BYU Speeches
Alphabetical by Speaker

A rather common fallacy accepted in society is that with graduation, one has finished her or his education. That is a serious misunderstanding if we are considering a truly educated person, particularly one with the lofty goal of achieving eternal life and eventually perfection.

My counsel to you…is to be clear in your priorities, in your understanding, in your faith, and in all your endeavors.

We believe with great confidence and conviction that you are optimally prepared for long lives of continued learning and substantial service in all that you do. We are proud of you and your accomplishments.

Whatever your circumstance, it will work out well eventually if you do your best to cause it to happen. Sometimes these trials are blessings in disguise, and what the Lord may have in store for you later could be dramatically better than your current conception of optimal achievement.

One area of confusion not rare among us is the notion that worthiness is synonymous with perfection. It is not! One can be fully worthy in a gospel sense and yet still be growing while dealing with personal imperfections.

A hallmark of BYU has always been that we have attempted to do all that we do with absolute integrity.

My question is: Who are the unsung heroes here at BYU who deserve our recognition and acclaim? I don’t know that we have many Congressional Medal of Honor recipients among us or serving largely behind the scenes at BYU. I do know that in this extraordinary community of students, staff, faculty, and administrators there are many who deserve our respect, admiration, and appreciation.

The doctrine of continuing and even continuous revelation is a fundamental and distinctive tenet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In it we find the seeds of the Restoration and also the basis for our understanding concerning the importance of learning. In fact, in the face of obvious differences between revelation from heaven and the kind of learning more common to our university experiences, we also find some significant commonalities of which we should be constantly aware.

All of you have a story and are part of a grand legacy that will bless not only you and those with you today but will reach on through the generations and over space to bless many others for years to come.

How do you view the changing world? I hope it is with optimism and encouragement rather than with the disappointment or dismay that we find in some circles.

I hope in our time together this morning we can think carefully and seriously about what we really are and, more important, what we desire and need to become. I am satisfied that this aim of a BYU education—to build character—cannot be neglected or diminished because all of the aims and the mission of this great university are so intimately related to one another.

One of the blessings of your BYU experience is that you should be familiar with the promise of the Lord that “I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.”

…my hope is that we can as colleagues across campus think faithfully and diligently together about how we can make inquiry, creativity, and research a more effective part of how we not only transmit known information but, more important, how we enhance teaching by participating personally in the process of discovery and the creation of new knowledge.

I believe being acceptable to God and having the approval of the right kind of men and women are the ultimate accreditation that we should each personally seek. And the basic standard by which we will be measured is whether or not we serve Christ.

“God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom.” You have knowledge and skill and know how to learn so that you may acquire wisdom.

Personal growth comes from being stretched, and you will likely find yourselves challenged in ways you have never previously experienced or expected.

The Lord’s hand is on BYU and that the work of BYU is a vital part of the Lord’s work. We are thus entitled to seek His blessings and are also entitled to be guided and protected.

My list could go on, but the central point is that your BYU education has been much, much more than the mastery of academic subjects or preparation for further education or employment in the workplace, as important as these are. You have been given the extraordinary and unique opportunity to prepare for devoted discipleship and competent leadership to assist you in your families, communities, and professions as well as in your primary quest to obtain eternal life.

We promise we will never forget you and expect that you will not forget BYU. You will demonstrate your great love for this institution and all that it represents by the way you live your life. You will live in such a way that objective observers will be able to tell that you are different—in a very positive way. They will usually not know exactly how or why, but they will appreciate the goodness and example of your life.

We are here not only to “save” ourselves—meaning to advance our careers, accomplish our personal and academic goals, and increase our individual spirituality—but we are also here to do the same for all of our students, however it is and in whatever ways they hear us.

May the Lord continue to guide us and bless us as we do our very best to move Brigham Young University forward in its ordained charge to bless Heavenly Father’s children here and throughout the world.

One of the key ways that we learn—not only here at BYU but throughout life—is by asking questions.

We “enter to learn [and] go forth to serve.” While we are here learning, we also gain much by serving. As we go forth to serve, we strive to continue to learn.

In retrospect, our time, like yours, passed quickly while being fully immersed in what transpires in this very special place. What does not pass quickly, and perhaps is even permanently enduring, is the influence for good that emanates from BYU.

