J. Golden Kimball: Quotes From the "Swearing Apostle"

J. Golden Kimball’s most authentic quotes reveal a man who balanced sharp, legendary wit with a profound, unyielding commitment to individual testimony. Often remembered as the “swearing Apostle,” Kimball used his candid style to challenge spiritual complacency, warning that no one can survive on “borrowed light” or inherited faith. He frequently spoke of his father, Heber C. Kimball, and of his prophecies to steady a “rising generation” he feared was becoming “mentally lazy” through modern luxury and debt. Similar to our Dallin H. Oaks Quotes collection, this page curates the discourses of a unique General Authority to show how his humor served a larger mission of promoting honesty, repentance, and grit.

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Humor of J. Golden Kimball

They Paid to Get Out

I remember a long time ago when the Mutuals launched the Era. I was on a trip with Apostle Francis M. Lyman. …

The people had not seen an Apostle for twenty years, and it was Sunday, a fast day. Meetings were begun in the morning and they kept them up all day, and we were fasting. I was pretty nearly dead at four o’clock.

After four o’clock Brother Lyman said, “Now, Brother Kimball, get up and tell them about the Era.” …

So I did, and I said: “All you men that will take the Era if we will let you go home, raise your right hand.”

There was not a single man who did not raise his hand and subscribed and paid $2.00 cash for the Era. (Laughter)

Brother Lyman said: “That is the brightest thing you ever did.”

I do not claim that was inspiration; it was good psychology. Really they paid $2.00 to get out.
Conference Report, April 1932, p.78.

Sleeping Potion

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.
Parshall, A. (2015, Mar 31). From the Notebook of J. Golden Kimball (1 of 3).

You Need Dynamite

You don’t need earthquakes, thunder, and lightning—you need dynamite to blow you into eternity and then do a vicarious work for you.
J. Golden Kimball, Letter to Max Kimball, July 12, 1927, box 4, J. Golden Kimball Papers, 1883–1981, University of Utah.

Not Worth the Trouble of Damnation

I will say this: The day of the Laodicean is past, “because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,” saith the voice that spake on the Isle of Patmos, I will spue thee out of my mouth. “There are whole men whose mere bodies are in shameful service, but these half men, these Laodiceans, are the servile souls; they are not worth the trouble and expense of damnation.”
Conference Report, April 1911, p.68.

Too Much Preaching

I have heard so much about goodness that sometimes I get unhappy, even at conference, and I feel like a little girl I heard of that did wrong. Her mother importuned her and labored with her, just as we have labored with you people, and she said, “Mother, don’t try to make me good; shoot me.”
Cited in Claude Richards, J. Golden Kimball: The Story of a Unique Personality (Deseret News Press, 1934), 82.

Advice to Missionaries

Oh, brethren, avoid wine and women as you would the gates of hell.
Conference Report, April 1902, p.11.

J. Golden Kimball Quotes About Agency

Salvation is an Individual Work

I am a strong advocate of individuality and agency. I value it above everything that I can conceive of, except salvation. I am very doubtful if a man can be saved in the kingdom of God who has no individuality, and does not assert his agency, because salvation is an individual work.
Conference Report, April 1907, pp. 78.

Borrowed Light

There are not Apostles enough in the Church to prevent us from thinking, and they are not disposed to do so; but some people fancy because we have the Presidency and Apostles of the Church they will do the thinking for us. There are men and women so mentally lazy that they hardly think for themselves. To think calls for effort, which makes some men tired and wearies their souls.

Now, brethren and sisters, we are surrounded with such conditions that it requires not only thought, but the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Latter-day Saints, you must think for yourselves. No man or woman can remain in this Church on borrowed light.
Conference Report, April 1904, p.28.

This J. Golden Kimball quote discusses the need to think for yourselves and have your own testimony.

J. Golden Kimball Quotes About Attitude

Your Thought Factory

Your mind is your thought factory. We must be broad minded, kind, loving and forgiving and do our own thinking. Narrow minds make narrow views and such men spread about them pin headed ideas and are obstructions to the progress of the church. Lincoln said, such men reminded him of Steve Michles, “his head was full of ignorance but he’ll know how to get home when the time comes.”
Parshall, A. (2015, Apr 23). From the Notebook of J. Golden Kimball (3 of 3).

