Thomas S. Monson (1920–2018) was an American religious leader who served as the sixteenth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Monson was considered by many to be a prophet.
CLEAR ALL
We meet no ordinary people in our lives.
1
Life’s work is to wake up, to let the things that enter into the circle wake you up rather than put you to sleep. The only way to do this is to open, be curious, and develop some sense of sympathy for everything that comes along, to get to know its nature and let it teach you what it will.
3
Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.
It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for a bird to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.
Stay a verb—don’t become a noun.
4
Empathetic listening is an awesome medication for the hurting heart.
. . . it is almost always the case that whatever has wounded you will also be instrumental in your healing.
2
A bird was lying on his back in the road with his feet in the air. A horse saw him and asked, “What’re you doing?” The sparrow said, “I’m helping hold back the darkness.” The horse sneered and said, “Yeah, right,” and the sparrow said, “One does what one can.”
7
If only our passion to understand others were as great as our passion to be understood. Were this so, all our apologies would be truly meaningful and healing.
Respect the fact that all you do and are now has evolved for a good reason and serves an important purpose.