We can be among the friends who assure these new converts that they belong and are not just guests.

 President Gordon B. Hinckley taught us that a new convert needs “a friend, a responsibility, and nurturing with ‘the good word of God’ (Moroni 6:4).” We can be among the friends who assure these new converts that they belong and are not just guests. We can help them understand that they are disciples of Jesus Christ who can minister to others and accept callings to serve. Young converts should consider serving a full-time mission. All should be determined to strive to live a Christlike life.

The Lord Is Hastening His Work

October 2025

General Conference

Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2025/10/27cook?lang=eng&verse=#p

Jesus Christ's focus was not on the political challenges of the day; it was on the perfection of the Saints

 As we contemplate the challenges of our day, we must remember that the Savior, during His earthly ministry, also lived in turbulent and violent times. His focus was not on the political challenges of the day; it was on the perfection of the Saints

The Lord Is Hastening His Work

October 2025

General Conference

Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2025/10/27cook?lang=eng&verse=#p

Our goal should be to live optimistically on the sunny side of the street

 We all should strive to exhibit joy and happiness even as we face the challenges of life. Our goal should be to live optimistically on the sunny side of the street. I have observed my precious companion, Mary, do this her entire life. I have appreciated her sparkling, uplifting approach even as we have faced problems throughout the years.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ Provides the Ultimate Rescue

April 2025

General Conference

Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2025/04/16cook?lang=eng&verse=#p

In addition, some have wrongly assumed that because all people are invited to receive His goodness and eternal life, there are no conduct requirements.

 In addition, some have wrongly assumed that because all people are invited to receive His goodness and eternal life, there are no conduct requirements.

However, the scriptures attest that all accountable persons are required to repent of sins and keep His commandments. The Lord makes it clear that all have moral agency and “are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, … and hearken unto his great commandments; and be faithful unto his words, and choose eternal life.” To receive the blessings of the Savior’s Atonement, we must affirmatively exercise our moral agency to choose Christ and obey His commandments.

Be One with Christ

April 2024

General Conference

Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/04/27cook?lang=eng&verse=#p

Given our “likeness” before God, it makes little sense to emphasize our differences

 Given our “likeness” before God, it makes little sense to emphasize our differences. Some have wrongly encouraged us “to imagine people to be much more different from ourselves and from each other than they actually are. [Some] take real but small differences and magnify them into chasms.”

Be One with Christ

April 2024

General Conference

Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/04/27cook?lang=eng

Striving always to be of good cheer helps avoid being cast down in spirit.

 In addition to providing other advice to live righteously, the Lord emphasized two principles that continue to be applicable today.

First, He encouraged them to “praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving.”

Second, the Lord counseled if they were “sorrowful, call on the Lord thy God with supplication, that your souls may be joyful.”

These two admonitions are great counsel for our own day. Lives full of praise, music, and thanksgiving are uniquely blessed. Being joyful and relying on heavenly help through prayer is a powerful way to be peaceable followers of Christ. Striving always to be of good cheer helps avoid being cast down in spirit.

Be Peaceable Followers of Christ

October 2023

General Conference

Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2023/10/44cook?lang=eng&verse=#p

Forming eternal bonds with God and each other, .... “...temple-building spree” is money well spent.

 I appreciated Meagan Kohler’s recent Deseret News article explaining what she hoped major media would understand about the Church and temple buildings. I loved her description that “temples are monuments. . . . They are beacons of light and peace, piercing clouds of cynicism, conflict and despair.”13 She was concerned that some media articles had primarily focused on temples as beautiful, financially expensive buildings. She declared:

If the church’s significance and impact is only measurable in dollars distributed, then it’s a charitable organization rather than a church. To decide whether the church spends its money well, you must first decide what matters most. If the answer is forming eternal bonds with God and each other, then “a temple-building spree” is money well spent.14

Preparing Students for Eternity, QUENTIN L. COOK, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, August 28, 2023

There is no chance, no fate, no destiny that can circumvent or hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul.”

 My beloved mission president, Elder Marion D. Hanks (who passed away in August), asked us as missionaries to memorize a statement to resist mortal challenges: “There is no chance, no fate, no destiny that can circumvent or hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul.”

He acknowledged that this doesn’t apply to all the challenges we encounter but is true in spiritual matters. I have appreciated his counsel in my life.

Quentin L. Cook, 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2011/10/the-songs-they-could-not-sing?lang=eng

Gathering of Israel is Also a Matter of Individual Commitment

President Nelson has stated that the gathering “is not a matter of physical location; it is a matter of individual commitment. People can be ‘brought to the knowledge of the Lord’ [3 Nephi 20:13] without leaving their homelands” (“The Gathering of Scattered Israel,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2006, 81). See also 3 Nephi 21:1–7.

April 2023

General Conference

Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2023/04/15cook?lang=eng

During the Council in Heaven in the premortal existence, the plan of salvation was discussed and sustained.

 During the Council in Heaven in the premortal existence, the plan of salvation was discussed and sustained. It included certain laws and ordinances of the priesthood instituted before the foundation of the world and predicated upon the gathering. It also included the overriding principle of agency.