I Feel Happy

I feel happy, just as happy as a man can feel with the rheumatism.
Conference Report, October 1906, p.117.

Be a “Truth Gusher”

We need to awaken from our slumbers and affirm our birthright of divine power and use the intelligence and knowledge with mighty power and zeal. …

To illustrate: In some oil wells the oil has to be drawn by pumping. It is a hard, slow process, and while the oil that is thus obtained is first class, the flow is so meager and the cost of obtaining it is so high that the dividends are very few.

A real well, after it has been drilled, cased and made all ready is shot with a powerful charge of explosive at the bottom to make a great opening for the flow of oil. If everything goes well a gusher follows.

It is just as easy to be a “Truth gusher” as to be a pumper. What some of us need is a strong charge of spiritual dynamite. Of course, spiritual dynamite is composed of faith, hope, love, kindness, friendship, helpfulness, brotherhood and service.

Cease pumping others and “shoot” yourself, that is, work out your own salvation before spending your efforts on others, knowing always that it is God that works in us and with us both to will and to keep his commandments.
Parshall, A. (2015, Apr 15). From the Notebook of J. Golden Kimball (2 of 3).

J. Golden Quotes About Criticism and Judgement

Mind Your Own Business

Now, brethren and sisters, some find a great deal of fault with the Church. … Now, where is the fault?

I invite every one of you to go home and find it, and I promise that if you find any big fault anywhere it will be right in your own home. If you can handle your own home, and mind your own business, you will have no time for fault-finding.
Conference Report, April 1913, pp.89–90.

The Church of Jesus Christ

The question always arises in my mind as to whether we joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or joined ourselves to the presiding officers.

I remember hearing related a story of one of our brethren being severely reproved by President Brigham Young, and afterwards said: “Now go and apostatize.”

The reply came back, “I will never do it, this is not your Church but the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

We must each and every one of us have this lesson indelibly impressed upon us, and cease troubling ourselves outside of those things for which we are responsible.
Conference Report, October 1901, p. 55.

Brigham Young Quotes with Historical Citations

Name a Better Man

Whenever the Lord wants to speak to his people he knows whom to talk to. I have known President Grant during my labors in the First Council. … I know of no better man. I am not one of those who cater to men. I sustain them and uphold them, but I have learned that they are human. I sustain and uphold, with all my heart and soul, President Heber J. Grant as the prophet of God.

It was only two months ago that a young lawyer—I suppose he considers himself one of the brilliant young lawyers–undertook to criticize severely the President of the Church. I was somewhat disturbed. I said, “I am going to take out my watch and give you five minutes to name a better man.” I haven’t heard from him yet.
Conference Report, April 1930, p.61.

Begin With Yourself

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.”
Conference Report, October 1921, p. 83.

Do Not Bother About Me

Now, brethren, you can judge yourselves. Do not bother about me. Be concerned about yourselves, and I will get along the best way I can. If I do not make it, there is no reason why you should not; and if I can make it, anyone can make it.
Conference Report, April 1926, p. 47.

J. Golden Kimball Quotes About Dedication

Half-way Men

There is another class of men. I call them Half-Way Men; I pray God I may never be found among them. …

When it comes to self-sacrifice, fighting for the truth, they are like the dying man who was asked by the minister, “Will you denounce the devil and all his workings?”

The dying man looked up in a feeble and distressed way and said, “Please don’t ask me to do that. I am going to a strange country, and I don’t want to make any enemies.”
Conference Report, October 1912, p.27.

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Some of You Place too Much Stress Upon Positions

I desire to say to the rising generation, You do not have to be Apostles, you do not have to be Presidents of Stakes, nor Bishops to enjoy the gifts and blessings pertaining to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I say to you that some of you—and I may be among that number—place too place too much stress upon the positions that men hold in the Church, and we fancy in our weakness that we cannot be saved, that we cannot serve God, that we cannot be faithful and true and enjoy revelation from God, unless we have high office in the Church. …

The poorest man in all Israel, though he may carry a hod and be dressed like a pauper, is entitled to revelation from God, and he is entitled to lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover through the prayer of faith.
Conference Report, April 1901, p.61.

