The LDS Daily WOOL Home Page
(11/10/97)
"We will be held accountable for all that we say.
The Savior has warned 'that every idle word that men
shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day
of judgment' (Matthew 12:36). This means that no
communication shall be without consequence. This includes
the slight slips of the tongue, the caustic
communications that canker the soul, and the vain,
vulgar, and profane words which desecrate the name of
Deity. Un-Christlike communications There are certain
kinds of un-Christlike communications which destroy
relationships and are not for our development but are for
our destruction. They result in a diminished opportunity
of returning home safely to Heavenly Father. One of the
major ways that Satan uses to retard the development of
righteous relationships is in the use of gossip, rumor,
and slander on his communication
network."—Elder L. Lionel Kendrick, Christlike
Communications, General Conference, October
1988
(11/11/97)
"How damaging is a habit that permits fault-finding,
character assassination, and the sharing of malicious
rumors! Gossip and caustic comments often create chains
of contention. These chains may appear to be very small,
but what misery and woe they can cause!"—Elder
Marvin J. Ashton, "Shake Off the Chains
with Which Ye Are Bound", General
Conference, October 1986
(11/12/97)
"Gossip is the worst form of judging. The tongue is
the most dangerous, destructive, and deadly weapon
available to man. A vicious tongue can ruin the
reputation and even the future of the one attacked.
Insidious attacks against one's reputation, loathsome
innuendoes, half-lies about an individual are as deadly
as those insect parasites that kill the heart and life of
a mighty oak. They are so stealthy and cowardly that one
cannot guard against them. As someone has said, 'It is
easier to dodge an elephant than a
microbe.'"—President N. Eldon Tanner, "Judge
Not That Ye Be Not Judged", General
Conference, April 1972
(11/13/97)
"It is the lie on the lips of the neighborhood
gossip that brings character assassination to many
innocent victims."—Elder Mark E. Petersen, Honesty,
A Principle Of Salvation, General Conference,
October 1971
(11/14/97)
"Boys flying kites haul in their white-winged birds;
You can call back your kites, but you can't call back
your words. 'Careful with fire' is good advice, we know;
'Careful with words' is ten times doubly so. Thoughts
unexpressed will often fall back dead. But God Himself
can't kill them, once they are said! (Will Carelton, The
First Settler's Story)."—Elder Boyd K. Packer, Balm
of Gilead, General Conference, October 1987
(11/15/97)
"We have discovered, in mingling among the Saints,
and in seeking to adjust among them troubles that are
continually arising, that it frequently happens that
wards, or branches, or districts become divided in
sentiment in regard to the character of the treatment
that the Bishop and his associates, or the Presidency of
the Stake and the High Council, may have prescribed in
the case of some individual, and, as a result of this
continued agitation and gossip an effort is made to
overturn the Church government in the ward or stake and
belittle the officers, who should be respected and
esteemed in the positions that they occupy. Recognizing
the fact that in the Church of Christ it was the design
of Providence to guard sacredly the rights and liberties
of every man, woman and child, He placed upon us the
responsibility of seeking, so far as lay in our power,
first to adjust our own troubles. If we have wronged one
of our neighbors, or if, perchance, we may imagine that
our neighbor has wronged us, the obligation rests upon us
to seek to adjust those matters and preserve our
individuality intact."—Elder John Henry Smith,
Collected Discourses, Vol.4
(11/16/97)
"Think of the sorrow and distress in the world, as a
result of men and women gossiping about their neighbors,
testifying to things, or referring to things that are not
true, and implying that they are true. But they never get
any happiness out of it. You never saw a gossip in your
life that was happy. He is just as unhappy and miserable
as the devil all the time--and of course he is in Satan's
company when he is gossiping about his
neighbors."—Pres. George Albert Smith,
Conference Report, April 1944, p.29