very much. When I was a little boy ten years of age I joined a singing class, and the professor [Charles J. Thomas] told me that I could never learn to sing. Some years ago I had my character read by a phrenologist and he told me that I could sing, but he said he would like to be fortv miles away while I was doing it. I was practicing singing a few weeks ago in the Templeton building, and the room where I was doing so was next to that of a dentist. The people in the hall decided that someone was having his teeth extracted. … I tried to sing “O My Father” at Snowflake, Arizona, and I only got as far as the “O,” and I did not get that right.”
In Conference Report, April 1900, p. 61.

I am like a boat without a rudder, so to speak, when I try to sing. … I have a letter clear from the Philippine Islands, in which I was told, among other things, “Don’t try to sing.” The writer says: “I am in earnest.” He is one of my nearest friends too, Major Young; in fact, he and I grew up together, almost. And he tells his reason he says, “Because you will be subjected to ridicule, and there will be a great deal of criticism.”

I have had a great many of my friends come to me and beg me not to sing. Six months ago one of my fellow Apostles said to me, “Come in, Heber, but don’t sing.” The same Apostle last night asked me to sing “God moves in a mysterious way,” and after I got through complimented me upon it. I said afterward, “I noted your remarks in the Priesthood meeting, when you told men who had been ordained to the office of Patriarch, that they could not enjoy the spirit of the office unless they gave patriarchal blessings; and now,” said I, “if you will tell me how I will learn to sing without singing, I will thank you.” He said, “Sing every chance you get, Brother Grant, but do your first singing down in Mexico or Arizona or somewhere a long way off.” I said, “I have already tried that.” and I have tried it at home, and I sang this same song the other night at home. …

“That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; not that the nature of the thing itself is changed, but that our power to do is increased.” I propose to keep at it until my power to do is increased to the extent that I can sing the songs of Zion. Nobody knows the joy I have taken in standing up in the Tabernacle and other places and joining in the singing, because it used to be a perfect annoyance to me to try and to fail, besides annoying those around me; because I would sing, because I loved the words of the songs of Zion.
In Conference Report, April 1901, p.63-64.

Hear his real voice. Listen to this podcast to hear Heber J. Grant Sing

Writing

When [I was] a youth, attending school, a man was pointed out to me who kept books in Wells, Fargo and Co’s. Bank, in Salt Lake City, and it was said that he received a salary of one hundred and fifty dollars a month. Well do I remember figuring that he was earning six dollars a day, Sundays omitted, which seemed to me an enormous amount. … I dreamed of being a book-keeper, and of working for Wells, Fargo & Co., and immediately joined the book-keeping class in the Deseret University [now the University of Utah], in the hope some day of earning what I thought at that time to be an immense salary. …

Having purposed to become a book-keeper, I immediately set to work to attain this object. Well do I remember the amusement I furnished my fellow-students. One remarked when looking at my books, ‘What is it; hen tracks?’ Another said, ‘Has lightning struck an ink bottle?’ These remarks and others, while not made to hurt my feelings but in good-natured fun, nevertheless cut deep, and aroused within me a spirit of determination. I resolved to live to set copies for all who attended the university, and to be the teacher of penmanship and book-keeping in that institution.

Having a purpose and also ‘the will to labor,’ … I commenced to employ my spare time in practicing penmanship, continuing year after year until I was referred to as ‘the greatest scribbler on earth.’

The result was that some years later, I secured a position as book-keeper and policy clerk in an insurance office. Although at fifteen, I wrote a very nice hand, and it was all that was needed to satisfactorily fill the position which I then held, yet I was not fully satisfied but continued to dream and ‘scribble,’ when not otherwise occupied. I worked in the front part of A. W. White & Co’s. bank, and, when not busy, volunteered to assist with the bank work, and to do anything and everything I could to employ my time, never thinking whether I was to be paid for it or not, but having only a desire to work and learn. Mr. Morf, the book-keeper in the bank, wrote well, and took pains to assist me in my efforts to become proficient as a penman. I learned to write so well that I often earned more before and after office hours by writing cards, invitations, etc., and making maps, than the amount of my regular salary. Some years later, a diploma at the Territorial Fair was awarded me for the finest penmanship in Utah. When I engaged in business for myself, there was a vacancy at the university in the position of teacher of penmanship and book-keeping, and to make good the promise to myself, made when a youth of twelve or thirteen, that I would some day teach these branches, I applied for the situation. My application was accepted, and my obligation to myself was thus discharged.
“The Nobility of Labor,” Improvement Era, Vol. 3, No. 2 (December 1899): 82–84.

Heber J. Grant Quotes About Prayer

Supplicate God

The minute a man stops supplicating God for his spirit and directions just so soon he starts out to become a stranger to him and his works.
In Conference Report, October 1944, 9.

Keep the Channel of Communication Open

If we do not keep this channel of communication open between us and our Heavenly Father, then we are robbed of the light and the inspiration of His Spirit, and of that feeling of gratitude and thanksgiving that fills our heart and that desire to praise God for His goodness and mercy to us.