Jonathan Golden Kimball Quotes About the Earth

I call your attention to the fact that this earth is your habitation; that this earth is your heaven, or will be. … If this earth is to be your heaven, I think you had better have an inheritance here, don’t you?

I do not believe the doctrine for one minute that you people, or myself (and I think I am as good as some of you), are going immediately after death to the arms of Jehovah.

It will take some of us a long time to get there. You had better be very good and take care of this earth.
Conference Report, October 1906, p.118.

Elder Gérald Caussé: Inspiring Quotes From a New Apostle

J. Golden Kimball Quotes About Family

Make Out of Hades a Heaven

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.
Parshall, A. (2015, Apr 23). From the Notebook of J. Golden Kimball (3 of 3).

The Patience of Job

The father almost needs the patience of Job to get a family together for morning prayer. That is pretty plain talk, but you seem to understand what I mean. I guess you have tried it.
Conference Report, April 1913, p.89.

Insights From Andrew Kimball on Heber C. Kimball’s Life and Family

I Honor My Father

I honor my father for his faith, courage and integrity to God the Father and to his Son Jesus Christ.

He was one of the first chosen apostles that never desired the Prophet’s place—his hands never shook, his knees never trembled and he was true and steadfast to the Church and to the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Conference Report, April 1928, p.77.

Proud of It

I think you recognize the fact that I am the son of a prophet of God [Heber C. Kimball]. And I am mighty proud of it.
Conference Report, October 1917, p.135.

J. Golden Kimball Quotes About God

The Biggest Idea

To get a true conception of God is the biggest idea I have ever tried to comprehend.
Conference Report, April 1923, p.126.

A God of Love

I have no fear of the hereafter. I am not afraid of God. I know God is a God of love, a Father who will look after you, if you will trust him.
Conference Report, October 1927, p. 55.

An Equal Chance

I love God for one thing, if nothing else, that He gives to every one of His children, black or white, bond or free, an equal chance. I like equality of opportunity, and whenever parents make a favorite of a child, I feel sorry for the favorite. If you want to destroy your family show favoritism, and do not give every child an equal chance.
Conference Report, April 1913, p.87.

J. Golden Kimball spoke about trusting in God as a Father of love who will take care of you.

J. Golden Quotes About the Gospel

The Gospel of Christ Makes You Better

I want to tell you there is no fault in the organization of the Church, it is perfect. There is no fault in the gospel of Christ if lived up to it makes you better; it makes you good in your home; it makes you good to your wife, and good to your children.

It makes you good on the streets; it makes you honest; it makes you kind and generous. I know that, nobody knows it better than I do.

That is what the religion of Christ does.
Conference Report, April 1913, p.89.

The Fruit of Religion

The fruit of religion manifests itself in the lives of men. By their fruits ye shall know them. There can be no deception by men who love God and keep his commandments. We are one and all God’s children. He created us and he never created a failure, and he created you.
Conference Report, October 1926, p.130.

Construction is Difficult

Construction is very difficult, destruction is easy. Ordinary men can criticize and destroy. It has required much sacrifice to establish this Church.
Conference Report, October 1906, p.117.

Elder J. Golden Kimball Quotes About the Holy Spirit and Revelation

The Greatest of All

[Wilford Woodruff] told me more than once: “Now, Brother Kimball, I have had visions, I have had revelations, I have seen angels, but the greatest of all is that still small voice.”
Conference Report, April 1924, p. 70.

Necessary to Have the Spirit of God

Sometimes, and very often, the servants of God speak by the Spirit of God, but some of the people haven’t got the same spirit, and do not believe the servants of God.

Now, brethren, I want to express to you this thought, that it is just as necessary for you Latter-day Saints to have the Spirit of God as it is for the apostles and the seventies and the presidents of stakes and the bishops, for when you speak, or when the servants of God speak under the influence of the Holy Spirit, it is the word of God to the Latter-day Saints.
Conference Report, October 1918, p.30.

How Did Latter-day Saint Doctrine of the Holy Ghost Develop?

A Living Fire

Brethren and sisters, I have a conviction burning within me, sometimes like a living fire. There are a lot of things I do not know, but I know some things. I have paid the price. I have eaten the bread of adversity.