This university has the protection and guidance of heaven, and we individually do as well—when we act as we should. Let my advice to you be that which I received from my trusted mentor: “Above all else, you need to protect your integrity.”

Joyful living in the here and now is an important antecedent to the complete joy that we know can be ours in the eternities, which is made possible by the presence with us of our families in the company of the Father and the Son.

We hope and expect that you have grown in your understanding of the knowledge of the world and also in your convictions concerning the truthfulness of the revelations from heaven. Most important, we pray with confidence that the skills you have acquired and the talents you have magnified will allow and assist you to continue to learn throughout your lives “by study and also by faith.”

For you to remain as relevant at the end of your career as you are now or when you finally finish your formal academic preparations, you will be required to know how to keep on learning and hopefully contribute to the continued learning of others.

I would like to spend our precious moments this morning in continuing to reflect on the legacy of learning that we enjoy, largely influenced by the example and efforts of living prophets from Joseph Smith to Gordon B. Hinckley.

It has been said that one of the purposes of education is to learn to avoid mistakes. While this is true, it is also important to understand that we can learn very significant lessons from mistakes.

I am grateful that I can bear a solemn but happy witness that these men, and all others who have held this highest office in the Lord’s Church, are true servants of our living Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son.

The help we need is provided by our loving Heavenly Father and His Son, our Savior, through other people who have been prompted to help, guide, and rescue us in times of need or consequential decision making.

While the reputation and standing of this remarkable institution are measured and evaluated in a number of different ways, ultimately the real value of its contribution is reflected in the graduates that it produces.

If I had been more meek, more patient, more understanding of the challenges or problems facing others…it is quite possible that my judgment would have been improved and I might have been more open to being taught by the Spirit in my actions.

The seeds of faith and light are planted, cultivated, nurtured, and grow bathed in the glow of His tender care—the behavioral and verbal testimony examples of Latter-day Saint BYU students and graduates on campus and around the world.

We know who we are. We know that we have made the commitment to do our parts in advancing scholarly excellence while lifting and strengthening the faith and testimonies of our students. Without apology, we affirm the supremacy of Deity, the reality of the Restoration unfolded through the Prophet Joseph, and our allegiance to today’s presiding high priests who are also the officers of our board of trustees.

As this group all appreciates, BYU is absolutely unique in the universe of American higher education. Not everyone—individuals or institutions—understands or appreciates who and what we are. Because we are different, aspiring for greatness in both our religious and academic missions, it is absolutely essential that we represent ourselves in the very best and most accurate light.

Hopefully we are clear that the confidence and blessings bestowed upon us as the result of our BYU experience raises much more than a suggestion that we will “go forth to serve” with commitment, effectiveness, and appreciation.

While the notion of BYU becoming the best it can be has a number of dimensions, part of “becoming” and “being” the best BYU can be is to live with integrity; that is, to say what we mean and mean what we say.

May we take heed of ourselves in the light of our doctrine and the counsel of our leaders with the confidence that we—and others—will be blessed through our devoted and thoughtful expressions of who we really are and who we wish to be.

An important part of being self-aware is to understand how we influence for good or ill others around us by how we act, speak, and respond.

True loyalty (or those who stand by him): Some, and I hope this includes you, have a testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his unique and special mission. It is to you that I frame my question: What does it mean to “stand by my servant Joseph”?

BYU and its graduates—you—excel in almost every category and consideration. I am convinced that we will never forget our significant debt and will ever recognize the privilege it is to be part of this grand and heaven-blessed institution.

While love and trust are often linked and even intertwined, there are some very significant differences. We hold unconditional love to be a very high virtue. Trust, on the other hand, is conditional in that it must be earned and can be very easily and quickly forfeited.

I hope we will commit ourselves today and continue this commitment throughout our lives to contribute in every way that we can to building the kingdom of God on earth and also in supporting our alma mater.

God does live and loves us as the Eternal Father He is. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, and His effectuation of the Atonement makes all things possible for those who fully take upon themselves His name, make and keep sacred covenants, and do their very best to keep and obey the commandments.

