"Seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom, seek learning even by study and also by faith;"
That scrip has been my motto as of late as I've reached for a Good Read.
I stumbled upon this noteworthy brief by Charles Steizle in correlation to Alma 60:21-23 that I would now like to allocate:
"What must I do to be damned? Nothing. That's all. You're damned--condemned--if you just sit still. That is the law of this physical world.
"If you sit still long enough, you'll never get up again. If you never lift your arm, you'll soon be unable to raise it at all. If you remain in darkness and never use your eyes, you'll soon become blind.
"It is the law in the mental world. If you never exercise your brain--never read, study, not talk to anyone, never permit anyone to talk to you, your mind will become blank--maybe you'll become insane.
"The most horrible punishment that could be inflicted upon you is not twenty years of hard labor, but twenty years of solitary confinement.
"It's the law of the spiritual world. Simply shut your heart to all truth, and after a while you won't be able to believe anything--that is the severest penalty for not accepting truth.
"The process of disintegration and death begins when a man shuts himself out from the forces that make for life. The body and mind and spirit are kept alive through constant constructive use" (Utah Labor News, December 12, 1937).
I've come to find that if I can commit my brain cells and eyeballs to focus on the words, I can find personal enjoyment and meaning even in involuntary reads (exhibit a: my "cursed" biology or physical science labors):
"The great american naturalist explained it this way: If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering."
-Aldo Leopold
"We must consider out planet to be on loan from our children, rather than being a gift from our ancestors." -Norwegian Prime Minister GH Brundtland
"Extinction is irrevocable; plant diversity is a nonrenewable resource. The tropical rain forest may be a medicine chest of healing plants that could become extinct before we even know they exist. If we begin to see rain forests and other ecosystems as living treasures that can regenerate only slowly, we may learn to harvest their products at sustainable rates."
Hawaii has tm'd me with plenteous time to read through several of my musts. If it's okay with you, I'd like to include some riveting quotations:
"Share this truth as if it were one of the most precious gifts ou could give someone--for it truly is." -Errand of Angels, 62
"Sometimes there are moments in life where you can feel heaven and stop and watch." -Errand of Angels, 193
"None of us can afford to slacken. All of us need to stand up and declare the truth. Walk in faith and faithfulness. Do good. Help others and bring glory to the great cause of the Lord Jesus Christ in these latter days." -Errand of Angels, 130
"Do you want to commune with the Infinite? Then approach Him with reverence and humility. Don't worry so much about whether your words are polished or not. Worry instead about speaking from your heart. In faith, set before Him your righteous desires and your petitions, knowing that He will hear you... Without faith, our prayers are merely words. With faith, our prayers connect with the powers of heaven and can bring upon us increased understanding, hope, and power... Faith without works is dead. Sometimes we expect Heavenly Father to answer our prayers when all we have done is utter a prayer. The doors of heaven will ever be closed to those who hold out their hands waiting for the blessings of heaven to drop from heaven upon them." -Joseph B Wirthlin; "Go to the Lord with both the smallest and largest of concerns. Learn to depend on Him for your very breath, and work with the knowledge that nothing can be done without your feet hitting the pavement." Errand of Angels, 123
"In matters of eternity, influence flows both ways through time. Only one need ponder the effects of the Lord's atonement to see that is so." -The Holy Secret, 198
"Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts." -The Screwtape Letters, 61.
"The characteristic of Pains and Pleasures is that they are unmistakably real, and therefore, as far as they go, give the man who feels them a touchstone of reality." -The Screwtape Letters, 64
What inspired counsel to seek wisdom out of the best of books! Amen to that.