I have told you that before. I have found God, and he has answered my prayers. I have heard that still small Voice—we call it a Voice—spoken to me not infrequently and whenever I followed it I was right. So that I can say with you that I am blessed in all my ways, because the Father gives to me his Holy Spirit to guide and direct me in every situation, if I am humble and contrite in spirit and in truth.
Conference Report, October 1924, p. 71.

That Burning Within Me

I know that I have felt that joy, that peace, that satisfaction, that burning within me that comes from the influence of the Spirit of the Lord.
Conference Report, 1897, p.50.

Write It Down

If the Lord ever does give you an inspiration, for heaven’s sake write it down and remember it. If Joseph Smith the prophet had not done that, you would never have had some things contained in the Doctrine and Covenants.
Conference Report, April 1927, p. 53.

The Holy Ghost Does Not Remain with the Unrepentant

What can the Lord do with people who are not virtuous, unless they repent? You cannot change the laws of the Lord. Men may deceive men; they may deceive apostles; they may deceive the President of the Church; they may even get into the temple, but that would not make them virtuous.

You may confer the Holy Ghost upon them by the laying on of hands, but the Holy Ghost does not remain with the unrepentant; it will not remain in an unclean tabernacle.

To deceive men is easy, but I want to tell you in the name of Israel’s God, and this thought should be burned into the souls of our sons and daughters, that unless they repent of all their sins and cease immoral practices, they cannot remain in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Holy Ghost will not stay with them; they will not have the testimony of Jesus. This doctrine is true.
Conference Report, April 1909, p.37.

J. Golden Kimball Quotes About Jesus Christ

The Savior’s Mission

The more we think of and study Christ’s way of living and preaching, the more we are impressed that there was a lack of fixed formalities or haste in his plan of work. There were no false standards of time, no statistics, no wrong estimates of the great importance of numbers. His mission was to minister to seeking hearts anywhere and at any time. The only time, so far as we know, that Jesus excluded himself was when he went aside alone to pray.

How strikingly in contrast with our modern conceptions of the value of time, and of organization, and of efficiency, which so completely fills our days with one pressing engagement after another, running hither and thither, until we have little or not time to minister to the needy, the hungry, the naked, the disconsolate ones who are ever with us. It would almost seem that materialism and selfishness and greed have nearly driven out of us that Christlike spirit.
Conference Report, April 1934, p. 32.

The Test

Heber C. Kimball, a short time before he died, often said to the people, “O, the test, the test, the test—who will be able to stand? And the answer comes back, ‘Only those who know that Jesus is the Christ.'”

Don’t go off and forget it. There is a great test on, and it is only those who know that Jesus is the Christ that will be able to stand.
Conference Report, October 1917, p.135.

J. Golden Kimball Quotes About Joseph Smith

If any man can prove to me that Joseph Smith is not a prophet of God, he has taken everything; he has burned every bridge behind me. I never saw the Prophet, but I have heard my father often talk about him and I have read his revelations and his prophecies, as a witness for God, and I know they are true.

He is a prophet of God. I sustain the Church and uphold the hands of the priesthood as best I know how.
Conference Report, October 1926, pp.131–132.

“The Grand Fundamental Principles of Mormonism”: Joseph Smith Quotes

J. Golden Kimball Quotes About Love and Service

Where Is Thy Brother?

It would seem to me we are neglecting the weightier matter, as the question comes straight as an arrow like a piercing sword: Where is thy brother?

Jesus makes this clear in the sermon on the Mount. That it’s not much use to try to talk with God unless we are right with our brother. Just leave the gift and forget it until you find your brother and get right with him and then you can talk with God and not until then.

Our personal salvation, the greatest gift from God to man, brings out the first question: Where art thou? and the second is like unto it: Where is thy brother?
Parshall, A. (2015, Apr 15). From the Notebook of J. Golden Kimball (2 of 3).

There Are No Little Things

Kind words never die. There are no little things. Do a kind act, speak a kind word, give cheer and courage to others and reach out a helping hand to the down and outer and you are sure headed in the right direction.
Parshall, A. (2015, Apr 23). From the Notebook of J. Golden Kimball (3 of 3).

