Quotes of Note- Presidents Hinckley and Uchtdorf on Books and Reading

President Hinckley, cited in The Voice of My Servants, p. 61:

“I confess that I am constantly appalled by the scarcity of my knowledge, and the one resentment I think I carry concerns the many pressing demands which limit the opportunity for reading.”

Speaking to BYU graduates, he said,

There is a tendency on the part of some graduates to say, `Now all of that is behind me.’ No, there is much more ahead than there is behind. We live in a world where knowledge is developing at an ever-accelerating rate. Drink deeply from this ever-springing well of wisdom and human experience. If you should stop now, you will only stunt your intellectual and spiritual growth. Keep everlastingly at it. Read. Read. Read. Read the word of God in sacred books of scripture. Read from the great literature of the ages. Read what is being said in our day and time and what will be said in the future.- President Hinckley, BYU Commencement Address, April 27, 1995.

Along the same lines, President Uchtdorf, Oct. 2009 General Conference.

Please encourage your families, your quorum members, everyone to learn and become better educated. If formal education is not available, do not allow that to prevent you from acquiring all the knowledge you can. Under such circumstances, the best books, in a sense, can become your “university”—a classroom that is always open and admits all who apply. Strive to increase your knowledge of all that is “virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy.” Seek knowledge “by study and also by faith.”

I discovered one of my favorite lines in Jim Faulconer’s highly recommended short volume, Scripture Study: Tools and Suggestions.

lege lege lege, ora, labore, et relege– Read read read, pray, work, and reread.