We know how things in the big picture will turn out and have great confidence that you also in your individual lives and careers will turn out as you wish and as heaven intends.

We should reflect on and glory in the successes, accomplishments, and growth that have occurred while you studied here. Your progress and contributions have been truly remarkable. We should also now be focusing on where we are going in the future, what we will next accomplish, and how we will best continue to learn and grow.

I have much to learn, and I am sure that I continue to learn. This is one of the joys of being at Brigham Young University. And, I might add, one of the major reasons for you to be here—not only to learn while you are on campus but to learn how to continue to learn throughout your lives.

The Honor Code is not primarily a law of health or blind conformity. It is a principle of obedience. It is an outward manifestation of our inner appreciation for and understanding of the privilege of being at BYU.

We have all learned much at BYU, but none of us knows everything. Thus it behooves us to listen to and trust the Spirit of the Lord, which will guide and help us in our quest to keep the commandments, to do all that our great blessings require that we do, and to faithfully endure to the end.

As a university dedicated to education for eternity, we do believe in intensive learning, in stimulating inquiry, in commitment to excellence, and in pursuing the full realization of human potential.

Our BYU mission is chartered in the great opportunity and challenge to be learning and teaching all the time in a world of change while remaining true and firm in our values and moral compass, which do not change.

What we do say will be almost in shorthand form, but hopefully it will reflect our appreciation and gratitude for what has shaped and is influencing the lives of those who are able to have a BYU experience. We believe BYU helps us all be better people, but we must always remember that does not mean that anyone here is better than anyone else not directly connected to this unique university.

BYU is a great institution established by the Lord’s prophets to fulfill sacred purposes. It is prospered under the hand of heaven. We can never adequately express our appreciation for being associated with BYU and hope you sense the same feeling.

Sometimes the wisdom of God comes directly, as with the experience of young Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove or as with the teaching of the Holy Ghost that can come to us when we are spiritually prepared. Sometimes wisdom comes in less direct but unmistakable ways.

We hope you will study seriously and with great effort both the Constitution and your other course work. More important, in all that you expect of yourselves, be sure that you do not neglect your private and personal prayers, your scripture study, or your appropriate acts of anonymous service as well as the public manifestations you make of your devotion to God and country.

There is significant truth in the notion that much of what happens to us is unexpected and not in our control. However—and this is most vital and critical to understand—the things of greatest ultimate importance to us are largely in our control and are within the scope of our agency.

Throughout your life you will have opportunities each day to be reminded of the admonition that was followed by a prophet of the Lord: “Whate’er thou art, act well thy part.”

Our reason for being a university is to encourage and prepare young men and women to rise to their full spiritual potential as sons and daughters of God.

The paths your lives take today have areas that could be marked by the phrase “Here Be Dragons” as a warning that you should and must avoid them. A firm testimony of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ is so necessary to maintain the proper perspectives and withstand the buffetings of the adversary that can and often will bombard you from all directions.

Each one of us here is writing the book of his or her life, and reading, learning, loving, serving, and worshipping are integral parts of the process.

You have loved ones in your past who created pathways and bridges to connect you to them and thus enable you to benefit from their dreams, experiences, sacrifices, and teachings—necessary components of bridge building.

I do have a testimony that you can stand up to worldly influences that would draw you away from your beliefs and say, in mighty voices, “Even if all, not I.” Those who see and hear you can know of your testimonies of the Savior and our Father in Heaven.

There is another name by which we should all be known besides the one we received from our earthly fathers. That is the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

All of you are sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. He loves you and has given you many blessings to help you build a testimony of Him and His teachings. Find your gifts and talents, acknowledge them in the spirit of thankfulness, develop them, and use them to serve others as well as His kingdom.

In order to live with God once again, you cannot deviate from the strait and narrow path or lose your firm grip on the iron rod or you will be as those who were lost in Lehi’s vision.

Each one of you has the light of Jesus Christ within you. How wonderful that is for you as you strive to discern what is truly of great worth in your life.

The help we need is provided by our loving Heavenly Father and His Son, our Savior, through other people who have been prompted to help, guide, and rescue us in times of need or consequential decision making.