J. Golden Kimball spoke about how even small things, like kind words, make a big difference.

Treat All Such Kindly

There are some people in this church who do not pay their tithing, do not attend conference, do not listen to the words of the Prophets, and do not work for the salvation of the souls of the children of men. … I hope the ship will stop just long enough for them to get off. The door is wide open; and, as someone has said, “when you want to go to hell, black your boots and go like a gentleman.” If I leave this church I hope I will have manhood enough to leave it like a man, and not be a traitor and fight the people. I said to one man once, “You have a right to leave this church, and it is a very simple thing to do. Just notify those in authority that you desire to withdraw.” It is our business to treat all such kindly, to sympathize with them, and if possible to uplift them.
Conference Report, April 1905, p.54.

J. Golden Kimball Quotes About Materialism and Money

The Prodigal Dollar

At no time in the history of this great nation has there been greater danger than for this new generation. The danger comes from ease, idleness and luxury, as there never was a time when the people were spending their means as prodigally as now and ever reaching out after material things.

The prodigal dollar seems to be swallowing all that is great and noble in the nation.
Conference Report, April 1930, p.63.

What Money Does

If I had a million dollars, I’d be the most sought-after man in the Church. But I haven’t got it—damn it.
Cited in Claude Richards, J. Golden Kimball: The Story of a Unique Personality (Deseret News Press, 1934), 97.

Debt

An honest man is in hell when he is in debt. I know all about the feeling.
Conference Report, October 1931, p.56.

The Worst Hell

I don’t know anything about hell, but that is the worst hell I have ever been in—to be in debt. I can tell you how you can keep out of debt; but I can’t tell you how to get out after you get in.
Conference Report, October 1921, p.85.

Take Your Medicine

I am foolish. I don’t think there is a bigger fool than an old fool. A man who has had experience ought to know better.

One of my brethren said to me and he is a man so kind and gentle that I had every reason to believe he would extend to me a little sympathy—told him of one of my last speculations and he said: “If you are as big a sucker as that you ought to take your medicine.”

I said: “I am taking it, and it is not sugar-coated either.”
Conference Report, October 1931, p.57.

Lick Paste

“The Lord is my shepherd.” Do you believe that? “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Then why worry your head off for fear you will go to the poor house? … One good mother stated that her son wrote her and said, “I have only $3, and if you do not send me some money I will be licking the paste off the signboards.” And the mother came to me somewhat disturbed and said: “Brother Kimball, what shall I do?” I said, “Let him lick paste for a while; he will find the Lord, but he never will with his pocket full of money.”
Conference Report, April 1926, pp.59–60.

Don’t Keep a Woman in Idleness

Young people, steer away from modern civilization. Don’t stress money and massacre your species by marrying a woman to keep her in idleness, to deny her sufficient interest in life to make her life worth living. Don’t make your wife mark time on the road to eternity, for if you try it she will learn to hate you.

Parshall, A. (2015, Apr 23). From the Notebook of J. Golden Kimball (3 of 3).

J. Golden Kimball Quotes About Politics

God Save the People

I feel to say, “God save the people, not kings, but the people.” If I had written that poetry, I would have said, “God save the people”—and to [hell] with the kings, but as I didn’t write it, will refrain from saying it.
Conference Report, April 1918, p.133.

More to Divide

Politics has done more to divide the people and to interfere with our religious convictions more than all else.
J. Golden Kimball, Letter to Andrew Kimball, November 8, 1906, box 5, fd 2, Andrew Kimball Papers, LDS Church History Library.

The Council of Fifty: A Constitution for the Kingdom of God

J. Golden Kimball Quotes About Prayer

On Friendly Terms with God

Father had men working for him for a good many years, and he had one he called Colossians Smith. It was in the days of hardships and poverty, and men had great difficulty. They employed a great many people, the brethren did, that was a part of their religion. He employed the colonel, who had been a soldier in Great Britain, and on one occasion he went to father for a pair of shoes, and I guess father felt pretty cross, and answered him a little abruptly, perhaps. So the Colonel went home feeling badly, and when he prayed that night, he made a complaint to God against father, saying that “Thy servant Heber” was not treating him right.

When he came past that little place on Gordon avenue, next morning, father came out and said, “Robert, what did you complain against me for? You come in and get your shoes, and don’t do it again?” Now, how did he know that Colossians Robert Smith, who lived away down in the Nineteenth ward, had filed a complaint against him?