Safely Gathered Home

April 2023

General Conference

Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2023/04/15cook?lang=eng&verse=#p

Banquet of Consequences

The “works of righteousness” emanate from and are the fruits of conversion. True conversion is brought about by the conscious acceptance and commitment to follow the will of God.¹⁶ The banquet of consequences and blessings that flow from conversion is true and permanent peace and the personal assurance of ultimate happiness¹⁷—despite the storms of this life.

Conversion to the Will of God, April 2022, Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/04/29cook?lang=eng&id=p13#p13

In our day, many have adopted the concept that there should be no consequence for sin.

 In our day, many have adopted the concept that there should be no consequence for sin. They support the unconditional condoning of sin without repentance. Our revealed doctrine not only refutes the idea that most people would be eternally condemned to hell and damnation but also establishes that personal repentance is a commanded prerequisite to partake of the Savior’s Atonement and inherit the celestial kingdom.¹⁴ I testify that Joseph Smith was truly an instrument in the Lord’s hands in bringing forth the Restoration of His gospel!

Conversion to the Will of God, April 2022, Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/04/29cook?lang=eng&id=p13#p13

You will face emotional and spiritual challenges that most of your pioneer ancestors could never have imagined.

 Many years ago, some of my younger cousins were assigned to do a service project at our Grandpa Crozier Kimball’s farm. As a reward, they were promised Grandma Clara’s fabulous homemade cake.

When they had completed their tasks, they headed to the kitchen for their reward. Grandpa, however, blocked the kitchen door. My cousin Kathy Galloway, who was about 14 at the time, recalls that he sat down on a piano bench and invited the cousins to sit on the floor. He thanked them for their hard work and then said he had something important to share before they ate their cake.

“There will come a time in your lives when you will need to know and act on what I am about to share with you,” he said.

He explained that his grandfather Heber C. Kimball (1801–68) and other pioneer ancestors had faced arduous physical challenges. Grandpa said the pioneers quickly learned that to survive, they had to work together and love and serve each other.

“This is one of the great legacies they left to you!” he said as tears began to roll down his cheeks.

“In my calling as a patriarch and as your grandfather, when I look down the corridors of time, … my heart aches for you,” he said. “You will face emotional and spiritual challenges that most of your pioneer ancestors could never have imagined.”

Unless the younger generation honors the pioneers’ great legacy of love and service, he added, “many of you will fail because you will not be able to survive on your own.”

Then, with a spirit-to-spirit connection, Grandpa Kimball concluded: “We need each other. In addition to sharing our testimonies of the gospel with one another, our duty is to love and serve and strengthen and nourish and support and sustain each other, … especially in our family. Please remember that in the last days, your very survival may depend on your willingness to work together and to love and serve each other. Now, let us go eat cake!”....We need loving families, service-filled quorums and Relief Societies, and supportive branches, wards, and stakes.

Pursuing the Path of Happiness

January 2022

Liahona

Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2022/01/pursuing-the-path-of-happiness?lang=eng&verse=#p

Pursuing the Path of Happiness

January 2022

Liahona

Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2022/01/pursuing-the-path-of-happiness?lang=eng&verse=#p

Avoiding something tempting once will help you develop the ability to resist other temptations in the future

 Last year the professor who conducted the original experiment, Dr. Walter Mischel, wrote a book in which he said the study grew in part out of his concerns about self-control and his own addiction to smoking. He was particularly concerned after the U.S. Surgeon General’s report of 1964 concluded that smoking caused lung cancer. After years of study, one of his professional colleagues reported that “self-control is like a muscle: the more you use it, the stronger it gets. Avoiding something tempting once will help you develop the ability to resist other temptations in the future.”

Shipshape and Bristol Fashion: Be Temple Worthy—in Good Times and Bad Times

October 2015

2010–2019

Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2015/10/shipshape-and-bristol-fashion-be-temple-worthy-in-good-times-and-bad-times?lang=eng&verse=#p

Promise of greater loneliness for the majority, and stagnation overall...Wickedness, such as immoral conduct, is never part of the answer

 At the commencement of the Savior’s earthly ministry in Israel and later among the Nephites, the Savior addressed the issue of happiness both in this life and in eternity. He stressed ordinances, but He also placed great emphasis on moral behavior. For example, disciples would be blessed if they would hunger and thirst after righteousness, be merciful, be pure in heart, be peacemakers, and follow other basic moral principles. Clearly, our Lord Jesus Christ emphasized, as a foundational doctrinal message, both righteous attitudes and conduct in day-to-day living. His teachings not only replaced and transcended elements of the law of Moses but also were a rejection of the false philosophies of men.

For many centuries the gospel of Jesus Christ has inspired beliefs and established standards of conduct as to what is righteous, desirable, and moral and results in happiness, felicity, and joy. However, the principles and basic morality the Savior taught are under serious attack in today’s world. Christianity is under attack. Many believe that what is moral has basically changed.