Our eternal worth is given to us by God. We do not have to let it be determined by others—only by God and ourselves. We can lose sight of our self-worth if we do not keep the commandments and consequently disregard the divinity within us.

As you take the sacrament each Sunday, you do it in remembrance of the Savior and the covenants you made at your baptism. You are recommitting to serve as His witness to the world. It is a time for you to remember your baptismal covenants and let them guide your lives each day so that you do not forget as John did.

Sometimes life’s circumstances may seem to be in turmoil, and you may have so much on your so-called “plate” that you don’t know where to begin or what to do. This is when I believe humor and the ability to be optimistic can enhance the quality of your life.

The Holy Ghost can communicate with you if you but seek this communication and are worthy to receive it. Revelation from the Holy Ghost is often described as a “still small voice” and most often comes as words you feel more than hear.

I have a testimony that assisting our Father in Heaven in teaching children to love and serve the Lord is one of the most important blessings and responsibilities He has given us. The Savior loved and taught the little children, and we are to follow His example.

I still can vividly recall the time I realized that I should savor and treasure each day and be thankful for and appreciate life. I somehow realized that each day is a gift from a loving Heavenly Father and that if I did not view each day as such, I would be ungrateful.

We are blessed to know that the Lord has established a means of communication with His children through His ordained prophets. Our prophet’s voice and the message it shares can be trusted to teach and guide us in the will of the Lord.

What we do say will be almost in shorthand form, but hopefully it will reflect our appreciation and gratitude for what has shaped and is influencing the lives of those who are able to have a BYU experience. We believe BYU helps us all be better people, but we must always remember that does not mean that anyone here is better than anyone else not directly connected to this unique university.

BYU is a great institution established by the Lord’s prophets to fulfill sacred purposes. It is prospered under the hand of heaven. We can never adequately express our appreciation for being associated with BYU and hope you sense the same feeling.

We hope you will study seriously and with great effort both the Constitution and your other course work. More important, in all that you expect of yourselves, be sure that you do not neglect your private and personal prayers, your scripture study, or your appropriate acts of anonymous service as well as the public manifestations you make of your devotion to God and country.

Healing is much more than “getting better” or “having our problems go away.” Healing is growth, development, and maturation. In a word, healing is change. It takes time and energy and struggle, but healing teaches us.

I know that Jesus Christ is the light that makes forgiveness possible and that as we forgive each other and ourselves, we will feel His love and experience His light in this life and even more fully in the eternal world to come.

Each one of us has the opportunity to join a winning team by being full of integrity, following the promptings of the Holy Ghost, and persevering through the rough waters of life. I am grateful for the Savior and testify that He lives!

By following the directions to which simple ideas and simple discoveries lead, one can be swept off into all sorts of adventures.

We can plan to give service—and I think that is excellent—but I believe the Savior taught and exemplified a better way. Christ most often blessed others when He was on His way to do something else.

We may not fully understand why our own polis demands certain looks. Yet, as Lord Chesterfield observed, “Dress is a very foolish thing, and yet it is a very foolish thing for a man not to be well dressed, according to his rank and way of life.” Perhaps we should be more conscious of the outer symbols we wear and why we wear them, for these symbols strongly comment on our internal beliefs.

It is audacious to believe that God is our Father—really our Father—and that we are His children—really His children. We have every reason to be fearless and bold, confident and courageous in our audacious faith.

I testify that charity—Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ’s pure love for us—is real. I pray that we may be blessed with a more abundant measure of charity in accordance with the work of our hands and the desires of our hearts.

To be in tune with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, we have to find a way to see the truth we share and work toward peace and unity.

“While there is much of value to be learned, there is only one arena of study where we may learn absolute truth—and that is centered in the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Establish a set of guiding principles for your life, and never compromise them. Make no exception to them. Difficulties in life begin when small deviations from true standards are made to justify a quick move to a greater accomplishment.

Do what is right and others will follow your example. Every time you make the right choice in the face of potential criticism, you build strength that makes it easier the next time.

As an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ I invoke a blessing upon each one of you, conditioned on your obedience and faith, that the Lord will guide you through the Holy Ghost to make the correct choices in important decisions you now face and that you will feel that guidance in your life as you seek it.

Yours is a future without limit because you have decided to be unwavering in obedience to the Lord.

