President Gordon B. Hinckley
"I
wish to discuss a trap that can destroy any of us in our search for joy
and happiness. It is that devious, sinister, evil influence that says,
“What I have is not enough. I must have more.”
"In one of his great letters to Timothy, Paul wrote: “For the love of
money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have
erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows.” (1 Tim. 6:10.)
You need not look far to see the veritable truth of that great warning.
Once made rich through a consuming desire for money, some of these
persons of whom I speak now find themselves “pierced through with many
sorrows.”
"I think of many of our younger single and married members; I hope that
you will be modest in your physical wants. You do not need everything
that you might wish. And the very struggle of your younger years will
bring a sweetness and security to your later life."
"I commend to you the virtues of thrift and industry. In doing so, I do
not wish you to be a “tightwad,” if you will pardon that expression, or
to be a freeloader, or anything of the kind. But it is the labor and the
thrift of people that make a nation strong. It is work and thrift that
make the family independent. Debt can be a terrible thing. It is so easy
to incur and so difficult to repay."
"Well has the Lord said, “Thou shalt not covet.” Let not selfishness
canker our relationships. Let not covetousness destroy our happiness.
Let not greed for that which we do not need and cannot get with honesty
and integrity bring us down to ruin and despair" (First Presidency Message, Ensign, March 1990).