We live in difficult times. There is an increased tendency to “call evil good, and good evil.” A world that emphasizes self-aggrandizement and secularism is cause for great concern. One prominent writer, not of our faith, has put it this way: “Unfortunately I see little evidence that people are actually happier in the emerging dispensation, or that their children are better off, or that the cause of social justice is well-served, or that declining marriage rates and thinning family trees … promise anything save greater loneliness for the majority, and stagnation overall.”....

I recognize that, despite the overwhelming happiness embodied in God’s divine plan, sometimes it can feel far away and disconnected from our current circumstances. It may feel beyond our reach as struggling disciples. From our limited perspective, current temptations and distractions can seem attractive. The rewards for resisting those temptations, on the other hand, can feel distant and unattainable. But a true understanding of the Father’s plan reveals that the rewards of righteousness are available right now. Wickedness, such as immoral conduct, is never part of the answer. Alma said it clearly to his son Corianton: “Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness.”

Shipshape and Bristol Fashion: Be Temple Worthy—in Good Times and Bad Times

October 2015

2010–2019

Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2015/10/shipshape-and-bristol-fashion-be-temple-worthy-in-good-times-and-bad-times?lang=eng&verse=#p

We can celebrate our individual uniqueness as children of God without using authenticity as an excuse for un-Christlike behavior.

 Some misuse authenticity as a celebration of the natural man and qualities that are the opposite of humility, kindness, mercy, forgiveness, and civility. We can celebrate our individual uniqueness as children of God without using authenticity as an excuse for un-Christlike behavior.

The Eternal Everyday

October 2017

2010–2019

Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2017/10/the-eternal-everyday?lang=eng&verse=#p

Bishops, please know that a relatively short time spent with a young priest, young woman, or young adult can help them understand the power available to them through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

 Bishops, please know that a relatively short time spent with a young priest, young woman, or young adult can help them understand the power available to them through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Bishops—Shepherds over the Lord’s Flock

April 2021

General Conference

Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2021/04/31cook?lang=eng&verse=#p

We concluded that his decision on whether to serve a mission depended on three issues

An experience I had when I was 15 years old was foundational for me. My faithful mother had valiantly tried to help me establish the foundations of faith in my life. I attended sacrament meeting, Primary, then Young Men and seminary. I had read the Book of Mormon and had always prayed individually. At that time a dramatic event occurred in our family when my beloved older brother was considering a potential mission call. My wonderful father, a less-active Church member, wanted him to continue his education and not serve a mission. This became a point of contention.

In a remarkable discussion with my brother, who was five years older and led the discussion, we concluded that his decision on whether to serve a mission depended on three issues: (1) Was Jesus Christ divine? (2) Was the Book of Mormon true? (3) Was Joseph Smith the prophet of the Restoration?

As I prayed sincerely that night, the Spirit confirmed to me the truth of all three questions. I also came to understand that almost every decision I would make for the rest of my life would be based on the answers to those three questions. 

April 2017, Quentin L. Cook, Foundations of Faith

some members elevate causes, many of which are good, to a status superior to basic gospel doctrine

 In addition, some members elevate causes, many of which are good, to a status superior to basic gospel doctrine. They substitute their devotion to the cause as their first commitment and relegate their commitment to the Savior and His teachings to a secondary position. If we elevate anything above our devotion to the Savior, if our conduct recognizes Him as just another teacher and not the divine Son of God, then we are looking beyond the mark. Jesus Christ is the mark!

The 76th section of the Doctrine and Covenants makes it clear that being “valiant in the testimony of Jesus” is the simple, essential test between those who will inherit the blessings of the celestial kingdom and those in the lesser terrestrial kingdom. To be valiant, we need to focus on the power of Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice to overcome death and, through our repentance, to cleanse us from sin, and we need to follow the doctrine of Christ. We also need the light and knowledge of the Savior’s life and teachings to guide us on the covenant pathway, including the sacred ordinances of the temple. We must be steadfast in Christ, feast upon His word, and endure to the end.

Valiant in the Testimony of Jesus

October 2016

2010–2019

Quentin L. Cook

The time is coming when … it will be difficult to tell the face of a Saint from the face of an enemy to the people of God

Heber C. Kimball was one of the original Twelve Apostles of this dispensation and First Counselor to President Brigham Young. He warned: “The time is coming when … it will be difficult to tell the face of a Saint from the face of an enemy to the people of God. Then … look out for the great sieve, for there will be a great sifting time, and many will fall.” He concluded that there is “a TEST coming.”

In our day, the influence of Christianity in many countries, including the United States, is significantly reduced. Without religious beliefs, there is no feeling of accountability to God. Accordingly, it is hard to establish universal values about how to live. Philosophies which are deeply held often conflict with each other.

Unfortunately, this also happens with some members of the Church who lose their bearings and become influenced by the cause of the moment—many of which are clearly not righteous.

In line with Heber C. Kimball’s prophecy, Elder Neal A. Maxwell said in 1982: “Much sifting will occur because of lapses in righteous behavior which go unrepented of. A few will give up instead of holding out to the end. A few will be deceived by defectors. Likewise, others will be offended, for sufficient unto each dispensation are the stumbling blocks thereof!”

Valiant in the Testimony of Jesus

October 2016

2010–2019

Quentin L. Cook