There is no feeling that is more Godlike than that feeling of intense gratitude and thanksgiving to God that comes when we realize and feel that God has blessed us.
“Being Doers of the Word,” remarks at the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, on Sunday, November 6, 1892, reported by Arthur Winter. Cited in Collected Discourses, 3:192–93.

Heber J. Grant Quotes About Priesthood

It is not an insignificant thing to hold the Priesthood of God—to have the right to influence the powers of the heavens for good.
Journal History, October 4, 1895.

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Heber Grant Quotes About Teaching

Let the Mysteries Wait

Teach and live the first principles of the gospel, and let the mysteries of heaven wait until you get to heaven.
In Conference Report, April 1924, 8.

Pay the Price of Preparation

The trouble with a great many people is, they are not willing to pay the price; they are not willing to make the fight for success in the battle of life.

They are much like the people of whom I read in Brother N. L. Nelson’s book on preaching. … I read about people taking literally the instructions to take no thought of what one should say; and Brother Nelson [a professor at Brigham Young Academy] wrote that many of those who took no thought at all never said much, as they were going contrary to the teaching that we were to prepare ourselves; and he says, regarding the people who take no thought, that when they speak they … say, “Oh, Lord, here I am. I have a mouth and a pair of lungs that I will loan thee for a brief season; fill me with wisdom that I may edify the people,” which he seldom does.
In Conference Report, October 1919, 4–5.

Teaching Children

There is a saying that “As the twig is bent the tree is inclined.” You who teach our children are engaged in the labor of bending the twig.
“To Those Who Teach Our Children,” Improvement Era, Vol. 42, No. 3 (March 1939): 135.

Heber J. Grant Quotes About Testimony

You can not transfer to others that which you get yourself. I can no more give a man a testimony of this gospel than I can eat for him. I can tell him how to get it. I can tell him of the blessings of God to me. But each and every man must live the gospel if he expects to obtain an individual testimony of the divinity of this work.
“First Presidency Stresses Value of Personal Testimony in Tabernacle Talks: President Heber J. Grant,” Deseret News, 16 June 1934, Church section, 6.

President Grant Quotes About Tithing

Be Honest with God

I appeal to the Latter-day Saints to be honest with the Lord and I promise them that peace, prosperity and financial success will attend those who are honest with our Heavenly Father. … When we set our hearts upon the things of this world and fail to be strictly honest with the Lord we do not grow in the light and power and strength of the gospel as we otherwise would do.
In Conference Report, October 1929, 4–5.

Heber J. Grant Quotes About Science and Evolution

Statement on Evolution

Upon the fundamental doctrines of the Church we are all agreed. Our mission is to bear the message of the restored gospel to the world. Leave geology, biology, archaeology, and anthropology, no one of which has to do with the salvation of the souls of mankind, to scientific research, while we magnify our calling in the realm of the Church. …Upon one thing we should all be able to agree, namely, that Presidents Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, and Anthon H. Lund were right when they said: ‘Adam is the primal parent of our race.’
First Presidency to Council of the Twelve, First Council of Seventy, and Presiding Bishopric, April 7, 1931, First Presidency Miscellaneous Correspondence.

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Heber J. Grant Quotes About Scriptures

To a Latter-day Saint a book of this size [holding up the Book of Mormon], containing the names of his ancestors, is worth many, many times, hundreds of times more than its weight in gold.
In Conference Report, October 1919, 23.

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Heber J. Grant Quotes About Service

Secret of Happiness

The real secret of happiness in life and the way in which to prepare ourselves for the hereafter is service.
Church Section, Deseret News, September 26, 1931.

Genuine Charity

Many people imagine that charity is giving a dollar to somebody; but real, genuine charity is giving love and sympathy, and that is the kind of charity that the apostle had reference to in this 13th chapter of First Corinthians.
In Conference Report, October 1920, 8.

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President Grant’s Account of a Vision

There are two spirits striving with us always, one telling us to continue our labor for good, and one telling us that with the faults and failings of our nature we are unworthy. I can truthfully say that from October, 1882, until February, 1883, that spirit followed me day and night telling me that I was unworthy to be an Apostle of the Church, and that I ought to resign. When I would testify of my knowledge that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Redeemer of mankind, it seemed as though a voice would say to me: ‘You lie! You lie! You have never seen Him.’

While on the Navajo Indian reservation … as I was riding along … I seemed to see, and I seemed to hear, what to me is one of the most real things in all my life, I seemed to see a Council in Heaven. I seemed to hear the words that were spoken. I listened to the discussion with a great deal of interest. The First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles had not been able to agree on two men to fill the vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve. There had been a vacancy of one for two years, and a vacancy of two for one year, and the Conference had adjourned without the vacancies being filled. In this Council the Savior was present, my father was there, and the Prophet Joseph Smith was there. They discussed the question that a mistake had been made in not filling those two vacancies and that in all probability it would be another six months before the Quorum would be completed, and they discussed as to whom they wanted to occupy those positions, and decided that the way to remedy the mistake that had been made in not filling these vacancies was to send a revelation. It was given to me that the Prophet Joseph Smith and my father mentioned me and requested that I be called to that position.