Don’t you think that we can get on friendly terms with God? Not on familiar terms, but friendly terms. I tell you, God will answer your prayers.
Conference Report, April 1913, p.90.

God Answered My Prayers

In 1892 I was again appointed, under President Wilford Woodruff, to preside over the Southern States Mission.

It was during that period of time that I found God; as my father said: God answered my prayers, and isn’t that a pretty good evidence that God lives? My testimony was fixed and fast, and what I knew I learned by obedience and through suffering.
Conference Report, October 1930, p.58.

Wilford Woodruff Quotes: A Prophet’s Insights

J. Golden Kimball Quotes About Preaching

I Would Like My Preaching to Have Color

My temperament is such that I cannot say anything inspiring, or bubble with enthusiasm, and be clear, happy, or joyous, if I have to wear a restraining collar and cater to popular sentiments.

I would like my preaching to have color, thrill, feel homelike, and revive old memories, and myself feel free as a colt in a pasture. Now, if I can’t feel that way among the Latter-day Saints, where on earth can I go that I will feel free?
Conference Report, October 1912, p.26.

We Preach Too Long

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.
Parshall, A. (2015, Apr 23). From the Notebook of J. Golden Kimball (3 of 3).

Chaff and Wheat

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.

If a man in this Church, ever does say a foolish thing, they will remember it to the very day of their death; and it is the only thing some of them do remember. I think they do mighty well to remember that.
Conference Report, October 1921, pp.83–84.

To Say What You Think

It takes lots of courage to say always what you think. The trouble is, we think things sometimes we ought not to say.
Conference Report, April 1910, p.53.

Give a Word of Cheer

It has been a number of years since I have followed Elder Roberts in the pulpit. The first time I ever saw President Roberts was in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The first time I ever heard him preach the gospel was in Burk’s Garden. I confess, at that time and for a considerable length of time afterwards, I was always awe-struck, and almost beaten into silence when asked to follow him in his public addresses. But I am thankful to the Lord that I have gotten over it, that I no longer feel that way.

It has been a fight all my life to follow men who have great ability and who were greatly blessed as public speakers. My lesson came to me in this way, that I discovered that no man was ever created that could reach all the people at one time, and I figured that there must be some poor soul with bowed head who was discouraged and disheartened to whom I might, through the blessings of the Lord, and under the influence of his holy Spirit, give a word of cheer.
Conference Report, October 1926, p.127.

B. H. Roberts Quotes

Practice What You Preach

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?
Parshall, A. (2015, Mar 31). From the Notebook of J. Golden Kimball (1 of 3).

I Never Dare Quote Scripture

I am going to read to you a little that has been culled from the Bible as to the mission of Christ. I would quote it, but I never dare quote scripture, for after I get through quoting you wouldn’t recognize it. (Laughter.)

I am a little like father, when he used to quote scripture, he would say, “Well, if that isn’t in the Bible, it ought to be in it.”
Conference Report, October 1910, p.32.

Pleasant Countenances and a Happy People

In standing before the Latter-day Saints this afternoon, I desire to say those things that are timely, and to speak under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Notwithstanding the seriousness of the occasion, having met as a part of the great Annual Conference, we need not pull long faces and put on an air of self righteousness, thinking it indicates faith and is more pleasing to the Lord. The Lord has said, “Cease from your light speeches, and excess of laughter,” but He surely is pleased with pleasant countenances and a happy people, although wit and humor, may be out of place in houses of worship.

I read somewhere the following: “Many persons who never had a bright idea in their heads, or a generous sentiment in their hearts, assuming an air of owlish wisdom, affect to disdain wit and humor, having never heard of the great truth enunciated by Charles Lamb: ‘A laugh is worth a hundred groans in any market.’ The idea is propagated that mutual dryness is indicative of wisdom.” I realize that my reputation for wisdom has been greatly injured by repeating jokes in my public utterances, and that, because of my calling in the ministry, I should, in the estimation of some people, be as solemn as an owl.
Conference Report, April 1906, p.74.

J. Golden Kimball Quotes About Progress

We Must Be Reaching

We must be reaching, climbing, towelling and trying to prepare ourselves for the great events of life. … I desire to illustrate the idea I wish to convey, by telling the following story, I once heard:

One of our Bishops in early days was accustomed to floating logs down the Mississippi river. Occasionally one would break loose and find its way into a whirlpool, and it would go round and round until it was wasted away. The log was traveling all the time but was left behind and made no progress.
Conference Report, October 1901, p. 56.

