(2/23/97)
A patriarchal blessing from an ordained patriarch can give us a star to follow, which is a personal revelation from God to each individual. If we follow this star, we are less likely to stumble and be misled. Our patriarchal blessing will be an anchor to our souls, and if we are worthy, neither death nor the devil can deprive us of the blessings pronounced. They are blessings we can enjoy now and forever. — Pres. James E. Faust, General Conference, October 1995

(2/24/97)
As with many other blessings, patriarchal blessings should ordinarily be requested by the one desiring the blessing. Responsibility for receiving a patriarchal blessing rests primarily upon the individual when he or she has sufficient understanding of the significance of a patriarchal blessing. I encourage all members of the Church having this maturity to become worthy and obtain their blessings. By their very nature, all blessings are conditional upon worthiness regardless of whether the blessing specifically spells out the qualifications. The patriarchal blessing is primarily a guide to the future, not an index to the past. Therefore, it is important that the recipient be young enough that many of the significant events of life are in the future. I recently heard of a person over ninety years of age who received his patriarchal blessing. It would be interesting to read that blessing. — Pres. James E. Faust, General Conference, October 1995

(2/25/97)
In some respects, progressing through life is like running a marathon. You young people are nearer the beginning of your earthly sojourn. You chose to come to this earth and to be tested and proved. The end may seem too far away to concern you now. But life, like a marathon, requires a good start and a strong, consistent effort all of the way to the finish. Set goals Marathon runners set explicit goals. You should look ahead now and decide what you want to do with your lives. Fix clearly in your mind what you want to be one year from now, five years, ten years, and beyond. Receive your patriarchal blessing and strive to live worthy of its promises. A patriarchal blessing is one of the most important guides in life that members of the church enjoy. Write your goals and review them regularly. Keep them before you constantly, record your progress, and revise them as circumstances dictate. Your ultimate goal should be eternal life - the kind of life God lives, the greatest of all the gifts of God. — Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, General Conference, October 1989

(2/26/97)
Elder Daniel Gifford was promised in his patriarchal blessing that he would serve closely with a General Authority while he was on his mission. He wondered how this would be when he received his mission call to Texas, where the mission president had only served two or three months. While he was in the Missionary Training Center listening to the final session of October general conference, he heard President Tanner announce that the next speaker would be Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy and newly called president of the Texas San Antonio Mission. When Elder Gifford was later called to be an assistant to the president, he shared his patriarchal blessing promise with us. Do you think he has any question about whose work this is? — Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone, General Conference, October 1978

(2/27/97)
When Heber J. Grant, who became the seventh president of the Church, was a child playing on the floor in a Relief Society meeting, Eliza R. Snow, who was truly a prophetess, gave him a blessing in tongues, which was interpreted by Sister Zina Y. Card, to the effect that that little boy would someday be an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. On another occasion Heber C. Kimball, one of the counselors to President Brigham Young in the First Presidency of the Church, stood that same boy on a table and prophesied that someday he would be a greater man in the Church than his father, and his father, Jedediah M. Grant, was a counselor to President Brigham Young. Again, when Brother Grant, at the age of 24 years, was president of the Tooele Stake, Patriarch John Rowberry gave him a patriarchal blessing in which he was told that he would someday be in the leading councils of the Church; and after the blessing was given, he told Brother Grant: "Heber, I dare not tell you what I saw when I had my hands upon your head." Brother Grant later, after becoming president of the Church, said that when Brother Rowberry made that statement it went through his mind just as if a voice said it, You will someday be the president of the Church." Brother Grant thought it was such a presumption on his part to even think such a thought that he never mentioned it to anyone until after he did become president of the Church. — Elder Joseph Anderson, General Conference, April 1973

(2/28/97)
As a child grows older, at the age of eight, when he is judged to have come to the age of accountability, or at the time of a person's conversion and baptism into the Church, he is given the opportunity of being baptized of water and, following that, a baptism of Spirit by the laying on of hands. By this experience three things happen: (1) He has a reclamation from the darkness, or the first death, which has been suffered by all the children of Adam and Eve since the time of the Fall. (2) By that process he gains entrance into the kingdom of God and the initiatory steps necessary for entrance into the celestial kingdom, on condition that he keep himself a fit temple in which the Holy Ghost can dwell. (3) He is also given the right to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, one of the Godhead, a companionship that can be enjoyed and that gives him special gifts and special endowments of power as he lives and cultivates his worthiness to receive its holy promptings. Perhaps the next thing, when he grows a little older, if he has listened to counsel and his parents have likewise followed wise counsel, he is taken to a patriarch in the Church and there given a patriarchal blessing. President Karl G. Maeser spoke of the patriarchal blessings as "paragraphs from the book of your possibilities." If we read our patriarchal blessings, we will see what the spirit of prophecy has held up to us as to what each of us can become. — Harold B. Lee, Stand Ye In Holy Places, p. 116-117

(7/19/05)
"When a stake patriarch places his hands upon your head, gives you a blessing, and inspires you with pronounced prophecies and promises, an exciting beginning has been made. It is left to you to keep those prophecies and promises riveted in your mind—regarding them as attainable goals—and proceed forward with righteous living and faithful service so that you might draw claim upon the related blessings.

"By way of illustration, the patriarch stands with you at the starter's gate. He envisions for you the race that lies ahead. With the aid of his special gifts, he outlines the rules of the contest, he describes the challenges that will be faced, and he cites the laurels that may be won. However, you, the runner, must stay in the marked lane, abide the rules, cover the course, and cross the finish line if you expect to receive the victor's prize." - Carlos E. Asay, " Write Your Own Blessing ," New Era, Oct. 1981, 4

11/28/07
"When I was in high school, a counselor read the results of my test scores and told me she did not think I would do well in college. But after I prayerfully studied my patriarchal blessing, I felt I should not abandon my lifelong goal. So, because I had insight into the Lord's plan for me, I had hope in my heart, and I was able to move ahead confidently. I discovered that I was successful in that setting, and I earned a university diploma. When we know who we are and what we are supposed to do, it is easier to make important decisions about education, careers, and marriage. It is easier to shine our light in our families, with our friends, and in all other places." - Julie B. Beck, "You Have a Noble Birthright," Conference Report, April 2006