I sat there and wept for joy. It was given to me that I had done nothing to entitle me to that exalted position, except that I had lived a clean, sweet life. It was given to me that because of my father having practically sacrificed his life in what was known as the great Reformation, so to speak, of the people in early days, having been practically a martyr, that the Prophet Joseph and my father desired me to have that position, and it was because of their faithful labors that I was called, and not because of anything I had done of myself or any great thing that I had accomplished.

It was also given to me that that was all these men, the Prophet and my father, could do for me; from that day it depended upon me and upon me alone as to whether I made a success of my life or a failure.
In Conference Report, April 1941, 4–7.

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Heber J. Grant Quotes About War

Pray for Peace

The Saints on either side have no course open to them but to support that government to which they owe allegiance. But their prayers should go up day and night that God will turn the hearts of their leaders towards peace, that the curse of war may end.
Statement by the First Presidency, in Conference Report, October 1940, 6; read by President David O. McKay.

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God is Grieved by War

We … declare that God is grieved by war and that he will hold subject to the eternal punishments of his will those who wage it unrighteously.

We affirm that all international controversies may be settled by [peaceful] means if nations will but deal unselfishly and righteously one with another. We appeal to the leaders of all nations and to the people themselves thus to mend and adjust their differences, lest the vials of God’s wrath be poured out upon the earth, for he has said he will visit his wrath upon the wicked without measure.
Message from the First Presidency, in Conference Report, October 1939, 8; read by President Heber J. Grant.

Heber J. Grant Quotes About Welfare and Humanitarian Efforts

Work is the Ruling Principle

Our primary purpose [in establishing the Church’s welfare program] was to set up, in so far as it might be possible, a system under which the curse of idleness would be done away with, the evils of a dole abolished, and independence, industry, thrift and self-respect be once more established amongst our people. The aim of the Church is to help the people to help themselves. Work is to be re-enthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership.
Message from the First Presidency, in Conference Report, October 1936, 3; read by President Heber J. Grant.

Help Every Man to Help Himself

It is an easy thing to throw a dollar to a man, but it requires sympathy and a heart to take an interest in him and try to plan for his welfare and benefit. And it is a principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ, now, as it always has been, to help every man to help himself—to help every child of our Father in heaven to work out his own salvation, both temporally and spiritually.
In Conference Report, April 1945, 8.

Heber J. Grant Quotes About the Word of Wisdom

Observe the Word of Wisdom

I have met any number of people who have said the Word of Wisdom is not a command from the Lord, that it is not given by way of commandment. But the Word of Wisdom is the will of the Lord and the Lord says in the words that I have just read that it is not meet that we should be commanded in all things (D&C 58:26-29) . . . One of the best ways in all the world to bring to pass much righteousness is to set an example as a conscientious, God-fearing Latter-day Saint, observing all of the requirements of the Lord.
In Conference Report, April 1931, 12–13.

Avoid Addiction

The Lord does not want you to use any drug that creates an appetite for itself.
In Conference Report, April 1922, 165.

Who Was John A. Widtsoe?

Benefits of the Word of Wisdom

There is absolutely no benefit to any human being derived from breaking the Word of Wisdom, but there is everything for his benefit, morally, intellectually, physically and spiritually in obeying it.
In Conference Report, October 1944, 8.

President Grant Quotes About Work

Work to the Full Extent

We should have an ambition, we should have a desire to work to the full extent of our ability. Work is pleasing to the Lord.
In Conference Report, October 1938, 15.

Work to Receive

To get all we can, and give as little as possible in return—is contrary to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“For Service Rendered,” Improvement Era, Vol. 43, No. 3 (March 1940): 137.

Heber J. Grant Frequently Asked Questions

What is Heber J. Grant remembered for?

Heber J. Grant is remembered for his emphasis on the Word of Wisdom, memorable teachings about persistence, his business acumen, opposition to continuing polygamy in the 1920s and 1930s, opening missionary work in Japan, and the creation of the Church Welfare System during the Great Depression.

Did Heber J. Grant have more than one wife?

Yes. Heber J. Grant married for the first time in 1877 (Lucy Stringham) and then twice more in 1884 (Augusta Winters and Emily H. Wells). However, by the time he became church president, only one of his wives, Augusta, was still alive.

How many children did Heber J. Grant have?

Heber J. Grant had ten daughters and two sons; both sons died as children.

Who were Heber J. Grant’s mother and father?

Heber J. Grant’s mother was Rachel Ridgeway Ivins Grant. His father was Jedediah Morgan Grant, who had served as a seventy, the mayor of Salt Lake City, and a member of the First Presidency. Jedediah died on December 1, 1856, when Heber was only nine days old. Rachel raised Heber as a single mother, and Heber adored her.

Where was Heber J. Grant buried?

Heber J. Grant was buried at the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

What was Heber J. Grant’s profession?

Heber J. Grant was a businessman who was involved in operating insurance agencies, magazines, a bank, the Utah Sugar Company, etc.

How long was Heber J. Grant the prophet?

Heber J. Grant led The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as president for over 26 years, from November 23, 1918, to May 14, 1945. The only president of the Church to have served longer in the role was Brigham Young.

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