It Will Take a Long Time

If Golden Kimball, can’t be saved in the flesh … then I believe God will save him on the other side. … It may take a hundred years to save me, but if I get through in a thousand years it will be a most profitable investment.

I have no fancied notions; I have gotten rid of tradition, and of a few false ideas that rested on me. I do not expect to become a god, right away. No, it will take a long time; I am too ignorant.
Conference Report, April 1907, p.82.

It Takes a Live One

Any fish can swim down stream, but it takes a live one to swim up stream.
J. Golden Kimball, Letter to Max Kimball, February 19, 1927, box 4, J. Golden Kimball Papers, 1883–1981, University of Utah.

You Will All Be Saved

Brethren, let us be tolerant; let us be kind and considerate. It is the proper thing to despise sin and wickedness; but I think it is wrong to despise the man that has a weakness, and make him feel that he is good for nothing, and that there is not much chance for him.

I think I can safely say to you Latter-day Saints: You will all be saved, every one of you; the only difference will be this, some will be saved sooner than others. Every man that has transgressed and done wrong must pay the penalty of his transgression, for salvation costs something, and you have to pay the price or you don’t get it.
Conference Report, April 1908, p.118.

Are There 3 Degrees in the Celestial Kingdom?

J. Golden Kimball Quotes About Repentance

All God Asks Me to Do

I stand before you a transgressor, but I am trying to be saved, and that is all God asks me to do. Any man who tries to do the right thing and continues to try, is not a failure in the sight of God.
Conference Report, April 1907, p.82.

God Will Forgive

Let us awake from indifference and carelessness, and bring forth fruit unto repentance. The test is in that, and another test the Master directed His disciples to say is, “By their fruits ye shall know them.”

I acknowledge that I am imperfect, and no one is more sorry than I am. I have made mistakes, blunders, but I have faith in God, and I know God will forgive a man who repents.
Conference Report, April 1913, pp.88–89.

Unless You Keep Him Under

What can God do for a man who is not honest? You may baptize him every fifteen minutes, but if he does not repent, he will come up out of the water just as dishonest as ever.

What can God do for a liar who refuses to repent? Can the Lord save him? He can’t claim salvation. Baptising him in water will not settle the trouble, unless you keep him under.
Conference Report, April 1909, p.37.

Be Generous and Forgiving

Now, brethren, let us repent, if we have got any bitterness in our hearts toward each other, let us be generous, and forgiving. No man has any influence or power for good when angry.
Conference Report, April 1909, p. 38.

J. Golden Kimball Quotes About Temples

The Devil Never Has Been Comfortable

If you want to stay with this Church, be true to your covenants. The time will come when you will be—as you are now—a light set upon a hill.

I tell you, all the devils in hell cannot destroy this Church. And the devil never has been entirely comfortable since that temple (the Salt Lake Temple) was completed.
Conference Report, April 1903, p.32.

Who Built the Salt Lake Temple?

Every Stone in It is a Sermon

When I think about that building [the Salt Lake City Temple], every stone in it is a sermon to me. It tells of suffering, it tells of sacrifice, it preaches—every rock in it, preaches a discourse. …

Every window, every steeple, everything about the Temple speaks of the things of God, and gives evidence of the faith of the people who built it.
Conference Report, April 1915, p.79.

This J. Golden Kimball quote discusses how ever stone in the Salt Lake City Temple is a sermon about sacrifice, suffering, and faith.

J. Golden Kimball Quotes About Zion

No Use Crying, “All is Well in Zion”

“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.
Conference Report, October 1912, p.27.

Work for the Happiness of All People

Do we as Latter-day Saints work for the happiness of all people and do we always find brotherhood, friendship, fraternity and love one another in all our communities? Are we as Saints growing year by year happier, as we advance day by day? Are we better trained spiritually, religiously, educationally in the doctrines of Jesus Christ? Is the Church as a whole succeeding in conserving interests of the people in that inalienable right the pursuit of happiness?

