“There is no sin unless through a man's own will, and hence the reward when we do right things also of our own will."(Against Fortunatus)”

“Weigh the reward of the mitzva against the pleasure of the sin, and also weigh the pleasure of the sin against the punishment it will inevitably bring. Are we getting a good deal by opting for sin? Clearly, we are not.”

“The Savior asks us to repent not just to repay him for paying our debt to justice, but also to induce us to undergo the personal development that will purify our very nature. The ‘natural man’ will remain an enemy to God forever—even after paying for his own sins—unless he also ‘becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord.’ (Mosiah 3:19.)”

“Through compassion it is possible to recognize that the craving for love that people feel resides also in our own hearts, that the cruelty the world knows all too well is also rooted in our own impulses. Through compassion we also sense our hope for forgiveness in our friends' eyes and our hatred in their bitter mouths. When they kill, we know that we could have done it; when they give life, we know that we can do the same. For a compassionate person nothing human is alien: no joy and no sorrow, no way of living and no way of dying.”

“This is the thing we must guard against: that others' expectations, especially our families', do not become our own.”

“Unless we deny our own will, we shall never do God’s will.”