(8/05/02)
"Mothers, let me beg of you to bestow all the care and training that you possibly can upon your daughters. Make them as perfect as you can; give them every facility within your power to become women of culture. And, fathers, do the same by your boys. If there is a man in your settlement who excels in any one thing, let him teach the rest. If there be among you a good penman, let him teach others this beautiful art. And if there is a woman that excels in anything, let the girls be taught in that one thing until they shall equal or surpass her. If there is a man among you who is accustomed to society, let him impart lessons to the boys, and let them imitate him. This is one thing that devolves upon us, as Latter-day Saints." — George Q. Cannon, "Journal of Discourses," 22:283

(8/25/03)
"Men may fail us, as they do. I often think of the Scripture which says, 'Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, or maketh flesh his arm.' The best of men will fail us. They are fallible beings, full of frailties and short-comings; and they are not to be trusted with our salvation. But our God can be trusted to the very uttermost. No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the affliction, He will never desert us. He never has, and He never will. He cannot do it. It is not His character. He is an unchangeable being; the same yesterday, the same today, and He will be the same throughout the eternal ages to come. We have found that God. We have made Him our friend, by obeying His Gospel; and He will stand by us. We may pass through the fiery furnace; we may pass through deep waters; but we shall not be consumed nor overwhelmed. We shall emerge from all these trials and difficulties the better and purer for them, if we only trust in our God and keep His commandments." — George Q. Cannon, 1 March 1891, "Collected Discourses, 5 vols.", Stuy, Brian H., ed. [Burbank, California, and Woodland Hills, Utah: B.H.S. Publishing]

(9/14/03)
"We may mark out paths for traveling, but the Lord directs our ways, and we cannot walk safely without. We may have our ideas as to how this work is going to be built up and established, but the Lord will show us, as has been quoted... that 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God's ways higher than man's ways.' We would never have reached these valleys had not the Lord guided us; and we can look back and see how wonderfully His promises have been fulfilled in our behalf. Scarcely a step could have been taken of our own choice if we had not been upheld by God and had He not sustained us in all our doings. So it will be to the end, and we will be obliged to confess that his wisdom has done it all." — George Q. Cannon, "Collected Discourses, Volume 2," 6 April 1891

(9/19/03)
"There were two duties imposed upon us in early days; one was to seek to gather out the honest, to do all in our power to gather out the people who loved and received the Gospel, and to be diligent in our labors doing all in our power to find them. We were sent out as fishers, we were sent out as hunters, we were sent everywhere carrying this Gospel, seeking out the Israel of God scattered among the Gentiles. This was one duty. Then there was another duty, to warn the people, to warn all men in the most solemn manner that the hour of God's judgment was near at hand, to declare to the inhabitants of the earth that the approach of our Lord was near, that the Lord Jesus Christ was about to descend from heaven, and that vengeance and anger and judgment were about to be poured out upon the nations of the earth." — George Q. Cannon, "Collected Discourses, Volume 2," 12 January 1890

1/7/06
"The only principle upon which position should be sought and held by the servants of God is that they might thereby be more useful—that the field of their usefulness might be enlarged. No man should seek to hold a position to gratify a vain ambition to excel. And whatever the position that may be assigned him, he should therewith be content. If an Elder's happiness be affected by the prominence or obscurity of his station, it is an evidence that he is dependent upon something beside the Spirit of God for happiness; if he be appointed to labor in a humble position by those who have the authority and he strives to fill that appointment honorably, he will be happy—his happiness will be perfect; his joy will be full; should his station be ever so exalted, he could be no more than this...." - George Q. Cannon, "Gospel Truth: Discourses and Writings of President George Q. Cannon," selected, arranged, and edited by Jerreld L. Newquist, p.181