When we lost contact with God, thru sin or carelessness, do we unjustly and unrighteously judge our brother until he cherishes a grievance, not remembering that one act of charity and godliness has greater force than many sermons spoken about what God has done?

An educator said: “You attain happiness, because you are conscious of being a part of human energy turned to human service.”

They say “Men and women do not turn joyfully, as a rule, to a life of service except to a prompting of moral and religious motives.”
Parshall, A. (2015, Apr 15). From the Notebook of J. Golden Kimball (2 of 3).

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About the General Authority

J. Golden Kimball was a prominent General Authority in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving for forty-six years as a member of the First Council of the Seventy. Throughout his ministry, he specialized in the administration of missionary work and became a celebrated orator known for bridging the gap between rugged pioneer life and the complexities of the early twentieth-century Church. His extensive body of work is preserved in official Conference Reports and historical archives, documenting a practical philosophy that prioritized personal integrity and “soul hunting” over formal religious posturing. As a son of Apostle Heber C. Kimball and a seasoned veteran of the Southern States Mission, he was a trusted witness of Church history who earned widespread respect for his transparency and rejection of hollow solemnity. His unique background as a rancher-turned-leader deeply informs the grit, vulnerability, and humor found throughout this curated collection of J. Golden Kimball quotes.

J. Golden Kimball FAQ

Why was J. Golden Kimball called the “Swearing Apostle”?

While he was a General Authority (a President of the Seventy, not technically one of the Twelve Apostles), he earned this nickname for sprinkling “hells” and “damns” into his public discourses. He attributed this habit to his younger years as a mule skinner and cowboy.

On one occasion, after he “refrained from swearing and used the soft peddle ‘darn’ instead of ‘damn'” and he was still reported to his superiors, he told a son that “I haven’t been raised in the same pasture some of these saintly people have and do not speak their language.” (Letter to Max Kimball, May 25, 1926.)

His personality also shaped J. Golden Kimball’s controversial pulpit manner. As he explained to his son, “My trouble is that I act, write and speak as I feel and to hades with the consequences. My bad temper and mood control me.” (Letter to Max Kimball, December 21, 1926.)

Still, not everyone found the occasional swearing objectionable. In 1905, the president of the Southern Mission noted in General Conference, “It is said that brother Golden Kimball and myself swear once in a while,” but he believed “that if Jesus would come here, He would express His opinion of some people in almost similar language to that used sometimes by Brother Golden Kimball.” (Conference Report, October 1905, p.71.)

Was J. Golden Kimball actually an Apostle?

No. He was a member of the First Council of the Seventy for 46 years (1892–1938). Although he was a “General Authority,” he was never a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Why wasn’t J. Golden Kimball excommunicated or disciplined?

In an apocryphal story, he famously quipped, “They can’t excommunicate me; I repent too damn fast.” The reality, however, is that Church leaders (like Heber J. Grant) appreciated his “common touch” and his ability to keep audiences awake and engaged.

Two additional considerations provided by Eric A. Eliason were, first, that Kimball lived at a transitional period, when the prohibition on swearing was becoming more important, and was given grace because of that transition. Second, while he “undoubtedly cussed across the pulpit in real life,” it was “not nearly as frequently or consistently as he does in the stories told about him.” (Eric A. Eliason, The J. Golden Kimball Stories (University of Illinois Press, 2007), 9.)

What was J. Golden Kimball’s background and family life?

He was the son of Apostle Heber C. Kimball and Christine Golden Kimball. After his father’s death, he was a rancher in northern Utah for many years.

Are there actual audio recordings of J. Golden Kimball’s voice?

While many “recordings” found online are impersonators, there are rare historical recordings preserved in Church archives and featured on podcasts like Legacy (Mormon Channel).

Has J. Golden Kimball Been Quoted in General Conference?

Yes. Many General Authorities have used J. Golden Kimball quotes or folkloric stories about J. Golden Kimball in their writings and speeches, including Joseph B. Wirthlin, Boyd K. Packer, Charles W. Nibley, Heber J. Grant, Hugh B. Brown, Harold B. Lee, and Franklin D. Richards. Most notably, Kimball’s nephew, Spencer W. Kimball, repeatedly drew on stories about his uncle in his ministry.

Where was J. Golden Kimball Buried?

J. Golden Kimball was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

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