Brigham Young (1801–77) was an American Mormon leader. He was believed by the Mormons to be their prophet—chosen by God to lead them. He succeeded Joseph Smith as the leader of the Mormons in 1844.
Born in Whitingham, Vermont, he became a carpenter, painter, and glazier in Mendon, New York. He first saw the Book of Mormon in 1830, and, in 1832, was baptized and began to preach near Mendon. He was made an elder in Kirtland, Ohio, and preached in Canada 1832–33. In 1835, he was appointed to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Mormon Church, directed the settlement at Nauvoo, Illinois, and in 1844 succeeded Joseph Smith as president.
When the Mormons were driven from Nauvoo in 1847, Young led them to emigrate en masse to Salt Lake City, Utah, which he called “Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.” He established the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) there. He became governor of the Utah Territory in 1851. In addition to strengthening his community through education and the arts, Young encouraged agriculture and manufacture, made roads and bridges, and campaigned for the national expansion of telegraph and railroad lines.
Young began his adult life as a devoted spouse to a single wife; by the time he died, his family had swelled to 55 wives (researchers think that not all of the 55 marriages were conjugal) and 59 children. In 1890, LDS abandoned polygyny.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Brigham Young
Never let a day pass that you will have cause to say, I will do better tomorrow.
—Brigham Young
Topics: Tomorrow, Commitment
Education is the power to think clearly, the power to act well in the world’s work, and the power to appreciate life.
—Brigham Young
Topics: Education
There is no knowledge, no light, no wisdom that you are in possession of, but what you have received it from some source.
—Brigham Young
Topics: Knowledge
Any young man who is unmarried at the age of twenty one is a menace to the community.
—Brigham Young
Topics: Marriage
The biggest labor problem is tomorrow.
—Brigham Young
Topics: Labor
Silence may be golden, but can you think of a better way to entertain someone than to listen to him?
—Brigham Young
Topics: Silence
He who takes offense when no offense is intended is a fool, and he who takes offense when offense is intended is a greater fool.
—Brigham Young
Love the giver more than the gift.
—Brigham Young
Topics: Love
My experience has taught me, and it has become a principle with me, that it is never any benefit to give out and out, to man or woman, money, food, clothing, or anything else, if they are able-bodied and can work and earn what they need, when there is anything on earth for them to do. This is my principle and I try to act upon it. To pursue a contrary course would ruin any community in the world and make them idlers.
—Brigham Young
Topics: Experience
Honest hearts produce honest actions.
—Brigham Young
Topics: Honesty
A good man, is a good man, whether in this church, or out of it.
—Brigham Young
Topics: Greatness, Religion
Remember, a chip on the shoulder is a sure sign of wood higher up.
—Brigham Young
Topics: Opportunity
It is wise for us to forget our troubles, there are always new ones to replace them.
—Brigham Young
Topics: Trouble
We should never permit ourselves to do anything that we are not willing to see our children do.
—Brigham Young
Topics: Example
Why should we worry about what others think of us? Do we have more confidence in their opinions than we do in our own?
—Brigham Young
I want to live perfectly above the law, and make it my servant instead of my master.
—Brigham Young
Topics: Law, Lawyers
Don’t try to tear down other people’s religion about their ears. Build up your own perfect structure of truth, and invite your listeners to enter in and enjoy its glories.
—Brigham Young
Topics: Religion
True independence and freedom can only exist in doing what’s right.
—Brigham Young
Topics: Right, Rightness, Independence
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Ezra Taft Benson American Mormon Religious Leader
Thomas S. Monson American Mormon Religious Leader
David O. McKay American Mormon Religious Leader
Gordon B. Hinckley American Mormon Religious Leader
Marvin J. Ashton American Mormon Religious Leader
Neal A. Maxwell American Mormon Religious Leader
Marion G. Romney American Mormon Religious Leader
Richard G. Scott American Mormon Religious Leader
Sterling W. Sill American Mormon Religious Leader
Richard L. Evans American Mormon Religions Leader