Man Must Have Confidence in Himself—We must be ourselves. 3:365.
There are a great many men who know but little about what they can do, and there are a great many women that never consider what they can perform; people do not fully reflect upon their own acts, upon their own ability, and therefore do not understand what they are capable of doing. 4:101.
It is not for any man to think he is a cipher—that what he can do will not tell in this matter, and say, "They will get along well enough without me." 1:53.
When a person is thinking all the time he is little better than a machine, he perverts the purpose of his organization, and injures both mind and body. Why? Because the mental labor does not find vent through the organism of the tabernacle, and has not that scope—that field of labor which it desires, and which it was wisely designed that it should have. Think according to your labor, labor according to your thinking. 3:248.
Man Always Dependent—Shall we ever see the time we shall be perfectly independent of every other being in all the eternities? No; we shall never see that time. Many have fallen on as simple ground as this, and were I to use Western term, I would say, "They were troubled with a big head." Such persons think they have power to do this, that, and the other, but they are left to themselves, and the Lord loves to show them they have no power. 1:338.
We Must Fight Our Battles—But some may say, "I have faith-the Lord will turn them away." What ground have we to hope this? Have I any good reason to say to my Father in Heaven, "Fight my battles," when he has given me the sword to wield, the arm and the brain that I can fight for myself? Can I ask him to fight my battles and sit quietly down waiting for him to do so? I cannot. I can pray the people to hearken to wisdom, to listen to counsel; but to ask God to do for me that which I can do for myself is preposterous to my mind. 12:240-1.
How to Know Oneself—No man can know himself unless he knows God, and he cannot know God unless he knows himself. 16:75.
Our Good Character Must Be Cherished—When a man by his course in life has acquired a character that is spotless, it is a priceless jewel, and nothing should induce him to barter it away. If the wicked try to bring a blemish or cast a stain upon it their efforts will not be successful. They may throw their mud, but it will not stain the garments of the pure and holy. 13:218.
"Are our characters our own?" We may say, "Yes, we form these characters." Suppose that we are fortunate enough to form a good, honest character in the minds and in the faith of those who are acquainted with us, do not those characters belong to our neighbors, although we may be the framers of them? And I would like to ask, have we the right to destroy them? It is a serious question with me. If we have confidence in each other, and our conduct has been such that we have created confidence in the feelings of our neighbors toward us, have we a right to destroy that confidence? Is it not sacrilege? I will simply reply by giving my views with regard to myself. According to the knowledge which I possess it is a great deal easier for an individual to preserve a good character than to frame and make one if it is lost. It is much easier to keep a fort when it is well armed and defended than to give it into the hands of the enemy and then regain it. Consequently, we had better keep our characters, if they are good, than to suffer the enemy to rob us of them. 14:277.
The Need of Leaders—The whole world are sadly in want of what they call a master-spirit. 6:44.