it will not be by sword or gun that this kingdom will roll on

We are never going to destroy the enemies of God by the evil passions that are in us—never, no never. When those who profess to be Saints contend against the enemies of God through passion or selfwill, it is then man against man, evil against evil, the powers of darkness against the powers of darkness

If an Elder shall give us a lecture upon astronomy, chemistry, or geology, our religion embraces it all. It matters not what the subject be, if it tends to improve the mind, exalt the feelings, and enlarge the capacity.

Work less, wear less, eat less, and we shall be a great deal wiser, healthier, and wealthier people

[Take] these wild Indians; we call them savages; we call them heathens. Let yourselves be divested of prejudice . . . and let your minds be in open vision before the Almighty, seeing things as they are, [and] you will find that that very people know just as much about the Lord as anybody else.

I wish to impress them with the necessity of treating the Indians with kindness, and to refrain from harboring that revengeful, vindictive feeling that many indulge in. I am convinced that as long as we harbor in us feelings towards them, so long they will be our enemies, and the Lord will suffer them to afflict us. But now their game has gone, and they are left to starve. It is our duty to feed them. The Lord has given us ability to cultivate the ground and reap bountiful harvests. We have an abundance of food for ourselves and for the stranger. It is our duty to feed these poor ignorant Indians; we are living on their possessions and at their homes. Do we wish to do right? You answer, yes. Then let the Lamanites come back to their homes, where they were born and brought up. This is the land that they and their fathers have walked over and called their own; and they have just as good a right to call it theirs to-day as any people have to call any land their own. The Indians are far oftener, if not always, when differences of education and habits are included, more sinned against than sinners.

Much of the skill, ingenuity, and ability of the Christian nations are now devoted to manufacturing instruments of death. May we be saved from the effects of them! As I often tell you, if we are faithful, the Lord will fight our battles much better than we can ourselves

The revelations of God contain correct doctrine and principle, so far as they go; but it is impossible for the poor, weak, low, grovelling, sinful inhabitants of the earth to receive a revelation from the Almighty in all its perfections

I am so far from believing that any government upon this earth has constitutions and laws that are perfect, that I do not even believe that there is a single revelation, among the many God has given to the Church, that is perfect in its fulness

Our leaders urge us to be active in politics—and yet think it very important to keep the Church out of politics. Is this a contradiction? Consider:

Brigham Young encouraged the people to dance, even while proclaiming, "Dancing [is] no part of our worship."43

He says, "I labor for my own dear self," and in the same breath adds that men have no right to work for themselves.44

We practice shrewd economics even while being told to take no thought of what we shall eat or wear.

We should constantly be storing our minds with knowledge, yet take no thought of what we are to say when we teach the gospel.

We are told to be provident and thrifty—but to ask and trust our heavenly Father for our daily bread.

We are told to be industrious and independent, yet "if the laborer in Zion labor for money, he shall perish" (cf. 2 Nephi 26:31).

We are told to go to with our might—and consider the lilies of the field who toil not neither do they spin.

We are told to hold the Sabbath most sacred as a day of rest, yet it is the day on which many of us work hardest.

We are told to acquire worldly learning and told that worldly learning is nothing.

Joseph Smith said he would have nothing to do with politics and ran for president!

The Savior, speaking with the woman at the well, was thirsty and asked for a drink, and even as he was drinking she asked him for a drink, because he told her that he could give her water of which whoever drank would never thirst again.

We could go on and on, but what is wrong here? Nothing. If we were to examine each of the above apparent paradoxes we would find them all falling into the pattern of Moses' declarations, both uttered on the same occasion and as it were in the same breath. First he said, "Now, for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed" (Moses 1:10). And then he adds: "But now mine own eyes have beheld God; . . . his glory was upon me; and I beheld his face, for I was transfigured before him. . . . I am a son of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten" (Moses 1:11, 13). Which is it? Is man nothing or everything? It all depends on which existence we behold him in, temporal or eternal.