“If we would truly seek to be more like our Savior and Master, learning to love as He loves should be our highest goal.” -President Ezra Taft Benson

"Your success in marriage will depend largely on your ability to focus on improving yourself, rather than trying to reshape your spouse. It will depend more on being the right one than finding the right one." -Elder Lynn G Robbins

“What is love? Many people think of it as mere physical attraction and they casually speak of ‘falling in love’ and ‘love at first sight.’ This may be Hollywood’s version and the interpretation of those who write love songs and love fiction. True love is not wrapped in such flimsy material. One might become immediately attracted to another individual, but love is far more than physical attraction. It is deep, inclusive and comprehensive. Physical attraction is only one of the many elements, but there must be faith and confidence and understanding and partnership. There must be common ideals and standards. There must be a great devotion and companionship. Love is cleanliness and progress and sacrifice and selflessness. This kind of love never tires nor wanes, but lives through sickness and sorrow, poverty and privation, accomplishment and disappointment, time and eternity.” -President Spencer W. Kimball

“Love, as defined by the Lord, elevates, protects, respects, and enriches another. It motivates one to make sacrifices for another.” -Elder Richard G. Scott

"One good yardstick as to whether a person might be the right one for you is this: in [his or] her presence, do you think your noblest thoughts, do you aspire to your finest deeds, do you wish you were better than you are?"

-President Ezra Taft Benson

"Just as our life began before our birth into mortality, our life does not end with the stopping of a heartbeat. We will continue on. Who you are—you, the distinct individual—you will always be you. Some may say, “I don’t like myself.” You can shape who you become, you can be more than you are today, but you will always be you."

-Elder Neil L. Anderson

"The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night's sleep." 

-E. Joseph Cossman

"Absence is to love as wind is to fire; it 

extinguishes the small and kindles the great." 

-Roger de Bussy-Rabutin

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this 

world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that 

I was made for another world." 

-C.S. Lewis

Invictus - By William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

"We live in a world starved for solitude silence & private, & therefore starved for meditation & true friendship."

-C.S.Lewis

"I expect to pass through life but once.  If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again." 

-William Penn

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."

"We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies."

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

"All that is not eternal is eternally out of date." -C.S. Lewis

"Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done" -C.S. Lewis

"No one can settle how much we ought to give. I'm afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare." -C.S.Lewis

"It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.

"All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no "ordinary" people. You have never talked to a mere mortal."

-C.S. Lewis

This is one of my favorite quotes. Although I don't want to comment on posts often because I hope that the readers (though few :P) of this blog and the quotes I share will find their own meaning and personal application of the messages conveyed. This time, however, I wanted to write a little something about this quote.

I think one of the many reasons why this is a favorite of mine is the perspective it gives me. How awesome is it to think that we are not ordinary people, or mere mortals? How inspiring is the fact that we may one day become gods and goddesses? To me, that makes everything seem worthwhile and gives me a greater, more eternal perspective of all the craziness of my life.

Also, I like how C.S. Lewis points out the importance of not judging others because they, too, have the same potential that you do. He says that the "dullest and most uninteresting person" you meet may be a person you would want to worship if you could only see whom they will become. They have that divine nature, that eternal potential even if they choose not to reach for it.

I suppose that the ultimate reason that I love this quote is because at times, like most of us, I struggle with feelings of self-doubt and discouragement. This shows me that I really am a daughter of God of infinite worth and infinite potential. And it gives me the encouragement I need to continue to grow and progress to become like my Savior.

"No distance of place, or lapse of time, can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth." 

-Robert Southey

"I believe in Christianity as I believe in the sun: not only 

because I see it, but by it I see everything else."

-C.S.Lewis