Do not play games with the Lord. When you trust Him fully, He is able to bless you richly.

Resolve that each moment of your life will reflect your determination to humbly be an example of righteousness, integrity, and conviction. With such a life you will succeed in the purpose for which you came to earth.

Resolve that each moment of your life will reflect your determination to humbly be an example of righteousness, integrity, and conviction.

You can learn vitally important things by what you hear and see and, especially, by what you feel, as prompted by the Holy Ghost.

I energetically encourage you to establish a personal plan to better understand and appreciate the incomparable, eternal, infinite consequences of the perfect fulfillment by Jesus Christ of His divinely appointed calling as our Savior and Redeemer. Profound personal pondering of the scriptures accompanied by searching, heartfelt prayer will fortify your understanding of and appreciation for the Atonement.

I have found that the best way to live life is to seek to know the will of the Lord as guided by the Holy Spirit. He knows what is best for you.

You can learn vitally important things by what you hear and see and, even more, by what you feel, as prompted by the Holy Ghost.

God has given you the capacity to exercise faith so that you may find peace, joy, and purpose in life. However, to employ its power, that faith must be rooted in something secure. There is no more solid foundation than faith in the love Heavenly Father has for you, faith in His plan of happiness, and faith in the willingness and power of Jesus Christ to fulfill all of His promises.

Once in my life, I had the feelings of being left out. I now share the companionship of incomparable brotherhood and sisterhood, a feeling of belonging, of being useful, and I recognize that it comes only from sincere striving to live the commandments of the Lord.

Inaction carries intense inertia, and it is often difficult to do more than simply study and comment on the problems that surround us.

The mission of BYU “is to assist individuals in their quest for perfection and eternal life.” This mission does not end today at graduation. Your learning doesn’t end, your quest doesn’t end, and our relationship doesn’t end.

Go forth and prosper, both spiritually and professionally. We applaud you and will always hold you close to our hearts.

It has always amazed me that by combining the powers of heaven and the power of personal responsibility, all things are possible—even going down stairs one step at a time.

Well, we believe in you, my dear brothers and sisters, and so does our Heavenly Father. I pray that you will follow His counsel for you throughout the eternities because He sees in you the power to become perfect and to dwell with Him eternally.

To ignore or violate the principle of faith will hamper our own progression and diminish our spiritual influence on others. The mastering of faith gives us joy as we become more effective instruments in doing the Lord’s work.

The eternal and enduring masterpieces that we produce in our lives are not works of art or music or scholarly books or articles—they are the people around us. As we help the Master with His masterpieces, we are engaged in His work and His glory: “the immortality and eternal life of man.”

Our experiences at BYU have helped us to better understand that we are in similitude of the Savior and belong to the great family encompassing all of the people of the earth.

Your path of discipleship involves embracing your imperfect story and sharing who you are in a way that meets the world’s great needs.

The most significant pilgrimage that you will experience in your life will be the one that moves you to seek truth, to exercise faith, and to gain a firm testimony that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and the Savior and Redeemer of the world.

It is imperative that Jews, Christians, and Muslims learn how to share their common spiritual roots and their common futuristic hopes without prejudice in order to avoid discrimination and religious and racial hatred so that they all can raise their children in peace and security on the basis of “Ethics of Sharing.”

I pray that the . . . the power of the Atonement in Lazarus, Sonya, Raskolnikov, Theany Reath, and Kats Kajiyama and millions of others will give us courage to “stand forth” and to allow our graveclothes to be removed; and that we might also be both the healers and the healed, the unbinders and the unbound.

Our life’s journey is intended to be difficult, challenging, and ultimately refining. Otherwise we would not be pure enough to return and live with our Father in Heaven and receive His eternal blessings.

The question that I would like to present to all of us today is “How can we keep our spiritual lifeblood flowing so that we will have the strength and the ability to continue our journey to return again to be with the Savior and our Heavenly Father?”

We may not be able to walk where Jesus walked, but of greater worth is that we can think what Jesus thought. The Book of Mormon reveals the thoughts of Christ. Heroes of the Book of Mormon are worthy of emulation. Sill highlights Mormon, who possessed a celestial mind.